STRATEGIC HR PLAN DOCUMENT Strategic HR Plan necessarily originates from companys Business or Corporate Strategy.

Strategic HR Planning means linking human resources to clearly defined strategic goals and objectives. Strategic HR Planning is devising specific course of HR actions that fully support and are in line with organizations business objectives. Strategic HR planning is possible if HR is able to participate in companys business strategy and is looked upon as valuable contributor to the organization. In other words, management should have faith and confidence in its HR team that understands business environment very well and allow them to partner with the top management. STRATEGIC HR ISSUES Strategy essential means what we want to do and how we are going to do. These are also called Strategic Goals to be achieved. Identify Fundamental HR Plans, Strategies & Issues that needs to be addressed immediately 1. Manpower Planning, Acquisition & Placement 2. Succession Planning 3. Skill availability and development 4. Motivation Issues 5. Compensation Design & Structure 6. Employee Grading, Alignment, 7. Pay & Remuneration System with low degree of disparities 8. Consistent & Stable Performance Management System 9. Career Development Framework (Skills development, job rotations, succession planning, trainings, etc.) 10. Competency Frameworks for assessment, evaluation, mapping and development of competencies 6-STEPS STRATEGIC-HR PLANNING MODEL 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. HR Direction & Strategic Outcomes Desired Designing HRM System based on HR Direction & Outcomes set above Manpower Planning Acquiring & Building Up Human Resources Human Resource Development & Performance Management Assessment, Measurement & Evaluation

HR Direction & Strategic Outcomes Desired This can be done with two approaches in mind, 1. Focusing on Vision, Mission, Values of the organizations in which direction HR should move. 2. Plan HR outcomes so that the set goals, visions, missions are achieved. HR must fully understand the direction in which the organization is moving and be able to support by using competent HR tools. Setting the direction is the first move to planning strategic HR. Further specific HR outcomes should be planned which are in line with organizations business goals. Certain HR outcomes can be discussed with reference to following points.

If organization is moving towards expansion of its business across wider geographical regions then there is a possibility of acquiring diverse manpower and exposure to global business and HR environment. Here specific HR outcomes can be creating an organization culture, which is capable to absorb diversified manpower with strong learning attitude. If an organization is new and needs to stabilize in the competitive environment, then strategic HR direction would be more focused on effective manpower acquisition and placement objectives since, new organizations are highly driven by employee turnover both from recruitment and attrition point of view till the time it stabilizes. Here desired outcomes could be creating more informal environment that would help building up close nit teams with strong bonding between them would help address attrition issues. Because new organizations may not be able to pay high salaries or rewards to retain manpower, rather building manpower with strong interpersonal relationships can make them stay together for a longer period of time. Team building, Employee Welfare initiatives and creating knowledge sharing environment could be essential strategic HR goals. In relatively stable and large sized organizations not very vulnerable to small competition threats can afford to spend more time on employee development, competency buildings and creating more efficient manpower in the organization. In such organizations strategic HR goals could be developing and implementing robust performance assessment framework, competency development and mapping mechanisms, strong training, development and learning systems and attractive reward mechanisms. The strategic HR outcomes desired could be utilizing and developing organizations core and distinctive competencies in comparison to its internal strengths vis a vis external threats and make an organization more capable to handle stiff competition with efficiency. Designing HRM System focused on HR Direction/Outcomes set above. HRM system essentially means designing HR policies, procedures and rules that are in line with HR direction or goals set. New and emerging HR policies in modern world can be Outsourcing, Flexible Work Practices and Automation. Other policies can be intelligent reward/awards policies, HR administrative policies, Code of Conduct & Employee Rule Book, Disciplinary policies etc. However the cost benefit analysis must be made before implementing advanced or modern HR practices. It would be important to identify which policies suit the organization and HR strategic needs, plans and goals. It is be possible if there is a detailed survey done on best HR practices available in the industry, so that you can pick and choose the best and cost effective one. Manpower Planning Two things to be kept in mind while planning your workforce, i.e. Organization Design or Structure and Job Design/Description Forecasting business & manpower requirements, skills & competencies required, right mix of fresh and skilled or experienced manpower along with time gaps predefined i.e. when and how many and where they are required, sources to be used internal or external, succession & career plans, quality of manpower that supports organization structure and Job Descriptions, Grouping and Organizing manpower with provisions of attritions, back up and buffer manpower etc. Acquiring & Building up Human Resources Recruiting, Hiring, Classifying, Inducting & Training and Placement of employees as per Organizations Manpower Plan Establish cost and time effective Recruitment & Selection Practices & Processes

