As a business owner or employer, you’re constantly trying to achieve your business goals. All while trying to meet the employment demands of the country you operate in. Whether it’s optimizing your human resources department and finding the right hire for your vacant job openings, or striving to exceed expectations, a strategic workforce planning process can be your best friend.
When you align your workforce needs with your business strategy and objectives, you can efficiently identify any potential gaps or surpluses in your company. However, this isn't the only benefit of implementing a workplace planning process in your company.
In this article, we’ll dive deeper into what a strategic workforce planning process is and how you, as a company operating in Canada, can use operational workforce planning to your advantage.
What is Strategic Workforce Planning?
Strategic workforce planning is when a company proactively anticipates the current and future hiring requirements and establishes a strategy to ensure they have the right mix of talent and technology to meet the company's goals.
Commonly referred to as workforce planning, this planning process for your organization's business strategy often involves identifying the talent, knowledge and competency that can further help your organization achieve their business objectives.
With an evolving labor market, the country’s changing demographics and the shift towards more technology-driven opportunities, it's time companies start actively planning for their future and setting strategic objectives.
The Importance of Strategic Workforce Planning
The purpose of strategic workforce planning is to ensure that an organization has the right people with the right skills in the right positions at the right time. This includes both business leaders and workers alike. With adequate talent and even talent management, your company can identify and address its needs and secure future success.
Typically involving a detailed analysis of the current workforce, the skills and talent present at the company, their competencies and the demands of the industry, you can strategically plan for potential gaps and identify future surpluses.
With shifting population dynamics and a tight labor market, like that of Canada’s, it becomes even more critical for companies to consider using a strategic workforce planning template. Since the need for employment has increased and the unemployment rate has decreased, many Canadians are facing the effects of a tight labor market.
However, by understanding the Canadian employment market and anticipating shifts in supply and demand, your company can proactively develop strategies to attract, retain, and develop top talent.
Key Factors to Consider in Strategic Workforce Planning
With an HR plan for your workforce, you can manage your staff more effectively, cater to the needs of your business and work towards achieving your company's objectives. Here are some key factors you should consider when implementing this strategic plan for your business!
Analyzing Your Requirements
One of the key aspects of strategic workforce planning is observing and implementing based on the talent requirements of your organization.
When you conduct a thorough analysis of the talent and skills set your business currently acquires and will require in the future, your company’s management can work towards finding skilled talent that meets your company’s expectations.
Considering Demographic Trends
In our increasingly globalized world, one important factor to consider when developing a workforce plan is to look at the demographic trends and current situation of the employment market.
For example: Canada’s current working population is estimated at around 7,940,300 people. And while this may seem like a high number of people working, the reality is that Canada has an unemployment rate of 5.9%. This means that there is an increase in the number of workers looking for a job and not enough jobs available in the market.
There are multiple reasons for the lack of jobs available, however, it is only when considering current demographic trends that can you identify how competitive it is to hire the right talent for your vacant job openings.
Adjusting Accordingly
With the shift in demographics and population, you might want to also consider reanalyzing the current state of the type of services or goods your business provides. With the retirement of baby boomers and the transition towards more technology-driven innovations, you might want to focus less on hiring workers proficient in the skilled trades and spend more time looking for younger employees proficient in operating heavy machinery.
From the aging workforce to the change in immigration policies are all aspects that will impact the availability of skilled workers in your industry. By taking into consideration these trends, your HR can develop effective strategies to retain and attract the talent and skills your business requires.
Monitoring and Evaluating
Another key factor to consider is the importance of tracking. When you monitor the business turnover rates, employment engagement, and overall performance of your project teams, you can start to notice patterns, and even identify areas where further development is needed. With the help of strategic workforce planning you can monitor, identify and implement change in all these aspects.
Taking Action
Once the employer or management staff has assessed the gaps and surplus, it's time to take action on them. This is a key factor when a business is considering implementing a workforce plan.
This is the part where your HR department can launch upskilling or reskilling programs and consider the benefits of hiring internally rather than hiring new staff to fulfill the company's objectives. With internal mobility initiatives, you can ensure you focus on developing the skill sets of your current employees and mould them into the ideal match for your business.
Rethinking Employment Models
In our post-pandemic world, it is estimated that approximately 20.1% of Canadian workers work from home. During the strategic workforce planning process, employers come across statistics such as the one mentioned above.
This is why it's important to consider employment models when planning for the organization's future.
Thanks to the rise in the dependency of technology, and the advantages of working remotely, current workplace trends suggest it’s time to rethink traditional employment models. With the various benefits of offering flexible working arrangements, it's a key factor that employers and business owners should consider as a key factor.
Labor Laws and Employment Policies
Another key factor to consider is the current labor laws and employment policies set into place. The Canadian Labor Code is something all businesses operating in Canada must abide by and when it comes to generating effective workforce strategies, it’s essential to stay updated and informed.
The constant change in laws and regulations can lead to non-compliance, thus when planning for change in the workplace, you must take into consideration the changing labor laws and employment policies.
Six Steps for Effective Workforce Planning
Workforce planning can be a confusing process and employers may not know where to start. While we have already discussed key factors of what to consider, these six steps will help future provide a strategic workforce planning template.
Please note, that some of the following steps overlap with factors to consider, however, these are all important steps that can be used or removed based on the unique requirements of your company.
