Implement succession planning system

Succession planning is the process of planning for the smooth continuation and success of an
organisation if key employees or leaders leave. It allows for key employee’s positions to be filled
should the employee go on extended leave.

Succession planning involves the identification and preparation of suitable replacements from
within the organisation, through mentoring, training or job rotation. It focuses on developing high-
potential employees. In order to be effective, succession planning must be an open process that
doesn’t alienate employees.

Succession planning can be conducted in a number of ways. A common way is to get existing
personnel to identify potential replacements on a short, medium or long term basis (these may be
different people based on current skill sets). They can also identify any development needs and can
act as mentors to candidates. This can be very successful, however it also has the potential to favour
certain people based on perceptions and relationships.

Alternatively, the organisation may create some succession planning pools where a selection
committee of senior managers and HR practitioners use predetermined criteria to evaluate
employees over a certain level. These individuals then have development plans designed for them.
SURVEY ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE TO GAUGE WORKER SATISFACTION

Organisational climate refers to the way that individual employees, and groups of employees feel
about the characteristics and quality of their organisation’s culture. It is subjective in nature and
explores beliefs, feeling, assumptions and perceptions. A positive organisational climate will
generally mean that employees have greater job satisfaction and are less likely to look for alternative
employment. Organisational climate impacts on:

 employee retention  job satisfaction

 employee wellbeing  absenteeism

 workplace stress  performance levels

 goal attainment  innovation

 productivity  profitability

Ways to measure organisational culture and climate include:

 ideology questionnaires

 culture inventories

 climate questionnaires or surveys

 employee satisfaction surveys

 opinion surveys

 organisational climate questionnaires/surveys.

These questionnaires or surveys seek to assess organisations in terms of elements that encapsulate
or describe perceptions about an organisation’s climate. They ask questions in a number of
categories:
Consider the following when designing a survey:

 The sequence of items should be logical, preferably from easier to answer to more difficult. Easy
items encourage completion, so a difficult opening question may encourage people not to complete,
or complete truthfully.

 Items that have the same or similar subject matter should be grouped together to make it easier to
respond to.

 Survey should ask for facts wherever possible. Where opinions are necessary, the scenario or
context is important to capture as well.

 Most respondents prefer to answer multiple-choice, yes/no or scaled questions. Not only is this
easier to tabulate, it can make for more objective and accurate answers.
 Where it is appropriate to ask freeform questions, make sure you leave enough space for
respondents to answer.

 Make sure that your questions ask for information that will be easy to remember. Don’t go too far
back in time, or ask about obscure events.

 Wording must be clear and easy to understand. Questionnaires can be asked as a survey, or an
interview. Interviews generally allow for more detailed investigation, provided the interviewer builds
a good rapport with the respondent.

STRATEGIES TO SOURCE SKILLED LABOUR

There are a number of sources for skilled labour: Internal recruitment – there is often an untapped
well of people within an organisation who hold skills and experiences not currently being utilised; it’s
cheaper, quicker and often more productive to the organisation to look to this source. External
recruitment – if your internal search has not been fruitful, or it wasn’t appropriate to look internally
at all, you will need to look externally to your organisation.

 Online recruitment – job boards etc. www.seek.com.au.

 Company website advertising – ‘careers’ tabs on organisations websites.

 Newspapers – a common, but declining method.

 Trade, professional journals and magazines.

 Recruitment agencies.

 Networking – provides opportunities for managers to meet a range of people before there is
pressure to fill a position.

 Employee referrals – ‘friends of friends’ or personal recommendations can be a cost effective way
to source skilled employees.

 Adapt recruitment practices to attract a target demographic.

 Promote career pathways to attract skilled, career oriented workers.

 Participate in VET in schools work experience to access quality school leavers.

 Directly employ visa migrants.

OBJECTIVES TO RETAIN REQUIRED SKILLED LABOUR

Retention strategies are those strategies that help organisations to retain employees with the skills,
knowledge, capabilities and experience they need to meet their current and future needs. Effective
retention strategies will reduce an organisation’s need to recruit additional employees. Retention
strategies should help employees to see a future for them in the organisation and provide
employees with development opportunities that will assist them to develop their careers with the
organisation.

Retention strategies

Ensuring that an organisation attracts, retains, motivates and develops the people it needs now and
in the future is the basis of workforce planning. A retention strategy that encourages employees to
stay with an organisation is essential if that organisation is going to keep the skills, talent, knowledge
and expertise it needs to meet its objectives. Retention strategies should take into account the
specific retention issues an organisation faces and outline methods for handling them. Some
retention strategies that an organisation might use include:

 Talent audits – carried out to identify employees that are needed or who have potential for future
promotion

 Role development – focuses on making the roles within the organisation challenging, autonomous
and interesting

 Relationship management – employees join organisations, but leave managers

 Employee support strategies - give people the tools and equipment they need to get the job done

 provide productive, challenging job roles

 clearly define job responsibilities and accountabilities
 encourage initiative and innovation
 avoid micro-management
 Training, learning and development – these opportunities can be strong motivating factors for
staff as it shows an organisation is prepared to invest time and money in a person. Organisations can
work in collaboration with educational partners (VET providers, High education providers, and school
programs) to increase employees work skills.
 performance management – effective performance management systems help identify employees
with potential, build relationships, establish career paths, increase engagement
 Career planning/management – a process that leads employees through a progression of roles to
enable them to achieve their short and long term career goals
 Reward – appropriate reward (including remuneration) for effort, performance and achievements
is important in motivating staff to stay
 Becoming an employer of choice – these are organisations that are attractive to the workforce;
they are a great place to work
 provide employees with good career prospects
 provide a positive working environment o remunerate employees well
 care about employee wellbeing
 provide positive leadership/management
 challenge employees, give them opportunities to grow and develop
 make employees feel valued
 give employees adequate responsibility and autonomy
 allow employees to maintain a balance between work and the rest of their life
 giving opportunities to travel, or ‘job swap’ internationally
 opportunities for taking sabbaticals
 shorter working weeks/flexible work arrangements
 leadership development programs
 coaching and mentoring programs
 adequate induction training

 Employee growth strategies- strategies to deal with personal and professional growth. Good
employees want to develop new knowledge and skills in order to improve their value in the
marketplace and enhance their own self-esteem