 Design good Induction & Orientation Processes coupled with Technical, Functional & On-thejob, and Off-the-job training & skill development programs till the time an employee is ready to be productive. Introduce learning practices, knowledge sharing activities, create Knowledge Dashboards and promote sharing information between teams, departments and in the entire organization. Establish clear and transparent employee classifications & occupational levels so that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. This is possible if you have a robust Grading & Designation system, which is not only as per current size of manpower but also futuristic, and capable to take care of additional manpower expected to be recruited in near future. Human Resource Development & Performance Management Review and Re-align existing Performance Assessment, Job Definitions, Career Planning and Rewards Management with current organization goals and HR objectives. The Performance Management & Appraisal Framework should be able to produce performance required by the organizations in line with its business strategy. Performance Management is Futuristic activity where future performance is planned and actions are devised to achieve it. For example, the organizational, divisional, team level and individual performance objectives should be made crystal clear so that employees can clearly visualize what they have to achieve. Performance Appraisal is Historic activity where what ever happened in the past is evaluated, rated and remarked. But you cannot change the performance once it is already happened. Hence focus on Performance Management rather than Appraisals and try your best to extract performance objectives of the organization. This should be primary goal of HR and if you do it, its a great achievement. A great performance management practice should be introduced with relevant Performance Rewards & Awards System. Do not devise glossy and glamorous rewards awards policy. The fundamental rule of Rewards Mechanism is you should know What kind of achievements, behaviors, milestones should be rewarded in line with Organizations Performance Goals and Business Strategy and How to reward them, in what way, cash, non-cash, recognitions, promotions, job enrichments, job rotations, higher designations, high compensation, public rewards, individualistic rewards etc. Please also remember every employee has his own distinctive need of getting rewarded, in cash or kind or appreciations etc; some people love to be praised in public, while some dont. Human Resource Development essentially focuses on Trainings & Skill development (technical, functional, motor skills etc.) Competency Development (attitude, behavior, capabilities etc.) Career Planning & Succession Planning (promotions) etc. Continuous assessment of organizations current skill levels of employees by way of maintaining skill matrix with reference to current and future skills required and gaps between the current and future skill needs; formulates the base for devising efficient training programs on various key skills required by the organization. Competency Development is a Herculean task. Competencies essentially may or may not directly or indirectly contribute towards employees performance; it just gives additional muscle power to help perform. It is the Job Skill that drives performance. But competencies are surely required to deliver strong performance along with key job skills. Also understand competencies are more to do with Behaviors and Attitudes, which cannot be altered easily. Hence either you have a certain competencies or you dont. Do not force competencies on employees, they should feel the need to develop certain competencies then only they will generate necessary positive attitude towards improving their competencies. Because competencies essentially consist of attitude, behavior,

value systems which have shaped since childhood depending upon the social circles an individual has been brought up. Remember ICE BERG model of competencies. Iceberg shows 20% tip above the water but 80% is below the water, which is hidden or not exposed easily. 20% portion represents employees knowledge, skills and experience, which is clearly visible to the entire world and can be easily changed or improved. The rest 80% portion represents individuals behavior, attitude, value system etc., which cannot be altered or changed. The best way to assess competencies is through Behavioral Interviews to be conducted by experts only, where employees responses are recorded and noted down carefully, his attitude, thinking, values are understood and necessary remarks are noted. Further this information is classified according to performance ratings of employees and a classification may be made with reference to what kind of specific behaviors or attitudes or values displayed by Poor, Average, Good, Excellent or Outstanding rated employees. This classifications can be used as benchmarks both in Performance Evaluations and Selection / Hiring Processes. This is very helpful essentially while recruiting, since we already know what kind of behaviors or attitudes represent poor, good or excellent performers. Recruiting people with right behavioral attributes and positive attitudes will ensure that we hire people already possessing strong competencies and a strong potential of star performance. Half the battle is won there itself. Further we also get clear understanding about what are specific behaviors, attitudes required to create excellent and outstanding rated employees, these benchmarks can also be used to train, develop and groom good or average rated employees to elevate them to excellent or outstanding level. Customized training and development programs can be devised based on outstanding competencies displayed by other employees. Competency development can be done in following phases. Understand the key competencies required by the entire organization in order to achieve its performance objectives in line with business strategy and goals. Scale down these competencies from organization level to department and individual level. Group these key competencies and focus on them for development. Assess the current level of proficiencies of organization, department and individual competencies. Please note that competency ratings or rankings can never be absolute, they always fall between certain ranges because competencies cannot be constant (since they are behaviors or attitudes) Hence competency ratings can only be stated as between 1.00 to 1.50 or between 2.50 to 3.25 etc. Not as absolute 1, 2 or 3 etc. Benchmarks the competency levels you are targeting to achieve. For example if an individual or a department shows Customer Orientation competency rating of 1.50 to 2.00 then you can plan to elevate it at least to 1.75 to 2.25 level. Please remember, competency development is very slow and gradual process, it cannot be improved drastically in short period. It takes time to grow. Conduct a detailed gap analysis between current competency levels and desired levels by the organization as per performance goals or business objectives. Key employee identification Then identify and prioritize key employees who need to be focused for competency development. Do not undertake competency development of entire manpower at one go. It is a slow and time consuming process hence focus on creating more star performance. For example, select Excellent Rating people and focus on them to reach to outstanding level. Select Good rated people and make them Excellent-rating performers. Average and Poor can be considered later unless they show attitude to reach to Good rating level and work hard for it. Based on the Gap analysis and identified key employees, you can plan phased competencies development programs at organization level and execute them.

Further to promote or motivate employees to develop competencies and create right positive attitude with relevant behaviors, Competency based Reward mechanism can also be a good option. Like Performance Reward you can also have Competency Rewards where you can devise special rewards, awards, incentives for certain employees who have displayed high level of proficiencies in certain key organization competencies. This way you can also motivate employees to take interest to develop their own competency levels. Assessment of competence and performance It involves measurement of organizations progress towards achieving its desired outcomes and adjusting HR strategy and system accordingly. Implementing clear quantifiable measures, identifying milestones in the achievement of specific organizational goals and using Balance Scorecards will articulate results of HR Strategic plan in measurable terms. Regular evaluation and review of strategic plan is also essential to fine-tune the strategic HR plan itself.