Step 1: Environmental Scanning
With the economy and labor market constantly changing and updating based on the current requirements of the employment industry, the first step, for all those who wish to plan for their workforce, is to stay informed.
Staying informed about economic trends, government policies, and industry changes can have an impact on the demand and supply of talent and the popularity of that industry. Making it essential to stay informed about current affairs and the ever-changing laws and regulations.
Step 2: Analyze Internal Data
Take a look at your current workforce.
Do you have a lot of baby boomers who are ready to retire?
Are your experienced employees updating their skills and providing tough competition to new graduates?
Is your company capable of competing in your fast-paced industry?
Are you battling a poor employee turnover rate?
These are just some of the questions an employer should be asking. When you analyze your existing skill sets and their capabilities, you can identify gaps and areas of improvement.
For example, if more than 50% of your workforce is nearing retirement, then your company must plan on hiring new talent that can match the experience and knowledge of your retiring workforce.
Many times the skills your retiring workforce has acquired could be slowly dying and it might be challenging to find new hires with similar skill sets.
Step 3: Forecast Future Needs
With the ever-changing landscape of the business world, strategic workplace planning suggests you predict your company’s future needs and create a realistic plan of action. This new plan of action should consider your industry’s growing technology advancements, and the changing needs of the customer, and should also leave room for potential breaks or disruptions in regular business operations.
Step 4: Identify Talent Gaps
The fourth step is to identify talent gaps. This can be done by comparing your current workforce and its capabilities to the projected needs of your industry. This is a good time to ask yourself how you can improve and what positive change would you like to incorporate into your organization.
The business world is a competitive place and if you cannot offer your customer base something that's both innovative and necessary, then your business will surely take a hit. That’s why it's essential to identify any talent gaps within your business.
Step 5: Develop Talent Strategies
The fifth step is to take action on step number four. Once the gaps have been identified, it's time to address them. This step usually involves providing external training or re-hiring. Based on your company’s requirements, it might be a good option to train your existing employees or partner up with educational institutions to develop skilled workers that match your job description.
If the cost of upskilling your current workforce is not reasonable, it might be a good idea to start looking for new hires through various recruitment platforms.
Step 6: Monitor and Evaluate
The last and final step is to monitor and evaluate. This is an ongoing step that ensures your new plan of action is effective. With this step, you can align your business objectives with the recent actions taken and track your progress.
Examples of Canadian Labor Laws
As a company looking to hire in Canada, you need to consider Canadian labor laws and how they can have an impact on your future ventures. All labor laws can be found in the Canadian Labour Code. This code identifies the responsibilities of employees and employers in a regulated workplace.
The code also identifies the three rights every employee has and employers must respect. The three rights include:
- The right to know;
- The right to participate;
- The right to refuse dangerous work
Hours of Work
While hiring an employee from Canada, you must consider the standard hours of work when planning to implement hiring-related strategies.
Employees are allowed to work eight hours a day (24 hours) and can work for forty hours a week, with one full day of rest each week. During an employee's shifts they are also entitled to breaks or rest periods.
And when there are general holidays falling in a week, employers are encouraged to reduce the hours of work by eight hours for each holiday.
This law can affect your business, as it limits the amount of hours your employees can work. When you plan ahead you can hire or lay off employees based on your current business demands and their legal right to the hours of work.
Minimum Wage
When you plan ahead, you are able to provide a proposed budget of how much you plan on spending and how much you expect to profit. With current labor laws, employers are required to pay their employees the minimum wage of $16.65 for every hour worked.
And for those who have contracts that pay based on service or project, employers are required to pay them the equivalent of minimum wage. This ensures that employees are being paid fairly.
Ultimately when you consider your budget for your strategic workforce planning, you can provide an estimate of how many hours and at what wages your employees will work at. This will provide you with the advantage of accurately allocating resources and budget effectively.
Borderless at Your Service
When hiring employees in Canada, remaining compliant and understanding labor laws becomes essential. This is why employers who wish to legally hire in Canada have two options. The first option is to set up a legal entity in the country and hire locally. The second option employers have is to partner up with an Employer of Record (EOR).
Set Up a Local Entity
Setting up a local entity isn’t as easy as it sounds. In fact, it is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. A business will need to educate themselves on legal regulations, register with local authorities, obtain a tax ID number, open up a bank account, and much more. In addition to the cost of hiring an employee from Canada, the business will have to pay legal fees, consider the cost of setting up an entity and even pay taxes.
Partner with an Employer of Record (EOR)
Another option for companies wanting to hire from Canada is to partner up with an EOR. These establishments act as the legal employer in that country and handle all aspects of the onboarding, hiring and payroll process. From managing payroll to offering employees benefits, an EOR can ensure compliance.
What is Borderless?
Borderless is an EOR that can help you hire top talent from 170+ countries around the globe. At Borderless, you can stay compliant with the local employment laws, hire and even onboard your international team of talented professionals.
With our all-in-one platform, we can cater to all your global payroll needs, while you focus on the other important business functions, such as developing your ideal strategic workforce plan.
Disclaimer: Borderless does not provide legal services or legal advice to anyone. This includes customers, contractors, employees, partners, and the general public. We are not lawyers or paralegals. Please read our full disclaimer here.
