Consequences of Poor Human Resource Planning

Properly managing your employees not only helps you get the best out of your workers, but it also helps prevent problems that can seriously damage or even close your business. Lack of communication can lead to loss of revenue, decreased morale or breaking federal and state laws. Understanding the consequences of poor workforce management will help you determine whether you need to hire an HR manager or consultant and what you can do to minimize problems.

If you do not create an organization chart, complete with detailed job descriptions, important work might not be started or completed because employees might not know who is responsible for a key step in the process. Workers might even notice that something isn’t being done, but they won’t report it if they don’t feel it’s their job. If you hire without specific policies in place, you will further disrupt your business if you have to deal with unqualified new hires.

Frustrated employees are more likely to leave than those who have clear job descriptions, expectations and reviews based on written job descriptions. Promoting employees without clear, posted criteria can lead other employees to feel you are practicing favoritism and that they have no chance for advancement with your business.

Part of human resources planning is writing, distributing and updating company policies. If you do not treat all employees fairly, based on written policies, you can be sued for discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment or other reasons. A policy guide should cover employee hours, dress code, parking, pay, safety, use of company computers and materials, grievance procedure and chain of command. In addition to lawsuits, you might face fines and penalties if you run afoul of federal and state workplace issues covering workers’ compensation insurance, mandated employee signage and safety.

Your HR procedures should include a step-by-step process for writing job descriptions, placing advertisements, reviewing candidates, interviewing, performing background and reference checks, and appointing department heads who will be involved in each search. It should also cover policies for evaluating the pay for positions and making final offers. Once a new employee is hired, he should be trained so he knows exactly how to perform the job. Without a detailed hiring procedure, you can hire the wrong person and end up having to provide extensive training for him, move him to another department or terminate him and start the process over.