Finding the right people for particular jobs and then organizing the work force under effective staffing and scheduling policies is important to business success. Many human resource managers turn to particular types of tried-and-true staffing and scheduling policies, which serve as blueprints or plans-of-action for how they will go about hiring and organizing people in their own company. As with many different companies, success depends on modeling the most appropriate example of staffing and scheduling policies.

Ethnocentric Staffing

According to the academic resource website Brain Mass, an ethnocentric staffing policy entails filling all managerial positions at the new branch office with employees from the parent company. For example, if you open a subsidiary in a different country, only current U.S. employees of the parent company would qualify to be in charge. As Dr. Charles W. L. Hill, who has a Ph.D. in industrial organization economics, notes: An ethnocentric staffing policy can help unify a company’s corporate culture across all its branches.

Polycentric Staffing

With polycentric staffing, parent company employees do not dominate all of the managerial positions. While they still hold the highest titles at headquarters, employees who live in the host location are allowed to manage the subsidiaries. In addition to being more culturally harmonious or equal, Dr. Hill notes, this policy is also typically less expensive than an ethnocentric one.

Geocentric Staffing

The geocentric staffing policy requires that you fill open positions with the best qualified people, regardless of their current positions or where they live. According to Dr. Hill, this policy has several advantages, one of them being that it allows a multi-national company to build an “army” or network of international managers who can operate comfortably within a variety of cultural settings.

Shift-Based Scheduling

The Oakland University School of Business Administration notes there are two main work-force scheduling policies: shift-based and dynamic. Within shift-based scheduling, however, are several variations. For example, businesses and offices that use shift-based scheduling typically have employees work the same shift each work day, such as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In contrast, a 24-hour restaurant operation might split its work force schedule into three separate shifts, such as a morning shift from 4 a.m. to noon, a day shift from noon to 8 p.m., and a night shift from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Unlike corporate office workers, employees in a retail hospitality business or health care operation might work different shifts each day.

Dynamic Scheduling

For certain types of businesses and organizations, a dynamic scheduling policy is the only one that makes sense. These policies do not set fixed times when employees should work. Instead, employees are expected to work when they are needed. For example, as Oakland University notes, employees who repair home ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems go to work when a system needs repairing and will not have scheduled work otherwise.