Chapter 1 Strategic Staffing

Competitive advantage something that a company can do differently from its

rivals that allows it to perform better, survive, and succeed in its industry

Staffing: why is it important?
a) determines who will work for and represent a company
b) what its employees will be willing and able to do

staffing influences success of future training, performance management, and
compensation programs as well as the organizations ability to execute its business
strategy

effective staffing = partnership b/w hiring amnagers and staffing professions in
HRM department
staffing professionals bring expertise to the workforce planning and staffing
processes (e.g. evaluating what a job requires, identifying what competences, skills,
personalities)
hiring manager provides input throughout the process and typically makes the
final hiring decision after the staffing specialist generates and screens a much larger
pool of applicants

The Staffing Context

a) globalization companies are increasingly searching the world for talent,
resulted in greater competition for top talent and has made it more difficult
for firms to hire the best workers
b) technological changes technology made it easier for firms to track and
develop their employees skills as well as recruit and hire new employees
c) firms have legal forces e.g. antidiscrimination laws

talent management implementation of integrated strategies or systems designed
to increase workplace productivity by developing improved processes for attracting,
developing, retaining, and utilizing people w/ the required skills and aptitude to
meet current and future business needs

strategic staffing process of staffing an organization in future-oriented, goal-
directed ways that support the business strategy of the organization and enhance its
effectiveness involves the movement of people into, through, and out of the
organization
focus of strategic staffing is the integration of staffing practices w/ business
strategy and w/ the other areas of HRM to enhance organizational performance

strategy long-term plan of action to achieve a particular goal
strategic staffing focus on maximizing return on investment rather than simply
minimizing costs

The Components of Strategic Staffing

1. Workforce planning process of predicting an organizations future
employment needs and assessing its current employees and the labour
market to meet those needs
Employer branding creating a favourable image in desired applicants
minds about the organization being a good place for them to work
2. selection assessing job candidates and deciding whom to hire
- how they assess and select job candidates will determine how well the
firms new hires, and company as a whole, will perform
- goal of strategic recruiting, is to attract a greater % of applicants who are
likely to meet minimum hiring requirements and reduce the burden on
the selection system
3. acquiring talent involves putting together job offers that appeal to chosen
candidates and persuading job offer recipients to accept those job offers
4. deploying talent assigning talent to appropriate jobs and roles in the
organization
5. retaining talent turnover is expensive, so retaining is ideal so the
organization spends less time and resources filling job vacancies
6. matchmaking process two-way stream, both employers and recruits try to
look appealing to the other

The Goals of Strategic Staffing

1. Identifying Staffing Goals clearly linked to organizational strategies and
objective guides the strategic staffing process

Process goals relate to the hiring process itself, including how many what
quality applicants apply, attracting appropriate numbers of diverse
applicants, and meeting hiring timeline goals
Outcome goals apply to the product of the hiring effort and includes the #
and quality of people hired, financial return on the staffing investment, and
whether the staffing effort improved organizational effectiveness


a) planning the churn of employees can also be an organizational goal

w
h
e
n

t
e
c
h
n
o
l
o
g
y

i
s
a) when technology is changing rapidly, organizations prefer a steady supple
of new hires whose skills are as current as possible
or in some companies, they value long employee tenure so invest in
oingoing employee development

b) staffing also needs to be consistent with the goals of the firms other
stakeholders, including the individual hiring managers to whom new hires
will report
Keep in the mind the individual hiring managers to whom new hires will
report

c) ultimate goal is to hire people who can perform well, contribute to the
execution of the companys business strategy, and increase profits

Evaluation the Staffing System

linking the goals of a staffing effort directly to the evaluation criteria the firm will
use in assessing the staffing system is key to its success
e.g. if filling position quickly is an important goal, take the time to fill each position
and track and evaluate for each recruiting source


HR Functions Affecting the Staffing System

1. Training one of the first things to consider is whether new hires should
already possess certain competencies at the time they are hired or whether
the firm will help them develop those competencies via training
2. Compensation if organization Is willing to pay premium wages, staffing
effort can focus on identifying and attracting the most qualified candidates |
if lower wages, but is unable to hire the candidates it would like at its
preferred salary, it may be forced to raise its salaries to be competitive in the
labour market
if higher pay is not an option, recruiting from nontraditional sources
might allow the organization to overcome its compensation challenges
3. Performance management setting goals, appraising and evaluating past and
current performance, and providing suggestions for improvement
affect a staffing systems effectiveness b/c without performance goals,
employees will not know what aspects of their jobs to focus on nor the
performance levels expected of them
4. Career Development and Succession Management can help to ensure that
an organization has people ready to assume leadership positions when they
become available