Hi, Can I please some assistance on this question as I am really stuck. If it can be broken down that may help. I have cut and paste the case study (if its to much thanks for at least looking at it) this has been answered, but im really stuck on transferring the answer into a WORKFORCE ACTION PLAN I have tried to attatch the template they ask me to use thanks

a.Review the relevant trends and supply and demand factors that will impact on an organisation's workforce. Tarmac's human resource needs are constantly changing:

a.Sometimes individuals leave the organisation to take up other posts.

oSome individuals retire.

oEmployees are promoted within the business.

oNew technology removes some roles but also creates new types of jobs.

oThe changing economic climate may result in more or less demand for its products.

Develop a workforce action plan that includes relevant research and specific strategies to ensure access to a skilled and diverse workforce and that includes strategies to respond to supply and demand factors.

Introduction

Tarmac was established in 1903 and is the NSW leading supplier

of building materials and aggregates to the building industry.

Tarmac is most often associated with constructing roads or major

building projects such as the new Sydney terminal. However,

materials derived from quarrying are used within many different

sectors, including manufacturing light bulbs, chewing gum and

toothpaste.

Tarmac's operational structure is divided into two key areas:

Tarmac NSW and Tarmac International. Tarmac NSW is subdivided

into two separate businesses:

Tarmac Ltd extracts key building aggregates and materials.

Tarmac Building Products Ltd focuses on turning raw materials

into products useable by the building sector.

Tarmac International develops building products for supply around

the world, especially in the United Arab Emirates.

Nearly 30 employees work for Tarmac in a variety of work

settings that include:

1 quarries

1wharf

3 asphalt plants

2 concrete plants

3 recycling sites.

In the past, most people's view of a Tarmac employee would have

been a man in a hard hat. That is not the case anymore. Tarmac

depends on having people with high levels of skill in externallyfacing

roles such as sales, customer service and marketing, as

well as internal roles in IT, finance or procurement (often called

purchasing). The recruitment of specialist employees in these roles

is now central to Tarmac's growth.

It is said that the most important resource within an organisation is

its people. This is because an organisation depends on the skills

and capabilities of its employees to meet its mission. Employees

are not a static resource. They need to be engaged, interested,

developed and motivated. It is through such processes that

organisations meet their business objectives and increase their

employees' capabilities to create competitive advantage. This

helps the organisation to outperform many of its rivals.

This case study focuses on Human Resource Management

within Tarmac. It looks at how workforce planning and other

HR strategies enable Tarmac to meet its mission:

Human Resource Management

A key element of Human Resource Management is to identify

what level of human resources the business needs. This includes

the skills and knowledge that will be required by the organisation

both now and in the future. This is an integrated process as it

involves looking at every area within an organisation. Tarmac

constantly reviews all of its human resource needs.

For Tarmac, Human Resource Management is a strategic process.

This is because it involves the whole business in planning for the

future. Having the right skills and knowledge enables the business

to meet its objectives and compete more effectively than its rivals.

Tarmac's vision is to 'achieve the exceptional'. To deliver value to all

its stakeholders, Tarmac created an integrated plan, which

requires all employees to contribute in different ways. Tarmac helps

all employees remember and focus on its five big goals by using the

acronym 'DREAM':

As Tarmac's business is now much broader, it must keep developing

its people. A key element of its plan is to 'engage employees' to

use their energy and skills to improve the business. The HR

management process provides the means to do. For example,

the HR department offers formal internal and external courses to

give people training in key skills related to their current roles.

Engaging people takes many forms. Tarmac ensures that

employees are motivated through:

clear and understandable objectives and targets

being helped to improve and acquire the skills, qualifications

and training to do their jobs effectively

being recognised for their performance and rewarded accordingly.

A vital element of this drive to achieve the exceptional is ensuring

that there are excellent communication systems in place. Without

senior managers clearly sharing corporate objectives, employees

would not know what they need to achieve or what skills they may

have to acquire to meet these targets.

Workforce planning

Workforce planning involves a continual review of human assets

and the business' organisational structure. The process identifies

the skills and knowledge required at the present time. It also

estimates what Tarmac needs to have in place to respond to

future challenges in its market place. Like most other businesses,

Tarmac's human resource needs are constantly changing:

Sometimes individuals leave the organisation to take up

other posts.

Some individuals retire. (This is a growing issue with the UK's

ageing population.)

Employees are promoted within the business.

New technology removes some roles but also creates new

types of jobs.

The changing economic climate may result in more or less

demand for its products.

D Develop markets By targeting customers and working

closely with them

R Reduce costs By being operationally efficient

E Engage employees With everyone working to one plan

and having good performance

recognised

A Act responsibly By promoting a sustainable and safe

approach to business

M Manage assets By looking after investments and

equipment, as well as the natural

resources used by the business

The changing and evolving nature of Tarmac's business means it

needs to anticipate where new skills, such as those involved with

different technologies, are required. This helps it to identify what

training existing employees need to support future growth for the

business.

The core business of Tarmac is producing aggregate such as

rock, gravel and sand. The aggregate is extracted from quarries

and distributed to both wholesale and private customers. In

addition to the production of aggregate, Tarmac uses its own

materials to provide the building trade with many other products.

