CIPD ASSIGNMENT HELP SAMPLES - 5HR02

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5HR02 – Talent Management and Workforce Planning

The Case Study

ParcelCare is a long-established national parcel and package delivery service. ParcelCare is now finding it difficult to attract, recruit and retain staff throughout the organisation. You have just started in your new role of People Manager and have been asked to report to senior leaders on how these issues can be addressed. In preparation, you write answers to the 10 questions below.

To help the reader, please make use of headings and assessment criteria references to signpost the assessment criteria being addressed.

AC 1.1: New entrants to the parcel delivery market and other labour market competitors have adversely affected ParcelCare’s ability to compete in labour markets. Explain how ParcelCare can strategically position themselves in competitive labour markets. 

Explain how organisations strategically position themselves in competitive labour markets.

It is first essential to understand what a ‘competitive labour market’ is, which helps in determining what organisations can do to strategically position themselves. A competitive labour market, as described by Ansari (2020) is a system where both companies and employees are competing for talent and working opportunities, respectively and that the wages are determined by the industry. This means that employees are constantly looking for job opportunities and companies are continuously exploring the right talent.

To strategically position oneself in the competitive labour market, three key approaches that a company can consider, such as ParcelCare include;

Become and Employer of Choice

An employer of choice is among the four dimensions of the Higgs (2004) model, which describes the types of employers. The rest three types are employer of cash where there is good rewards but poor working environment, employer of value where there is less pay and rewards but good working environment, and employer of churn, where there is poor working environment and poor pay (Higgs and Cloutman, 2019). For ParcelCare, becoming an employer of choice means that the company will be offering sufficient, fair, and equal pay alongside an excellent working environment. As a result, employees feel attracted to work at the company and such a working environment and rewards system reduces the possibilities and intentions of the employee leaving. Besides the base pay, Parcel Care can become an employer of choice through a wide range of benefits and a supportive working environment.

Competitor Analysis

One of the key elements in an organisation is the ability to match the current trends and market leads, particularly in what they offer to the employees (Sudirjo, 2023). This means that as a company, ParcelCare would need to do a thorough research and analysis of what competitors are offering their employees in terms of pay and benefits. It means that from the competitor analysis, whether in the industry or outside, ParcelCare would establish the specific trends and offers that the leading companies are offering and use the knowledge to inform on the company’s current and future offers to the workforce.

Employer Branding

An employer branding is an approach where the firm shapes its reputation to present and prospective workforce. It is about communicating the company’s values, culture, and working environment to ensure that the top talent is not only attracted but retained to continue working at the firm. For ParcelCare, an employer branding approach would involve Employer Value Proposition (EVP), which as discussed by entails the unique culture, rewards, and benefits that the firm promises to its workforce for their dedication, value, and contribution (Dzhulai, 2022). Such an EVP would identify the key pillars that shape the company’s image to internal and external stakeholders, such as career support and the level of rewards.

AC 1.2: Explain the impact of changing labour market conditions on resourcing decisions at

ParcelCare.

Explain the impact of changing labour market conditions on resourcing decisions.

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AC 2.1: You are aware that workforce planning has not been carried out in the past and decide to persuade the senior leadership team that this activity is worth doing. Analyse the impact of effective workforce planning, making clear how ParcelCare could benefit from this activity.

Analyse the impact of effective workforce planning.

Definition of Workforce Planning

The CIPD Factsheet definition of workforce planning is the process that ensures alignment between people strategy and organisational needs (CIPD, 2025). It is a process where skills or labour supply is balanced against the demand or required numbers. Workforce planning further entails examining the current workforce in terms of their skills and suitability to driving the company’s objectives and future. Through workforce planning, companies can get the right number of employees with the right skills, working under the right contract, and at the right time and cost to ensure the delivery of organisational goals and objectives.

Analysis

Workforce planning plays a significant role in helping to forecast the demand and supply of labour. This is achieved through the workforce planning stages and process (Peck, 2025). Fundamentally, workforce planning involves examining the present workforce in terms of the organisational objectives, environment, and their suitability. By looking into the workforce skills, strengths, and weaknesses, a company can establish the gaps that need to be bridged to aid in meeting the current and future objectives. ParcelCare, for instance, would be intending to expand in the future and deliver its services across various sectors and using diverse technologies, including automation. Through workforce planning, it is possible to establish the gaps and issues surrounding the demand and supply of labour (Makhanya, 2024). This information will be important in establishing areas of improvement and how this can be accomplished.

