Give your workplace a health check

Question 1

Do you know what workforce challenges your industry/business sector is facing as a result of internal and external factors? (For example, staff retiring, an ageing population, skills shortages or the crowding out effect due to the resources boom.)

Answer

Excellent! You already have a good understanding of the industry context your business is operating in and the factors affecting your workforce. For additional information to compliment your existing knowledge, check out the Small Business Development Corporation and Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA resources for employers.

Answer

It is important to be aware of the internal and external factors affecting your business sector to help you meet your current workforce requirements and plan to meet your future workforce requirements. Contact your industry training council for information on issues affecting your industry sector now and possibly in the future. Also give some thought to what is going on internally in your workplace.

Question 2

Have you put strategies in place to address the internal and external factors that impact on your workforce supply and demand?

Answer

Great work! Having strategies to manage internal and external workforce factors puts your business in a good position now and also for moving into the future.

Answer

Think about your business needs, your current workforce requirements and possible future workforce requirements. Then consult the industry training council for your sector to discuss possible ideas and strategies for meeting your workforce requirements. Once you have developed your ideas, consider how you might be able to apply some of these strategies in your own workplace in a planned and targeted way.

Question 3

Have you gathered specific information about what your current workforce profile looks like and then analysed this information?

Answer

You are definitely on the right track! It’s important to have a good record of the skills, experience, knowledge base and overall existing capability of your workforce. By doing this you have a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of your workforce and any gaps that might exist.

Answer

Maintaining accurate employee records can assist you make the right decision about you workforce. Sorting your employees into job groups, skill levels, experience, age, gender, length of service and other categories can help you gain some insight into the skills and capacity of your current workforce. It can also give you an idea of any staff development that needs to take place. Check out the Current workforce profile and Current workforce skills resources to help you collect and manage your workforce information in a planned and coordinated way.

Question 4

Have you thought about what your business goals are and the workforce you’ll need to achieve them?

Answer

You are well positioned for moving your business forward. By knowing the composition of your current workforce and having a clear idea of your future workforce needs you are in a good position to identify where the gaps are and plan ahead to meet these in a timely fashion. Check out training solutions for employers to help you meet your goals.

Answer

It is important to gain a clear picture of the capacity of your current workforce and what your future workforce requirements might be to prepare for business growth. Check out Step 4 of the workforce planning process, Understanding your future workforce, to help to get you started and then look at some training solutions to help you meet your goals.

Question 5

Have you considered your business goals and undertaken a workforce ‘gap analysis’ to identify your current and future workforce needs and established what actions you may need to put in place to meet these needs?

Answer

Terrific effort! You already know what the gap is between your current workforce and your future workforce needs. You are well positioned to plan and implement targeted strategies to fill the gaps. The results from your ‘gap analysis’ will help you plan the targeted strategies you need to put in place. Perhaps your analysis shows that you need to train and up-skill your existing workers or look at ways to motivate and retain your current employees.

Answer

Doing a gap analysis is an important business practice to help you identify the gap between your current workforce capability and your future workforce needs. Once you know what this workforce gap is then you can begin to look at the actions you can take to help you fill the shortfall. 

Question 6

Have you developed a workforce action plan for your business?

Answer

Your workforce planning is on target. Having a workforce action plan is a great way of keeping you on top of your current workforce issues and also for providing you with a roadmap for addressing any future workforce issues before they magnify. You could consider implementing a system to periodically review this plan to make sure you are on track.

Answer

Creating a workforce action plan assists you to better plan for your business needs and prepare staff for change to meet business growth. You can work through the Five easy steps to workforce planning section to get all the information that you need to develop your own workforce action plan.

If you answered mostly ‘NO’ to this quiz, your workforce planning is probably not in the best of health and needs a little TLC. The good news is you’re in the right place!

If you answered mostly ‘YES’ to these questions, your workforce planning for your business looks to be in pretty good shape.

However, workforce planning is not a finite process. It is important to actively review and monitor your workforce planning requirements to help you to keep your workforce planning and your business ahead of the game.