Human Resources Strategic Planning and a Sample HR Action Plan

In providing explanations about the concept of human resources strategic planning, we will also put emphasis on the importance of human resources management in project planning. Many employees who became victims of downsizing in the recent past regard the HR department as useless and merely put in place to move the employees around like pawns on a chessboard. If the main strategist makes a wrong move, then they are taken-off the board as like a dispensable object.

This, in a way, is true because downsizing is a result of business strategies that failed, and layoffs have been regarded by employees as part of those failed strategies. However, that was a dark era in the past and lessons have been learned. Human resources managers are now tasked to prepare HR action plans to support the company’s business strategy.

In order to do this, HR management should also perform its own human resources strategic planning by way of pencil-pushing and brainstorming. That way, employees as human resources have a clear idea about the goals they are expected to achieve. They will have clarity of perception about their roles in attaining a common goal for the entire organization.

To make this discussion more interesting, we will go about it as if we are in the process of brainstorming for human resources strategies in order to come up with our HR action plan sample.

1. Establish the Company’s Vision and Mission

Know the company’s business goal and the exact ideas on which you’re planning. Some companies incorporate both vision and mission into one single statement or paragraph, while others create yearly mission statements in line with their business strategy for the year.

As you go about gathering ideas and developing your plans, understand these three basic principles to observe

• Formulate strategies that are aligned with the core values and the core purpose of the company’s vision and missions.

• Human resources are not just workforces to mobilize. They are real people with personal desires and ambitions, which is why they went through years of education and training. Now it’s up to the human resources department to recruit individuals whose interests, competencies and capabilities are attuned to the core values and purpose of the company. Nonetheless, the department is not expected to be always accurate in the recruitment assessment, which makes it important to keep assessment programs part of the staffing strategy.

• Every employee desires to become a part of a business organization that is well-organized, which they could perceive as soon as they submit their applications for the recruitment process. They will experience this as they undergo the training initiatives and benefit from this through management’s performance. The best part about an organized company, is that the compensation being afforded to employees is paid as a form of recognition for their contributions.

2. Understand the Executive Summary of the Business Plan

The business is an independent toy store called “The Rainbow Room” selling an assortment of kid-safe toys. Their standard items are the soft dolls made from hemp and recycled PET bottle fillers called “Plushies.” The dolls come in different sizes, genders and forms including huggable dinosaurs that are about three and a half feet tall. Clothes or accessories are removable as a way of teaching and encouraging children to be creative and stylish. Dolls have different characters; hence, doll clothes and accessories will come in varying styles.

The company is aware that some parents are cash-strapped and cannot afford to buy the toys that their kids would love to receive on their birthdays or on any special occasion. A one-year lay-away plan will be offered to these parents but their need should be properly documented and their employment duly certified. The lay-away purchase will be released once the plan is at least 85% paid. Parents who would like to partake in a subsequent lay-away plan must have no history of payment defaults."

Please proceed to the next page to read the continuation of our human resources strategic planning process.