Five models depict various elements of staffing. Following is a detailed description of them to more fully convey the nature and richness of the staffing process:
1. Staffing Quantity
The quantity or head-count portion of the staffing definition means organizations must be concerned about staffing levels and their adequacy.
The organization as a whole, as well as each of its units, forecasts workforce quantity requirements (the needed headcount) and then compares these to forecasted workforce availability (the likely employee headcount) to determine its likely staffing level position.
- If headcount requirements match availability → the projection is that the organization will be fully staffed.
- If requirements exceed availability → the organization will be understaffed.
- If availability exceeds requirements → the organization will be overstaffed.
2. Person/Job Match
The person/job match seeks to align characteristics of individuals and jobs in ways that will result in desired HR outcomes.
Casual comments made about applicants often reflect upon the awareness of the importance of the person/job match.
Four key features of the person/job match model are:
- Jobs are characterized by their requirements (e.g., interpersonal skills, previous budgeting experience) and embedded rewards (e.g., commission sales plan, challenge and autonomy).
- Individuals are characterized by their level of qualification (e.g., few interpersonal skills, extensive budgeting experience) and motivation (e.g., need for pay to depend on performance, need for challenge and autonomy).
- In each of the above examples, the issue is the likely degree of fit or match between the characteristics of the job and the person.
- There are implied consequences for every match.
3. Person/Organization Match
Often, the organization seeks to determine how well a new hire fits or matches not only in their role but also the organization overall.
Likewise, applicants often assess how well they think they might fit into the organization, in addition to how well they match the job’s specific requirements and rewards.
For both the organization and the applicant, therefore, there may be a concern with a person/organization match.
The person/job match is the focal point of staffing, and the job is like the bull’s-eye of the matching target.
Four other matching concerns involving the broader organization also arise in staffing. These concern:
- Organizational values
- New job duties
- Multiple jobs
- Future jobs
4. Staffing System Components
Staffing encompasses managing the flows of people into and within an organization, as well as retaining them.
The core staffing process has several components that represent steps and activities that occur throughout these flows.
Staffing begins with a joint interaction between the applicant and the organization:
- The applicant seeks the organization and job opportunities within it.
- The organization seeks applicants for job vacancies it has or anticipates having.
Both the applicant and the organization are thus involved as “players” in the staffing process from the very beginning, and they remain joint participants throughout the process.
- At times, the organization may be the dominant player (e.g., aggressive and targeted recruiting for certain applicants).
- At other times, the applicant may be the aggressor (e.g., persistently seeking a role in a particular organization).
- Most of the time, staffing involves a balanced and natural interplay between the applicant and the organization.
5. Staffing Organizations
In the overall staffing organizations model, an organization’s mission, goals, and objectives drive both the organization strategy and the HR and staffing strategy.
The two further interact with each other when they are being formulated. Staffing policies and programs result from such interaction and serve as an overlay to both support activities and core staffing activities.
Employee retention and staffing system management concerns cut across this support and core staffing activities.
Finally, it should be remembered that staffing levels and staffing quality are the key focal points of staffing strategy, policy, and programs.
Example: A newly formed software development organization may have a mission to “help individuals and families manage all of their personal finances and records through electronic means.”
Based on this mission statement, the organization might then develop goals and objectives about:
- Product development
- Sales growth
- Competitive differentiation through superior product quality and customer service
Underlying these objectives are certain assumptions about the size and types of workforces that will need to be acquired, trained, managed, rewarded, and retained.
HR strategy represents the key decisions about how these workforce assumptions will be handled. Such HR strategy may not only flow from the organization strategy but also may contribute directly to the formulation of the organization’s strategy.
How to Determine an Ideal Staffing Model
HR planners can consider the following factors for creating staffing plans that can assist an organization to keep up with its potential and ambitions:
1. Determining Goals
Simply put, the staffing plan must support the business plan.
What is the organization’s plan for growth?
- Does it need personnel to staff a new office or retail location?
- Is it hoping to multiply the size of its sales force to support a significant sales push?
- Does it intend to offer additional customer service or internal support to boost customer satisfaction?
These objectives are typically outlined in the business’s strategic plan and should eventually align with talent strategy and desired outcomes.
2. Identifying the Factors Impacting Personnel Availability
Large national organizations should first review relevant data from national labour and employment assessment agencies, which can provide helpful statistics on topics like numbers of job openings, unemployment rates, and labour costs.
Large and small companies alike should examine similar statistics for their state or local region.
This information is available from:
- Local chambers of commerce
- Business publications
- Industry associations
As a bonus, these entities often synthesize the data to provide an overview of developments in the market — such as new businesses or other large employers increasing hiring or laying off employees. All of these external factors affect the pool of talent available.
3. Determining the Organization’s Functional Needs
HR planners should keep in mind that not all personnel requirements necessitate hiring externally.
Some talent needs can be groomed internally, while others may be met by outsourcing to consultants, freelancers, or independent contractors.
Questions to ask include:
- Can training, mentoring, or development help current employees move into the new or vacated positions?
- Are these skills and personnel needed indefinitely (long term)?
- Or are the needs more specific and short term (e.g., a project requiring skill sets not found in-house or a time commitment not manageable for existing staff)?
4. Conducting Gap Analysis
In essence, a gap analysis compares what organizations currently have with what they need. The difference — or gap — is what needs to be filled.
If gaps are due to:
- Training and development deficiencies → HR planners must add more training for the applicable roles into the staffing plan.
- Heavy workloads during seasonal peaks → Consider hiring temporary workers or outsourcing to contractors.
A gap analysis isn’t just determining functional needs — it’s finding practical solutions for filling those needs.
5. Creating the Plan
The final step is to roll all this information into an actionable talent plan.
An organization’s staffing plan should:
- Summarize all assessments and analyses
- Outline the decision-making process
- Span all applicable groups, departments, and divisions
For larger organizations, this exercise may be broken down by division, with sub-plans combined at the end.
Crafting a high-quality staffing plan involves:
- Organizational leadership
- Hiring managers
- HR leaders
It’s an organization-wide effort, not unlike budgeting — and even overlapping with it. Clear communication across all functions and departments is key to building a plan that works for everyone.
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