Recruiting & Staffing
Home
Complete archive of features and news articles, sample policies and procedures, assessments, and surveys.
Network and exchange ideas with other members in the forums or ask an expert in one of the hosted forums.
Access vendor directories, product case studies and showcases.
Read Best in Shows, view our conference calendar, read commentaries and take our news poll.
The Hot List
Blogs
Topic Channels
Comp, Benefits, Rewards
HR Management
Legal Insight
Recruiting and Staffing
Software and Technology
Training and Development
= Member Only
Workforce HR Jobs
Post Your Job
Post Your Resume



Subscribe Now
Workforce Magazine
Subscriber Help
























= Member Only


Feature:

Staffing, Down to a Science

  

Feature Contents
Top of Feature

1. Bill Gates Seeks Rise in Immigration of Highly Skilled Workers
Last year, the 65,000-person ceiling was exceeded on April 2, the first day that companies could apply for visas for the next fiscal year.

2. Kick-Starting the Planning Process


3. Predicting Performance
From its perch at the very top of Fortune’s “Best Companies to Work For” rankings, Google dispatches a select group of employees to predict the company’s demand for skills and the future availability of talent to meet that demand. Google’s workforce planning process covers all 16,805 employees worldwide.

4. The Toughest HR Job in America
People chiefs like ConAgra Foods’ Peter Perez demonstrate how best practices are emerging from the most challenging industries. In an industry beset by regulatory changes, frequent workplace injury, labor unrest and increasingly demanding buyers, Perez employs innovative people practices to keep the food manufacturer’s business on track.


Similar Documents

Related Topics



Sponsored Tools

Recruiting & Staffing Software
The industy's #1 Applicant Tracking System! Solutions for SMBs and Enterprise organizations.


Discover PCRecruiter Recruitment Solutions
Discover PCRecruiter, the versatile applicant tracking solution used by over 2700 organizations.


Contact Center Testing Software
Self-scoring software helps hire contact center reps right the first time! Toll-free phone help too!


World-Class Recruiting Software
Powerful, custom-tailored applicant tracking & onboarding by SonicRecruit. Click here for free tour


Hiring Success with Resource Associates testing
Don’t settle for one test for all jobs, we can create a testing system to match your unique needs.


Get Listed >>>

 



Kick-Starting the Planning Process


Now in its second century of manufacturing legendary motorcycles, Harley-Davidson Inc. pulled in $5.7 billion a year in 2007 from sales in 60 global markets and a workforce of 9,700. But it also found itself facing the same labor shortages in critical fields, such as materials and marketing, that now plague all manufacturers.
By Fay Hansen

ow in its second century of manufacturing legendary motorcycles, Harley-Davidson Inc. pulled in $5.7 billion a year in 2007 from sales in 60 global markets and a workforce of 9,700. But it also found itself facing the same labor shortages in critical fields, such as materials and marketing, that now plague all manufacturers.

    "It was taking more effort to fill our pipelines," says Lisa Coury, director of talent management.

    Current openings at the company include engineers, material planners and supply chain analysts. Production workers, represented by two unions, make up two-thirds of the Harley workforce. Although U.S. sales slowed in 2007, international sales increased 13.7 percent, and the company’s plants must keep pace with growing global demand for the unique brand.

    Harold Scott, Harley’s vice president of human resources, noted changes in market conditions, the company’s heavy retirement rate and the growing complexity of managing a multi-generational workforce, and tapped Coury to create a workforce planning capability within the human resources function in 2007. "We needed to develop work­force planning as a set of defined processes," Coury says.

    Coury began by conducting substantial research, benchmarking and discussing workforce planning with organizations that already had planning processes in place.

    "We knew from talking to other organizations that we needed to walk before we could run," she says. "So we started small, using pilot groups and feedback from those groups to enhance our methodology and pro­cesses. It’s a journey. The key is to work with business leaders who understand the value of workforce planning." The first pilot group was the materials group, which was experiencing high levels of employee movement.

    Coury uses key quarterly metrics segmented by business unit to spur interest in workforce planning. A 40-page deep-dive report on the salaried workforce includes measures in 30 different areas and the potential business impact of developments in those areas. The report shows trends over a three-year period. "These key metrics whet the appetites of the executives and create the initial pull for workforce planning," Coury says. "Then we work with these executives to begin the process."

    The workforce planning process involves a number of key members in each business group. "We begin with one-on-one meetings with leadership to obtain qualitative workforce information, and then we marry this to our detailed quantitative analysis to project hiring needs over a three-year horizon," Coury says. "Then we develop an action plan for the steps we need to take within an agreed-upon time frame."

    The planning process at Harley-Davidson now incorporates three areas: forecasting, workforce segmentation and strategic skills identification. To help build the process, Coury brought over an analyst from HR planning. "You need someone with strong analytical skills," she says.

    "It’s one thing to collect a lot of data and create a workforce planning process, but the point is to achieve results," Coury says. "The objective is to increase HR’s ability to service the business. That means turning data into information that can help the business leaders make more informed decisions. We pursue workforce planning for the value and the power it brings to the organization."

Workforce Management, April 21, 2008, p. 18 -- Subscribe Now!


Fay Hansen is a Workforce Management contributing editor based in Cresskill, New Jersey. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
Next Article: 3. Predicting Performance
From its perch at the very top of Fortune’s “Best Companies to Work For” rankings, Google dispatches a select group of employees to predict the company’s demand for skills and the future availability of talent to meet that demand. Google’s workforce planning process covers all 16,805 employees worldwide.

Top of Feature | Features Archive

           
E-mail this document Printer-friendly version Write to the Editor Reprint Information

Reproductions and distribution of the above article are strictly prohibited. To order reprints and/or request permission to use the article in full or partial format, please contact our Reprint Sales Manager at (732) 723-0569.







Copyright © 1995-2008 Crain Communications Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement