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Human Resources Manual - 1401 - Setting Planning Objectives

Contents

Introduction

  1. Human resource planning objectives are strategic in nature, and are based on the Human Resource Planning Policy and Directive approved by Cabinet.
  2. Human resource planning is most effective when it is linked with strategic, operational and work planning.
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Application

  1. These guidelines and procedures apply to all employees, except those employed by the NWT Power Corporation.
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Definitions

  1. Action Plan means a document that explains the strategies departments have decided to do to meet their forecasted human resource needs.
  2. Affirmative Action means temporary employment equity measures to help specific under-represented groups acquire and maintain employment in the public service.
  3. Barrier means any attitude, belief, system, policy, practice or procedure which denies or limits access to employment or career development opportunities.
  4. Career Planning means the process by which employees set their own career goals and identify training and development strategies to achieve those goals. Supervisors encourage and assist employees to develop career plans.
  5. Definitive Objectives describe planned activities that a department expects to do within the budget year.
  6. Employment Equity means equality of access to employment opportunities and freedom from discrimination in the workplace. The usual indicator of employment equity is a workforce that is representative of the population it serves.
  7. Employment Equity Activities means specific actions that help departments achieve employment equity by removing employment barriers and compensating for systemic disadvantages. Examples include staff training and development for under-represented groups, revised job descriptions that reflect realistic educational requirements, and the creation of entry level and bridging positions.
  8. Employment Equity Planning means human resource planning that focuses on increasing opportunities and removing barriers within the workplace to achieve a representative work force.
  9. External Workforce means all employment sectors outside of the Government.
  10. Forecasting is the process of making predictions, based on systematic and thorough analysis of all information.
  11. Forecasting Methods are specific techniques designed to yield accurate predictions.
  12. Goal means a broad, general statement describing what a department will do over the planning period to meet its human resource needs.
  13. Human Resource Planning means the analysis of human resource needs and the development of strategies to reach them. The purpose of human resource planning is to help managers set and achieve strategic and operational goals.
  14. Human Resource Requirements means the number and type of people the department will need over the planning period to achieve its objectives.
  15. Indicators measure results of activities, often in quantitative terms, to assess the value of performance.
  16. Internal Workforce means the territorial public service.
  17. Merit means deserving of appointment or promotion because of qualifications, competence and personal suitability.
  18. Operational Planning means the process of defining departmental priorities and developing specific plans to realize them. In the Government, these plans are set out in the department's business plan. The department's business plan focuses on the current year for which the Main Estimates are developed, the next three years for operation and maintenance planning, and the next five years for capital planning. Departmental budgets (Main Estimates) are developed from the department's business plan.
  19. Secondment means the temporary assignment of an employee to another position within another department, board, agency or outside organization for professional development or to make use of an employee's expertise not available in a management unit.
  20. Staff Development means activities that prepare employees for promotion, by focusing on skills beyond those needed for the job they have now.
  21. Staff Training means activities that provide employees with specific information or skills to improve their performance in the job they have now.
  22. Strategy means a sequence of specific planned actions deliberately selected by departments to achieve a pre-set goal.
  23. Strategic Planning means the process of defining long-term objectives and developing strategies to achieve those objectives.
  24. Structural Objectives are the departments activities that do not change from one budget year to the next.
  25. Succession Planning means the process by which employees are prepared to fill key positions.
  26. Tool is a generic term used to describe a wide variety of human resource management techniques which can be included in strategies.
  27. Transfer Assignment means the temporary assignment of an employee to another position within the same department for professional development or to make use of an employee's expertise not available in a management unit.
  28. Vulnerable Positions are positions scheduled for evaluation or removal, or which departments may expect to evaluate or remove during the planning period.
  29. Workforce Adjustment means the process of changing the number of people employed. Decreasing the size of the workforce or down-sizing is achieved through reassignment, early retirement, lay-offs and/or planned attrition.
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Guidelines

  1. Human resource action plans indicate how departments manage human resources to achieve operational objectives.
  2. Departments may request professional assistance from the Department of Human Resources.
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Procedures

  1. The department's human resource planner and the Director of Finance jointly produce an operational overview, which includes the following:
    1. mandate (mission statement);
    2. current organization chart (including regions);
    3. the department's resource management planning objectives, based on the following:
      • the department's legal mandate;
      • structural and definitive operational objectives for the planning period;
      • planned organization changes;
      • economic, political, social, other factors impacting on the department;
      • expected legislative changes;
      • demographic data on the internal and external workforces;
      • employment equity status;
      • management philosophies and policies, objectives and goals;
      • patterns of employee turnover and mobility.
    4. An environmental scan (an analysis of social, political, economic, and internal factors that may affect the achievement of human resource planning and/or the departmental business plan).
  2. Deputy Heads meet with their managers to do the following:
    1. explain the combined human resource/operational planning process and how plan development will be coordinated within the department;
    2. explain the role of the department's human resource planner;
    3. present the department's operational overview;
    4. agree on the department's business plan objectives;
    5. agree on the department's human resource planning objectives;
    6. assign responsibility for coordination of division/region plans and define the time frame for completion.
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Authorities and References

Human Resource Planning Policy
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Last Updated: January 1997