Through workforce planning, companies gain insights into how they can address labour costs and improve their workforce planning (Akpan et al., 2023). It is through workforce planning that companies can identify issues with the current stills in terms of achieving intended objectives and responding to the changing market and customer needs. Besides, workforce planning plays an important role in addressing issues that may negatively impact the workforce, including turnover due to lack of learning and development opportunities and limiting strategic value.

Challenges Faced During Workforce Planning 

In the process of workforce planning, there are several setbacks and challenges that companies need to overcome as encountered. Central to the workforce planning process is ensuring that there is sufficient data to support the process (Elugbaju et al., 2024). The collection and analysis of this data is not only time-consuming but costly and could be complex due to ensuring alignment with organisational goals and objectives. Another challenge and drawback is the need to ensure a wide consultation and engagement with internal and external stakeholders. This is not only complicated but also requires sufficient resources to implement the solutions, including learning and development and recruitment. Further issues include the ability and effectiveness in utilising the data over time and ensuring strategic alignment with current and future needs.

AC 2.2: To strengthen your argument to introduce workforce planning, evaluate techniques that can be used to support the process of workforce planning.

Evaluate the techniques used to support the process of workforce planning.

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AC 2.3: Currently, vacancies are advertised on ParcelCare’s website. Line managers then interview shortlisted applicants. You feel that these are suitable recruitment and selection methods to use but want to broaden the methods used. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of two different recruitment methods and two different selection methods.

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of recruitment and selection to build effective workforces.

Recruitment Methods

Apart from using the company’s website, two other recruitment methods include;

Job Boards: A job board is a platform that allows for listing and distribution of information for active candidates to aid in sourcing (Donald and Pychtin, 2022). Candidates look at the platform to identify the different openings and jobs as listed by companies. Examples of job boards include Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor. Pros of job boards include cost-effectiveness, target-based advertisement, and providing a platform for a vast reach. Cons include too high volume, high level of competition, and there could be too much information on inaccurate listings.

Social Media: This type of recruitment involves the use of social media platforms, including Facebook and X for attracting and engaging candidates (Siddik et al., 2024). Through social media recruitment, companies have the opportunity to tap into job seekers and various candidates, including passive ones to ensure that they are sufficiently engaged. ParcelCare, for instance, can use its social media platforms, including Facebook and X to engage and reach a vast audience comprising of job seekers. Pros of social media recruitment include building brand and streamlining the application and recruitment process. Cons include legal and data security risks and issues and unless automated process, the screening activities can be time-consuming.

Selection Methods 

Other than interviewing shortlisted candidates, two other selection approaches that a company can consider are;

Assessment tests: During the selection process, there are several evaluations that candidates go through to measure their abilities, skills, and aspects, such as logical reasoning (Patterson and Lane, 2023). ParcelCare, for instance can apply a combination of the following elements, which include skill tests, cognitive ability tests, and personality assessments. The pros of these tests include efficiency and being objective. The cons include candidates’ anxiety and for companies using complex and lengthy assessment, they can be time-consuming.

Background and Reference Checks: This involves conducting a background evaluation of an individual and engaging the listed references to determine the person’s skills and competencies (Brooks, 2024). Additionally, engaging references can help in learning about the candidate’s previous performance and experiences, which assists in making an informed decision. Pros include objective evaluation of a candidate’s experience and suitability to the firm and can help evaluate a wide range of issues. Cons include ensuring honest and truthful references and avoiding bias, particularly when employees have a closer relationship with the reference and professional engaged for the background.

Judgment

Job boards are effective as they provide a vast platform for candidates and employers to engage but are affected by high volume of jobs and candidates yet the information can be outdated. Social media is effective as it helps in reaching a vast audience, including the passive ones but is affected by ethical and data privacy issues. For assessments, they are objective in assisting to narrow down the candidates and for background and reference checks, their effectiveness is based on understanding the individual’s experiences and how they suit the company.

AC 3.1: On examining employee turnover rates, you feel the rate is higher than it should be, and higher than internal targets. To try to understand this further, discuss differences between avoidable and unavoidable turnover and differences between push and pull factors.

Discuss factors that influence why people choose to leave or remain in organisations. 

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AC 3.2: Retention of warehouse staff is an issue, as there are many labour market competitors. Compare the following retention approaches: realistic job previews; induction; job enrichment; and reward.

