Definition: The Staffing Process is a series of activities performed to employ, manage and retain the manpower inventory to accomplish organizational goals. It ensures the availability of the most suitable person for the Right Job at the Right Time.
It covers various interrelated activities required to fill the vacancies designed in the organizational structure. Besides manpower inventory, the managers focus on securing a potential and competent workforce.
The initial step in the process is assessing the requirement of manpower inventory. It covers all necessary functions from Recruitment and Selection to Compensation.
The organization aims for the timely fulfilment of the human resource requirements. Because it is an essential resource that affects the organization’s overall performance.
We can divide the whole staffing process into two halves:
- Primary Phase
- Secondary Phase
The initial steps, i.e. from Manpower Planning to Placement & Orientation, form the Primary Phase. Whereas, the last four steps come under the Secondary Phase, i.e. from Training to Compensation.
The primary phase deals with acquiring the workforce. However, the secondary phase takes care of the workforce’s betterment and nourishment.
Content: Forfeiture of Shares
- What do you mean by Staffing?
- Need for Staffing Process
- Steps involved in the Staffing Process
- Staffing Process Flow Chart
- Advantages
- Example
- Final Words
What do you mean by Staffing?
The word ‘Staff’ refers to the human resources working in the organization. Staffing is the management of these human resources as per the firm’s requirements. It is a management function that focuses on placing the skilled candidate in a suitable position.
Need for Staffing Process
Organizations changes over time for many reasons, consequently elevating the need for staffing. Therefore, the staffing process is continuous and repeated at specific intervals.
After Selection, the employees may leave the job, and the positions get vacant again. Vacancies may arise as the individuals may:
- Leave the organization
- Quit the job
- Retire from the job
- Discontinue due to uncertain death
Steps involved in the Staffing Process
Following are the eight steps involved in the process of staffing the organization: –
- Estimating Manpower Requirements
- Recruitment
- Selection
- Placement and Orientation
- Training and Development
- Performance Appraisal
- Promotion and Career Planning
- Compensation
The process flow is sequential, but the intensity of stages differs as per the need.
Step 1: Estimation of Manpower Requirements
The first step in the staffing process is to find the number and type of human resources required.
Every job design differs in an organizational structure and demands a deferring skill set, expertise and experience. So, managers must assess the required manpower considering all the influential factors.
In this stage, the managers find out the answer to the following questions:
How many personnel does the organization require?
What type of personnel does the organization need?
To find out the requirement, the managers can perform the analysis in three stages:
- Work-Load Analysis: At first, the managers figure out the total amount of work the organization need to complete. Also, they ascertain the total number of people required to perform this work.
- Work-Force Analysis: Secondly, the managers study the existing staff’s skills, capabilities, and availability.
- Comparison: The variance between workload and workforce represents the exact requirement of human resources. By this, the managers can determine whether the organization is:
- Under-staffed
- Over-staffed
- Optimally-staffed
Step 2: Recruitment
The second step after estimating the requirement is finding the sources of manpower supply. It includes identifying, attracting and inviting applications as per the job requirement.
The manager aims to attract a large pool of qualified candidates. So, the company can select the most skilled and desirable employee to fill the vacancy.
Briefly, recruitment is searching the prospecting employees and attracting them to apply.
Sources of Recruitment
Companies can use Internal and External sources for recruitment purposes. These sources are discussed below:
- Internal Recruitment: In this, the company recruits existing employees to fill the vacancy. The most common type of internal sources of recruitment are: –
- Promotion
- Transfer
- External Recruitment: Here, the manager uses sources outside the business in search of the desirable candidate for the job requirement. The potential sources of external recruitment are:
- Advertisement
- Employment exchange
- Educational Institutions
- Placement Agencies
- Employee References
- Companies Websites
Step 3: Selection
The next step is selecting and appointing the most suitable candidate from the applications received. It involves both selecting the deserving candidate and rejecting unsuitable ones.
For this reason, Selection is called a Negative Procedure.
The selection process or series of steps followed in selecting the most eligible candidates are:
- Reception
- Screening Interview
- Application Bank
- Weighted Application Blanks (WABs)
- Selection Testing
- Selection Interview
- Medical Examination
- Reference Checks
- Hiring Decision
Step 4: Placement and Orientation
Post-selection, the company assign roles and responsibilities to the selected candidates. It is the most crucial stage because the wrong placement of candidates may hamper the firm’s productivity.
Placement is the assignment of work to the selected candidates. It ensures placing the Right Candidate in the Right Job.
Orientation refers to the sessions organized to familiarise and introduce new employees to the organization and colleagues.
Step 5: Training and Development
This stage consists of two parts, training the candidates and overall development of the candidates. But, Training and Development are altogether two different things.
Training is inducing and enhancing the necessary skills required to perform the job proficiently. Whereas, Development is enhancing the personality of employees as a person.
Methods of Training
- On-the-Job Training: The training provided to employees in the ongoing job. It is also known as In-house Training. Examples of On-the-Job Training are:-
- Apprenticeship Programmes
- Internship
- Coaching
- Job rotation
- Off-the-Job Training: As the name suggests, the training is provided by taking the employees outside their job. Examples of Off-the-Job Training are:-
- Programmed Instruction
- Classroom Lectures or conferences
- Films
- Case Study
- Vestibule Training
- Computer Modelling
- Programmed Instruction
Step 6: Performance Appraisal
Employee performance evaluation begins as soon as the training finishes. During the assessment, the management considers the employee’s past and present performance against standards.
These standards can be as per predefined or creative criteria. Post evaluation, efficient employees are recognized and awarded with rewards based on their performance.
Some Methods of Performance Appraisal
- Ranking Method
- Paired Analogy
- Correlation Method
- Grading Methods, etc
Step 7: Promotion and Career Planning
Based on the evaluation done in the previous step, the promotion of employees takes place. It can be in the form of an increment in the responsibility or the current financial structure.
Step 8: Compensation
Compensation is the reward and incentives given to the employees in return for their work. It covers all forms of payment to the employees like:
- Salaries
- Incentives
- Bonuses
- Stock Options
- House Rent Allowances (HRA), etc
The management must provide fair and equitable compensation to all its employees. In addition, consider various factors like labour laws, company laws, etc., during settlement.
Staffing Process Flow Chart
The sequential flow of the staffing process is depicted below with the help of a flow chart.
Advantages
The staffing process benefits the organization in the following ways:
- It investigates the required number of the workforce with the necessary skills and expertise.
- This process enables the strategic planning of the organization’s human resources.
- It is a tool for building and maintaining a healthy work environment.
- The success of the staffing process is reflected in the organization’s overall productivity.
- It also helps in achieving the organizational objectives with excellent efficiency.
- The staffing process helps develop both the employees and the organization as a whole.
Example
The staffing process happens in all organizations, irrespective of their type and size. Common examples of staffing process or part of the process are:
- Campus placement in the Colleges
- Advertisements in Newspaper for Job Requirements
- Expansion of the Company, etc
Final Words
Manpower is a pillar of every organization, and it needs to be managed strategically. As the company compensate the employees and it is an expensive affair.
It is a systematic approach to acquiring, maintaining and retaining a skilled workforce. The company’s staff is the most valuable resource that can take it to new heights.
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