The staffing process

The staffing process has these steps:

• Estimating manpower requirements: a workload analysis finds how many people, and of what kind, are needed; a workforce analysis finds how many are available. Comparing the two shows whether the firm is overstaffed, understaffed, or optimally staffed. Both over- and understaffing are undesirable.
• Recruitment: searching for candidates and creating a pool of applicants.
• Selection: choosing the best person from the pool.
• Placement and orientation: orientation introduces the new employee to colleagues, rules and the workplace; placement puts him in the job he was selected for.
• Training and development: helping people build careers, not just do jobs.
• Performance appraisal: judging how well each person works, against set standards.
• Promotion and career planning: moving people to higher posts, with more pay and responsibility.
• Compensation: all forms of pay. Direct payments are wages and salaries, either time-based (by the hour or month) or performance-based (by units produced). Indirect payments are benefits such as employer-paid insurance and paid vacations.

Example: workload analysis shows 30 machine operators are needed, but only 24 are working. The firm is understaffed, so it prepares job descriptions and starts recruitment.