Compare different approaches to retaining people.

AC 3.3: To influence the senior leadership team to accept that employee turnover should be addressed, explain the impact of dysfunctional employee turnover.

Explain the impact of dysfunctional employee turnover.

Employee turnover refers to the rate at which staff leave the company. It is expressed relative to the total number of employees (Al Akasheh et al., 2024). However, turnover can differ in terms of the individuals leaving and their performance or role in the company. In ‘dysfunctional turnover’ the employee leaving is the high performing one, which means that there will be significant financial implications. The term dysfunctional comes from the impacts, particularly the costs incurred in either direct or indirect manner.

Direct Costs

The main direct cost of dysfunctional turnover is the costs that the company will have to incur when handling the turnover (Maertz et al., 2023). Several articles and research studies have noted the average cost of employee turnover is about 1/3 of their total annual salary. This means that for dysfunctional turnover, it is highly likely that the cost will exceed the 33.33% when other elements are put into consideration, such as the advertisements, selection process, and learning and development for the new individual to get them to reach the level of competence similar to that of the leaving individual. At ParcelCare, for example, a competent and highly effective employee leaving will have major implications, including the resources that will be used in the hiring process and training the individual to reach the levels of the leaving one.

Another set of direct costs are the time that it will take when processing the leaving and starting individual at the company (Wallace and Gaylor, 2012). For example, at ParcelCare, dysfunctional turnover will mean that the process taken to conduct the recruitment process and ensure that leaving individual is processed to completion will take time and this can be cost intensive, particularly in activities, such as on-boarding. The time that the company will take to process the leaving and starting individual could have been otherwise used productively. This, therefore, implies that the company will lose vast resources and productive time.

Indirect Costs

There are several indirect costs associated with dysfunctional employee turnover. Primarily, this type of turnover is where a key team player and high performing individual leaves. The indirect cost of this is that the team’s morale and remaining workforce commitment, engagement, and motivation can reduce significantly (Dwivedi et al., 2019). As a result, not only will the performance be affected, but there are risks that there will be disconnect in team performance and workforce morale. This will result in the remaining individuals also considering leaving, which could significantly affect the company in the long-run in terms of its reputation and how it manages turnover.

AC 4.1: ParcelCare employs the majority of employees on permanent, full-time contracts. You feel these contracts have their place, but it is time to consider whether other types of contractual arrangements could be beneficial to the organisation, especially when demand for delivery services increases and decreases. Assess the suitability of permanent, full-time contracts for delivery drivers as well as two other types of contracts.

Assess suitable types of contractual arrangements dependent on specific workforce need.

AC 4.2: At present, an ad hoc approach is taken to onboarding and typically involves the line manager ensuring new starter forms are completed and health and safety training provided. You identify that onboarding can be improved but first need to convince others that investment in this area is worthwhile. Explain the benefits of effective onboarding.

Explain the benefits of effective on boarding.

Defining On-boarding

Employee on-boarding refers to the strategic approach that a company applies to integrate newly recruited individuals into the company. According to Cable et al. (2013), it is a process that leads to the successful acclimatisation of employees into the company’s culture, structure, and working environment. For a successful on-boarding process, there are several components that companies have to observe and consider. Primarily, on-boarding requires that the job is restated, including the roles and responsibilities that the individual has been hired to do. The second component is orienting the new employee to the company’s culture and systems. Third, on-boarding involves the socialisation element where the new employee is introduced to other employees in and out of their department to improve working relationships (Caldwell and Peters, 2018). The on-boarding process also includes the element of evaluating the individual’s skills and ensuring that they undergo a rigorous training to make them effective in their new role. In addition to being supported for their role, on-boarding also integrates the element of proper documentation.

Benefits of Employee On-boarding

An effective employee on-boarding is fundamental to ensuring the new employee’s effectiveness in the role. During employee on-boarding, the company restates the candidate’s roles and responsibilities and goes ahead to establish whether the person has the right set of skills in line with the role and if they require further assistance and support (Kirchner and Stull, 2022). The on-boarding process, therefore, will offer all the necessary support to the new employee, which will positively impact the person’s role and performance. For example, if an employee is being oriented into ParcelCare’s digital services, they will undergo a training on the digital services and in case there are gaps, the newly recruited individual will be trained on the specific system that the company uses. This will positively and significantly impact the individual’s effectiveness in the specific role.

