Do you spend more time than you would like worrying about your current and future hiring needs? Whether you're a small business or a large established firm, the success of your brand depends on its staffing strategy.

Your employees are one of the greatest assets to your company. Nonetheless, businesses continue to struggle to plan and effectively manage their human resources. In fact, forty-three percent of human resource specialists claim that manpower is the biggest investment challenge for businesses.

The most common staffing issues companies face include skill limitations, high turnover, poor productivity, over-employment, and constantly changing business views. These matters may be alleviated by using an effective staffing plan. Consider these five tips for building a successful staffing strategy for your business.

What is a Business Staffing Strategy?

As a company, it's crucial to identify and evaluate your staffing needs to gain insight into the types and number of employees needed to accomplish your goals. Your staffing plan should answer the following questions:

• What is the job that needs to happen?
• What is the number of employees needed to complete the job?
• What is the experience and skill set required to do this work?
• What skill gaps and redundancies need to be addressed and streamlined?

Business staffing strategies can consist of the whole company, or it can pertain to: 

• Small groups
• Specific projects
• Independent departments 

For instance, say that your company's business goals are to broaden its sales force next year. Having a staffing plan in place can help you put properly skilled employees in the right position at the right time to ensure productivity. It also provides your sales department with the support needed to prepare for and manage next year's growth successfully.

The Benefits of a Business Staffing Strategy

With a business staffing plan, you can curb issues that, otherwise, might delay or hinder growth or the quality of your services, which would likely cause dissatisfied customers and possibly a loss of business opportunities. A good staffing plan will contribute to your business's ability to:

• Eradicate skills gaps
• Enhance productivity
• Lessen the cost of labor
• Bolster the customer experience
• Optimize your business growth
• Step-up employee engagement
• Reduce employee turnover and increase retention

It will also aid in guiding financial and budgeting policies within the company. An effective staffing strategy necessitates three main measures:

• Assessing existing staffing levels 
• Projecting anticipated staffing needs
• Distinguishing the gaps separating the two

Once you understand what a business staffing strategy is and why it’s important, you will need to begin calculating your staffing needs to create a plan that fits your company.

Calculate your staffing needs and devise a strategic plan

1. Identify Your Business's Goals

Before you make any changes, it's important to identify your company's goals. What do you want to accomplish or improve in the next month, year, or five years? Each company’s priorities are different, but you will want to make sure that your goals align with your staffing plan to garner the best results.

2. Assess your Company's Existing Staffing Reality

After identifying your goals, you should examine your existing staffing climate. Be especially aware of:

• Potential leaders and high performers  
• The company's total number of employees
• What are the competencies and skills in the workplace?
• Employee tenure and age (for forecasting retirement figures)
• Low-skilled or job-hopping employees that can suggest turnover
• The size and work location of each team member (staff distribution)

This helps you realize your current staffing circumstances and distinguish employment opportunities and needs in the future.

3. Forecast future staffing needs 

Once you measure your present staffing environment, you can better determine your future needs. While performing your workforce assessment, consider the variables that can impact staffing options and opportunities, such as: 

• Business goals 
• New item launches
• Unemployment rates 
• Shifts in the economy
• Marketplace labor costs
• Projections and fluctuation rates
• Your rivals are recruiting key talent 
• Anticipated acquisitions and mergers
• Business expenditures (newer technology) 

Each of these external and internal elements can shape your workplace and staffing demands.

4. Perform a Gap Analysis

Now that your current and future workforce assessments have been completed, go ahead and evaluate both results to check for gaps.

• Are there any discrepancies? 
• Does your company require more staff?
• Is your workforce where it needs to be right now?
• Is your staff lacking the skill set needed to meet your future business goals?

Take note of anything missing to adjust your plan accordingly.

5. Create Your Staffing Plan

Now that you've completed your workforce needs analysis, it's time to create your plan. Your business's staffing strategy could include: 

• Guidelines to adopt a training program that identifies and resolves skills gaps. 
• Tactics for recruiting new talent.
• Opportunities to invest in the continued education and development of your staff.
• Procedures for integrating contractors.
• Processes for promotions and retirements.

Throughout this process, it is essential that you collaborate with the business's heads to develop a comprehensive action plan to clarify personnel needs that coordinate with your company's culture, mission, and goals.

Conclusion

Lutz Talent can help your business place the right people in the right positions at the right time. If you're ready to take your staffing strategy to the next level, contact us today. You can also visit our website to learn more about our staffing services or read related articles on our Lutz Talent blog. Our team of recruiters looks forward to helping your business find what matters.