For example, sand, gravel, water and cement mixed together will

make concrete that is helping to build the infrastructure for Sydney

2012 Olympics. A mixture of various sizes of aggregate added to

sand and bitumen will be used by the Nottinghamshire Highways

Partnership to repair all roads across the county until 2016.

Harden Quarry in NSW produces a decorative stone called

Harden Red. This is used for cycle tracks and for the grounds of

Buckingham Palace, due to its unique properties and red

colouring.

Such a distinctive product portfolio means Tarmac needs to have

a more diverse workforce than ever to support its operations.

Due to increases in new technology and improved ways of

working, Tarmac requires specialist skills across the business,

both on sites and in Head Offices.

Tarmac's people make the business the market leader that it is.

Employing people with science, business, engineering, finance,

language, and information technology backgrounds helps to

ensure Tarmac stays at the forefront of its industry. For example,

there are key roles within the Head Office. Other individuals are

required for a range of commercial roles, for example, an Account

Manager looking after a group of customers. This requires strong

communication and organisational skills to ensure all account

customers get the materials they need on time.

Chris moved into this role when joining Tarmac's Graduate scheme:

'It's my responsibility to analyse the market for the types of

materials we supply and monitor prices. I also provide quotations

for customers, support on-site teams at jobs we are supplying and

work with colleagues to ensure the customer gets what they need.'

Other commercial roles support Tarmac's business development:

Web Marketing Officer - This job focuses on developing

Tarmac's presence on the internet. The site uses digital

marketing activities to develop relationships with existing and

potential customer groups. This role is vital in a competitive

market. Other aspects include creating, analysing and

providing detailed web reports for senior management. These

show how successful previous campaigns have been and help

inform development decisions.

Senior Finance Officer - This role is vital in helping Tarmac to

achieve financial targets. Supporting a Director, this involves

managing financial teams that generate information such as

regular financial reports. As well as co-ordinating activities

relating to this information, the role involves setting budgets

and targets for the business.

Procurement Manager - Managing the supply of more than

20,000 items per year costing $40 to $50 million, this role

involves monitoring the business' needs and purchasing a

range of resources at the best possible rate.

Inbound Services Co-ordinator - Manages a team that

supports customer service within the business. It involves

helpline calls, website enquiries and providing customer

support for a range of services. In the competitive building

supplies sector, contracts can be won or lost on the quality of

customer service provided. It is important that this role is

performed effectively.

These posts indicate how much Tarmac's human resource needs

and make-up have changed, requiring more office-based staff to

drive the business forwards.

Getting the right people

The starting point of the workforce planning process is to identify

employment needs for the future. At the heart of this are the

processes of attraction, recruitment and selection. Tarmac

needs to manage these processes effectively in order to ensure it

gets high quality candidates for posts. Recruitment is a costly

process and so Tarmac uses a structured approach to ensure

that the right candidates are selected.

Tarmac

Attracting people involves constructing job descriptions and

person specifications. These identify what the job involves and

what essential and desirable qualities the candidate must have.

These are used to advertisements, which are placed in

relevant press and media, for instance trade journals like

Construction Weekly or Personnel Today.

Recruiting the right people is fundamental to Tarmac's

development. It recruits individuals capable of reaching higher

potential. This involves looking for individuals with diverse skills

from a range of backgrounds.

Selection is the process undertaken by human resource managers of

choosing the best individual that has applied for a job vacancy. For

graduate applicants, Tarmac uses a range of different selection tools

including competence questions, a group exercise, delivering a

presentation, psychometric testing and an interview. This thorough

process ensures that Tarmac appoints the most suitable individuals.

Building skills and capabilities

At Tarmac, each individual has a personal development plan.

This enables employees to identify the skills or knowledge they

want to develop to improve their capability and efficiency. As a key

part of the process of workforce planning, this helps Tarmac and

individual employees to set targets for the future.

The process of personal development helps employees to achieve

their full potential. This never stops and demonstrates the

underlying practice of 'learning for life'. Individual employees are

assessed on how they perform in their plan. This therefore takes

both them and the business forward. The roles that they might

move towards include:

Commercial Analyst - this involves supporting Finance and

Commercial Managers by analysing the way in which the

business performs, managing major projects and setting

targets for the different parts of the organisation. In particular,

this helps assess how close projects are to 'getting things right

first time', minimising waste and improving profitability.

Business Administration Team Leader - this role ensures that

systems are in place to support business processes. This role

also includes mentoring and identifying opportunities to

improve systems.

Human Resources Advisor - this involves providing a range of

human resource services across the organisation. These

include recruitment and selection, being involved in developing

good relationships across the business, health and safety

issues and grievance procedures.

Developing employees' skills motivates staff and provides great

opportunities for them to progress, whilst helping Tarmac to

improve its efficiency and profitability.

Conclusion

Human Resource Management focuses on matching the needs of

the business with the needs and development of employees.

Tarmac depends on its people because their skills contribute to

achieving its business objectives.

Within Tarmac, every employee has a valuable role to play. The

emphasis is on helping individuals to work together. Workforce

planning is part of this strategic process, which looks at the longterm

needs across the organisation. Personal development plans

enable every individual to grow both professionally and personally

within the business. They also help Tarmac to a distinct

and important competitive advantage through selecting and

developing highly motivated and skilled staff who are able to

perform at high levels.

What actions will I take to develop them?

What skills or behaviours do I want to develop?

How do I measure my success?

What are the benefits of development for me?

How do they help Tarmac?