Securing long-term competitive advantages with strategic HR planning  

Readying personnel structures for the future

According to Bain & Company, optimizing the workforce and personnel planning is one of the central trends in the current world of work. Creating a balanced and resilient personnel structure is a decisive success factor here. This includes an optimal combination of full-time, part-time and temporary staff with different availabilities, working time models and qualifications. Likewise, companies must continuously ensure appropriate management-to-staff ratios by regularly adjusting the mix of lower, middle and upper management positions. This also enables organizations to cope with order and demand peaks over the long term and react to strategic business model changes at an early stage. 

Planning capacities strategically

When it comes to HR planning, companies face the challenge of achieving a quantitative adjustment of personnel capacity to personnel requirements. This means effectively and efficiently reconciling fluctuating order situations in volatile markets with varying visitor and customer volumes. Thanks to high-performance algorithms and high-quality data, requirements can be anticipated and HR measures derived. HR costs are sustainably reduced, while turnover and service levels trend upwards.  

Increasing flexibility and promoting multi-skilling

Gain additional entrepreneurial flexibility by adapting annual holiday planning to periods of low demand or by shifting employee hours in the course of the year. Expensive, unproductive working hours can be measurably reduced. Cross-qualified employees or standby pools increases response capabilities across departmental boundaries. In addition to quantitative planning, qualitative planning of personnel based on strategically and operationally relevant qualifications is a key prerequisite. Promoting sustainable, breathing organizations with agile personnel processes.

Creating an employee-centric working environment

Substantial planning security, a high degree of flexibility and the option of actively participating in the organization of working time – all this contributes to greater employer attractiveness. Balanced offerings of life-phase oriented part-time and full-time models for the young and ageing workforce strengthens the employer brand over the long term and for all employment groups. The sustainable design of work organization is a crucial success factor in the war for talent. A recent IWG study, for example, revealed that 83 percent of the respondents prefer an employer offering flexible working options.