Staffing

Staffing is the management function concerned with obtaining, utilising, and maintaining a satisfactory and satisfied workforce — putting the right person into the right job. It is essentially the manning function of management, and its importance flows from the fact that no organisation, however well planned and organised on paper, can achieve its objectives without the right people to carry the work out.

Importance of staffing: helps discover and obtain competent personnel for various jobs; makes for higher performance by putting the right person in the right job; ensures the continuous survival and growth of the enterprise through effective succession planning; helps ensure optimum utilisation of the human resource by avoiding overmanning/undermanning; and improves job satisfaction and morale of employees through objective assessment and fair reward of performance.

Staffing process — a brief outline:

1. Estimating manpower requirements — assessing the number and kind of personnel required, both immediately and in the future (workload analysis and workforce analysis).
2. Recruitment — searching for prospective employees and encouraging them to apply for jobs in the organisation.
3. Selection — choosing the most suitable candidates from those who applied, through a process of screening (application blank, tests, interviews, medical examination, reference checks).
4. Placement and orientation — placing the selected person on the job they are found best suited for, and familiarising them with the job, colleagues, and the rules of the organisation.
5. Training and development — improving the knowledge and skill of employees for their present job (training) and for future responsibilities (development). …