HR Supply Forecasting factors, Techniques: Skills Inventories, Succession Plans, Replacement charts, Staffing Tables

Supply forecasting means to make an estimation of supply of human resources taking into consideration the analysis of current human resources inventory and future availability.

Existing Inventory:

(a) Head Count:

Count of the total number of people available department-wise, sex- wise, designation-wise, skill-wise, pay roll-wise etc.

(b) Job Family Inventory:

It consists to number and category of employees of each job family i.e. the jobs related to same category like office staff, sales and marketing staff, production staff, maintenance and industrial engineers, quality control engineers etc.

(c) Age Inventory:

It consists of age-wise number and category of employees. This gives us age composition of human resources. Dynamism, creative abilities innovativeness is present in young employees while making of proper judgment and display of maturity is shown by elderly employees.

Organisations prefer both young and old employees. Human resource planning should give due consideration to age-wise human resource mixing young and old employees in due proportions.

(d) Inventory of skill, experience, values and capabilities:

Organisation should take a stock of present inventory of skill, employees with number of years of experiences (10 yrs, 15-yrs, 20 yrs and more etc.), values and capabilities.

(e) Inventory of Qualifications and Training:

This consists of educational qualifications of the employees academic and technical and special qualifications if any and the training received by the employees.

(f) Inventory of Salary grades:

This includes pay and allowance-wise and total emoluments-wise stock taking.

(g) Sex wise Inventory:

Inventory of male and female employees of the organisation.

(h) Local and Non-Local-wise Inventory:

It includes the stock of local employees and the employees belonging to other areas such as different states of India.

(i) Inventory of Past Performance and Future Potentialities:

There are several human capacities or potentials required for performing jobs at the workplace. Requirement of these along experience need to be taken into consideration while taking stock of human resource inventory.

Sources of Supply:

Estimation of supply of human resources depends upon internal and external sources.

Internal Factors:

Internal source of supply of human resources include the output from established training programme for employees and management development programmes for executives and the existing reservoirs of skills, potentials, creative abilities of the organisation.

External Factors:

External factors can be grouped into local and national factors.

(a) Local Factors:

Local factors include the following:

(1) Population densities within the reach of enterprise.

(2) Current and future wage and salary structure from other employers.

(3) Local unemployment level.

(4) Availability of employees on part time, temporary and casual basis.

(5) The output from local educational institutions and training institutions managed by government and private establishments.

(6) Local transport and communication facilities.

(7) Availability of residential facilities.

(8) Traditional pattern of employment locally and availability of human resources with requisite qualifications and skills.

(9) The pattern of migration and immigration.

(10) The attraction of the area as a better place to reside.

(11) The attraction of a company as a better workplace and company as a good paymaster.

(12) The residential facilities, educational health and transport facilities.

(13) The regulations of local government in respect of reservation of backward and minorities communities.

(b) National Factors:

National factors include the following:

(1) Trends in growth of working population of the country.

(2) National demands for certain categories of human resources such as technical and management professionals, computer professionals, medical practitioners, technicians, secretaries, craftsmen, graduates etc.

(3) The output from universities, technical and professional institutions.

(4) Impact of changes in educational patterns.

(5) Cultural patterns, social norms and customs.

(6) Impact of government training schemes.

(7) Impact of government policies in respect of employment regulations.

(8) Migration and immigration patterns.

(9) Impact of national educational facilities.