Preparing your staffing needs for an uncertain business climate can be challenging. You cannot know whether to plan for leaner times, increased growth, or both.
However, even when the anticipated future is unclear, you must complete strategic workforce planning for how you imagine things might be.
You also may need to update key aspects of your business model to accommodate the uncertainty of the future. This includes identifying where and what the effect could be on your talent and skill needs.
Implement these tips to prepare your staffing needs for an uncertain business climate.
Engage in Scenario Planning
Scenario planning supports flexibility and agility in your workforce planning. Effective planning supports workforce adaptation during uncertainty.
Creating hypothetical workforce futures provides contingency plans to follow if these scenarios develop. This helps prepare your staffing needs for dramatic shifts that may occur.
Ensure your scenario planning is continuously revisited and updated. Your planning likely will change as the uncertain business climate changes.
Focus your scenario planning on responding, recovering, and thriving during change. Pay close attention to the following areas:
- Effectively integrating your financial plans with your workforce plans
- Ensuring your scenarios are agile
- Thinking about the workforce in a way that optimizes flexibility, sustainability, and resilience
Communicate With Employees
Talking with your workforce about what is happening with the organization promotes trust and security. This reduces stress related to job security. It also encourages employees to maintain their tenure with your company.
HR professionals and company leaders should communicate updates on the company and why certain decisions are made. This provides employees with a sense of security. It also encourages them to stay with your organization and fill different positions.
Redeploy Employees
Determine which employees can be moved to other roles. This helps fill talent gaps, save money, and keep the business moving forward.
Provide the necessary training for the employees who are redeployed. This requires less time and money than hiring, onboarding, and training new employees. It also helps prevent furloughs and layoffs.
Upskill Employees
Provide training for employees to take on other roles within the organization. Preparing your workforce to be resilient helps your company be resilient.
Upskilling your employees requires significantly less time and money than hiring, training, and onboarding new employees. Hiring internally also takes substantially less time and money than hiring externally.
Prioritizing upskilling keeps your workforce flexible and lean. It also increases employee retention in an uncertain business climate.
Need Help Preparing Your Staffing Needs?
Talk with the experts at Morris Bixby for help preparing your agricultural staffing needs for an uncertain business climate. Get started today.