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Staffing Process

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Staffing is the art of acquiring, developing, and maintaining a satisfactory and satisfied workforce. Staffing is that function by which a manager builds an organization through the recruitment, selection, and development of the individual, which also includes a series of activities. It ensures that the organization has the right number of people at the right places, at the right time, and performing the right thing. 

Staffing Process

As we know, the prime concern of the staffing function in the management process is in the fulfilment of the manpower requirements within an organization. These requirements may arise in the case of starting a new enterprise or expanding the existing one. It may also arise as the need for replacing those who quit, retire, transfer, or are promoted from the job. In any case, the need for ‘the right person for the right job, at the right time’ needs an emphasis.

Staffing Process

The process of staffing consists of several interrelated activities, such as planning for human resources requirements, recruitment, selection, training development, remuneration, and so on. These activities together make the staffing process. Therefore, these are called elements or steps of the staffing process.

1. Manpower Planning

Human resource management is a process of determining the number and type of personnel required for filling the vacant job in an organization. Manpower requirements involve two kinds of analysis, i.e., workload analysis and workforce analysis. Workload analysis involves determining the number and type of employees required to perform various jobs and achieve organizational objectives. Workforce analysis shows the number and type of human resources available with an organization.
The difference between workload and workforce is calculated to determine shortage and surplus of manpower. Excess workload indicates understaffing, i.e., the need of appointing more people and excess workforce indicates overstaffing, i.e., need to remove or transfer some employees to other places.  

2. Recruitment

After estimating manpower requirements, the second step in the process of staffing is recruitment. Recruitment refers to a process of searching for prospective employees and encouraging them to apply for jobs in the organization. It involves identifying various resources of human force and attracting them to apply for the job. The main purpose of a requirement is to create a pool of applicants by a large number of qualified candidates. Recruitment can be done by both internal and external sources of recruitment. Internal sources may be used to a limited extent, and to get fresh talent and a wider choice, external sources can be used.

3. Selection

Selection is the process of choosing and appointing the right candidates for various job positions in the organization. It is treated as a negative process because it involves the rejection of some candidates. There are many steps involved in the process of employee selection. These steps include preliminary screening, filling-in application, written test, interviews, medical examination, checking references, and issuing a letter of appointment to the candidates. The most suitable candidates who meet the requirement of the vacant job are selected. The process of selection serves two important purposes, firstly, it ensures that the organization gets the best among the available candidates, and secondly, it boosts ups the self-esteem and prestige of the candidates. 

4. Placement and Orientation

After selection, an appropriate job is assigned to each selected person. Placement is the process of matching the candidates with the jobs in the organization. Under this process, every selected candidate is assigned a job most suitable for him. The purpose of placement is to fit the right person to the right job so that the efficiency of work is high and the employees get personal satisfaction. Correct placement helps to reduce labour turnover and absenteeism. Here, orientation means introducing new employees to the organization. It is the process of introducing and familiarizing newly appointed candidates with their job, work groups and the organization so that they may feel at home in the new environment.

5. Training and Development

People are in search of careers and not jobs. Every individual must be given a chance to rise to the top. The most favourable way for this to happen is to promote employee learning. For this, organizations either provide training themselves within the organization or through external institutions. This is beneficial for the organization as well. If the employees are motivated enough, it will increase their competence and will be able to perform even better for the organization with greater efficiency and productivity. By providing such opportunities to its employees for career advancement, the organization captivates the interest and holds on of its talented employees. The majority of the organization has a distinct department for this purpose, that is, the Human Resource Department. Though in small organizations, the line manager has to do all the managerial functions viz, planning, organizing, staffing, controlling, and directing. The process of staffing further involves three more stages. 

6. Performance appraisal

After training the employees and having them on the job for some time, there should be an evaluation done on their performance. Every organization has its means of appraisal whether formal or informal. Appraisal refers to the evaluation of the employees of the organization based on their past or present performance by some pre-decided standards. The employee should be well aware of his standards and his superior is responsible for proving feedback on his performance. The process of performance appraisal, thus includes specifying the job, performing appraisal performance, and providing feedback. 

7. Promotion and Career planning

It has now become important for all organizations to deal with career-related issues and promotional routes for employees. The managers should take care of the activities that serve the long-term interests of the employees. They should be encouraged from time to time, which will help the employees to grow and find their true potential. Promotions are an essential part of any employee’s career. Promotion refers to the transferring of employees from their current positions to a higher level increasing their responsibilities, authority and pay.

8. Compensation

Every organization needs to set up plans for the salary and wages of the employees. There are several ways to develop payment plans for the employees depending upon the significance of the job. The worth of the job needs to be decided. Therefore, all kinds of payments or rewards provided to the employees is referred to as compensation. The compensation may be in the form of direct financial payments, such as salary, wages, bonuses, etc., or indirect payments like insurance or vacations provided to the employee. 

Direct financial payments are of two kinds, that is, performance-based and time-based. In a time-based payment plan, the salary or wages are paid daily, weekly, monthly, or annually, whereas, the performance-based payment plan is the payment of salary or wages according to the set task. There are many ways in which the compensation of the employee based on their performance can be calculated. There are also plans, which are a combination of both time-based and performance-based. There are a few factors that affect the payment plan, such as legal, company policy, union, and equity. Thus, staffing is the process that includes possession, retention, promotion, and compensation of the human capital, that is, the most important resource of the organization. There are several factors such as the supply and demand of specific skills in the labour market, legal and political considerations, the company’s image, policy, unemployment rate, human resource planning cost, labour market conditions, technological developments, general economic environment, etc., that may affect the execution of recruitment, selection, and training. 

Aspects or Components of Staffing

There are three aspects or components of staffing, namely, recruitment, selection, and training. They are defined below:

  • Recruitment: It is the process of finding potential candidates for a particular job in an organization. The process of recruitment involves persuading people to apply for the available positions in the organization. 
  • Selection: It is the process of recognizing potential and hiring the best people out of several possible candidates. This is done by shortlisting and choosing the deserving and eliminating those who are not suitable for the job. 
  • Training: It is the process that involves providing the employees with an idea of the type of work they are supposed to do and how it is to be done. It is a way of keeping the employees updated on the way of work in an organization and the new and advanced technologies.


Last Updated : 18 Jan, 2024
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