Business Initiative: Opening a Greenfield Site

The opening of a new facility or plant always raises significant staffing issues. Two slightly different examples are described here. In the first example, the new facility is simply replacing an existing facility. In the second, the new facility is augmenting an existing facility. While these examples assume just one existing facility, the same logic would apply in both examples if there is more than one existing facility. In either case, workforce planning is an ideal tool for managing the movement of staff to the new facility.

Overall Approach

As mentioned previously, think of workforce planning as a tool for managing the transition of staff from “old” to “new.” If the new facility is replacing an existing one, workforce planning can help you to define all the staffing actions and movement that will be needed to migrate employees from one facility to the other. If the new facility is augmenting the existing one, workforce planning can help you to define the most effective way to staff the new facility while maintaining the talent needed to ensure continuous, efficient operations at the existing facility.

In both examples included here, your “supply now” scenario will include staff currently working at the existing facility. In the case where one facility is replacing another, there will be no “supply now” in the new facility when workforce planning begins (but if there are employees already working at the new facility, be sure to include them).

In the case of a replacement facility, your ultimate “demand then” scenario will probably show no staff at the existing facility and a full complement of staff at the new facility. In the case where a new facility is in addition to an existing facility, your ultimate “demand then” scenario will include all the employees that are required to staff both facilities.

In both examples, your staffing strategies will describe what should be done to move staff effectively while achieving and maintaining adequate staffing at all facilities (e.g., identifying not only the staff that should move to a new facility, but also what—if anything—should be done at the existing facility to replace that talent).

Likely Staffing Issues/Implications

The opening of a Greenfield site will create significant staffing issues at both the new and the existing facilities. These might include:

• Staffing gaps at the new facility

• Staffing surpluses at the existing facility

• The need to fill critical positions at the new facility proactively

• The need for an orderly transition of staff from the old facility to the new one

• The need for accelerated or targeted development to close capabilities gaps created by staff transitions

• The need to fill openings in the new facility when needed talent does not exist in the old facility

• Staffing gaps that are created at the old facility when employees move to the new facility

• Striking the right balance between experienced staff and new hires at the new facility

• Inconsistencies between employee movement policies and practices and staffing objectives (e.g., when more employees want to move to the new facility than is practical or desired)

• Lack of the capabilities needed to implement new technology at the new facility

• Lack of required talent at the new location

• Relocation issues and costs (e.g., where the new facility is located far from the existing one)

Staffing Model Parameters

As always, focus your analysis on critical positions; don’t try to include all positions. If the facilities you are analyzing are plants, for example, it is probably not necessary to include maintenance and food service staff in your model. Similarly, if there are two positions of some kind at the new facility and you know that you are going to fill those two positions with two employees that performed that role in the old facility, a detailed workforce plan just is not required. For each staffing model that you build, you will need to define the three planning parameters:

• Population. Focus your efforts on critical positions and staffing needs such as these:

  • Jobs that are critical at the new facility

  • Positions (especially at the new facility) that should be filled proactively, in advance of need (e.g., plant manager and plant quality positions)

  • Jobs at the new facility that are probably going to be filled (at least in part) by staff from the old facility

  • Positions where new capabilities will be required (e.g., skills needed to support new technology or operate new, more advanced equipment)

  • Jobs where local recruiting may be required

• Time frame/planning horizon. The time frame for your analysis should match the schedule for opening the new facility. For the “how long” parameter, use the projected opening date of the new facility as your target. It is sometimes helpful to look one period beyond the stated target date so that you can begin to plan for staffing needs in the more stable period that will follow the opening. For the “how often” component, divide the “how long” period into practical milestones (usually quarters or years). This will allow you to plan for and monitor the placement of key staff in the new facility in advance of its opening.

• Staffing model structure. Columns should be differentiated to reflect the job groups you decided to focus on. This is usually job family, function, or organization unit. Rows (as usual) should reflect an increasing hierarchy of skill or capability (e.g., Production Worker, Senior Production Worker, Production Supervisor, Manager of Production).

Your “supply now” matrix needs to include the staff that are currently working in the existing facility. Your ultimate “demand then” matrix (e.g., for planning period 5) must capture the staffing requirements (both skills and staffing levels) for the new facility. If this is a replacement facility, “demand then” for the old facility should be zero in every category. If the new facility supplements a current facility, future staffing requirements for that original facility must also be determined. An interim “demand then” matrix will be needed for each milestone that you chose (e.g., the ends of periods 1 through 4). These interim milestones will allow you to plan for and monitor the transition of staff from the old facility to the new one.

Staffing Strategies

When staffing a new facility, the following staffing strategies should be considered:

• Transitions from the old facility to the new one

• Redeployments, some with accelerated development to address development needs (e.g., training production staff in new technologies before assigning them to positions in the new facility)

• Internal movement and recruiting to backfill positions in the old facility that become vacant when staff are redeployed to the new facility

• Surpluses that may be created when there are staff with obsolete skills who are unable or unwilling to learn the new required capabilities

• Local recruiting to meet immediate talent needs at either facility

• Changes in job posting or other placement policies/procedures to support the internal movement that is desired/required