Consequences of Poor Human Resource Planning

Human Resources (HR) Planning is integral to the efficient running and continued success of businesses, enterprises and even start-up companies. At times, many corporations and business owners due to circumstances, certain business factors or extraneous issues have a badly mismanaged top management tier and inconsequential HR departments. The resultant poor human resource planning has an immediate and long-term impact on organizational functioning, employee recruitment and management policies and corporate profitability.

An incompetent and poorly functioning human resources department reflects the overall state of affairs of an organization and its possible uncompetitive position in the marketplace. There is a disconnect between the HR department and the executive management leading to miscommunication, poor decision making on operational aspects and critical mistakes. Employee training and development programs are not properly budgeted for and hiring practices are skewed. Bad HR planning ensures that the HR assets of the organization are not aligned to organizational goals and objectives.

The indifferent attitude of top management and HR quickly filter across organizational levels and employee hierarchies. Work ethics get affected, there are personality conflicts and teamwork becomes non-existent. There is gross underutilization of skills and capabilities of experienced employees. Other talented professionals are not groomed in a generally negative working environment. Poor motivation and lack of incentives and recognition lead to poor performance and even production of poor quality of goods and services.

Recruiting and selecting employees is a continuous cycle. Based on business growth, expansion plans and requirements for specific projects and assignments, employees need to be hired. In a mismanaged organization, HR personnel with a lackadaisical attitude and lack of communication with departmental managers and supervisors are hard-pressed to address workforce requirements. Vacancies and job postings don’t get filled in time and key business functions and operations get affected--having a knock-on affect across the organization.

Poor human resource planning begins to reflect on the corporate ethos of an organization. The working culture is affected and is generally negative. Performance reviews and performance appraisal systems are badly managed and employees uncertain about their immediate and future prospects. Employee safety practices and working conditions can be compromised at factories and manufacturing facilities. Poor working conditions force many workers to quit. Many other employees are also forced to leave the organization.

A dysfunctional HR roadmap or ineffective HR management strategy has long-term consequences for an organization. It affects the performance of a business and the productivity levels of employees. Customer service on all fronts gets affected. The loss of customers and medium-term revenues is quite immediate. Over a period of time, the freefall leads to an impact on the bottom line of an organization.