Another benefit is that an effective on-boarding reduces the workforce turnover. According to Ibrahim et al. (2022), an effective employee on-boarding process ensures that the employee has a suitable first time experience. This is attributed to the support that the individual will receive and the orientation to the company. Besides, the individual will be introduced to all employees, including the management and the person’s department. The importance of such introduction is that the employee will have remarkable experience and this will be instrumental in promoting the individual’s motivation, engagement, and avert the intention to leave. Besides, employee turnover is achieved through the level of socialisation that the new employees will experience as a result of the on-boarding process.

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References

Akpan, I. S., Pimaro, E. F., & Nwanka, C. I. (2023). Workforce Planning and Organizational Performance in Selected SMEs in Akwa Ibom State. AKSU Journal of Administration and Corporate Governance (AKSUJACOG).

Al Akasheh, M., Malik, E. F., Hujran, O., & Zaki, N. (2024). A decade of research on machine learning techniques for predicting employee turnover: A systematic literature review. Expert Systems with Applications, 238, 121794.

Ansari, S. (2020). Competitive labour market https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/business_economics/competitive_labour_markets.html/

Brooks, B. A. (2024). Do Both Background and Reference Checks Provide Value?. Nurse Leader, 22(2), 117-119.

Cable, D. M., Gino, F., & Staats, B. R. (2013). Reinventing employee onboarding. MIT Sloan management review, 54(3), 23.

Caldwell, C., & Peters, R. (2018). New employee onboarding–psychological contracts and ethical perspectives. Journal of Management Development, 37(1), 27-39.

CIPD (2025). Workforce planning https://www.cipd.org/en/knowledge/factsheets/workforce-planning-factsheet/

Donald, W. E., & Pychtin, P. (2022). Optimization of job boards and the graduate recruitment process: Advancing HRM strategies for the acquisition of early career talent. In Handbook of Research on New Media, Training, and Skill Development for the Modern Workforce (pp. 47-66). IGI Global Scientific Publishing.

Dwivedi, P., Chaturvedi, V., & Vashist, J. K. (2019). Improving Dysfunctional Employee Turnover. Effulgence-A Management Journal, 17(1), 1.

Dzhulai, M. (2022). Development of an employer's value proposition for young professionals. Scientific Bulletin of Mukachevo State University. Series “Economics”, 3(9), 40-47.

Elugbaju, W. K., Okeke, N. I., & Alabi, O. A. (2024). Human resource analytics as a strategic tool for workforce planning and succession management. International Journal of Engineering Research and Development, 20(11), 744-756.

Higgs, J., & Cloutman, J. (2019). Employability interests and horizons: Public and personal realisations. In Education for Employability (Volume 1) (pp. 3-16). Brill.

Ibrahim, U. S. G., Yusof, R. B., & Ibrahim, H. I. B. (2022). The role of employee onboarding training program in mitigating deviant workplace behavior: Job satisfaction as a mediator. Global business and management research, 14(3s), 983-1007.

Kirchner, M., & Stull, F. (2022). Employee onboarding and satisfaction in US manufacturing companies. Industrial and commercial training, 54(2), 267-278.

Maertz Jr, C. P., Keith, M. G., Raghuram, S., Porter, C. M., & Dalton, G. L. (2023). Advancing theory and practice on managing dysfunctional turnover: Developing an improved measure of turnover reasons. Group & Organization Management, 48(5), 1387-1429.

Makhanya, M. T. (2024). Strategic workforce planning: Integrating human capital needs with organisational goals for optimal performance in the public sector. Journal of Public Administration, 59(3), 542-557.

Patterson, F., & Lane, P. (2023). Assessment for recruitment. In Assessment in medical education and training (pp. 62-73). CRC Press.

Peck, W. J. (2025). Workforce planning: a review of methodologies. Annals of Operations Research, 352(1), 251-294.

Siddik, A. S. A., Soewignyo, T., & Mandagi, D. W. (2024). Click, connect, recruit: A systematic review of the role of social media in employee recruitment. Jurnal Informatika Ekonomi Bisnis, 344-349.

Sudirjo, F. (2023). Marketing strategy in improving product competitiveness in the global market. Journal of Contemporary Administration and Management (ADMAN), 1(2), 63-69.

Wallace, J., & Gaylor, K. P. (2012). A study of the dysfunctional and functional aspects of voluntary employee turnover. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 77(3), 27.