Key Human Resource Objectives:

• Employee engagement and involvement

• Talent development

• Training

• Diversity

• Alignment of values

• Number, skills and location of employees

Internal influences on HR objectives:

• Corporate objectives: E.g. an objective of cost reduction is likely to require HR to implement redundancies, job reallocations etc

• Operational strategies: E.g. an introduction of new IT or other systems and processes may require new staff training, fewer staff

• Marketing strategies: E.g. new product development and entry into a new market may require changes to organisational structure and recruitment of new sales return

• Financial strategies: E.g. a decision to reduce costs by outsourcing training would result in changes to training programmes

External influences on HR objectives:

• Market changes: E.g. a loss of market share to a competitor may require a change in management or job losses to improve competitiveness

• Economic changes: E.g. changes in the level of unemployment and the labour market will affect the supply of available people and their pay rates

• Technological changes: E.g. the rapid growth of social networking may require changes to the way the business communicates with employees and customers

• Social changes: E.g. the growing number of single-person households is increasing demand from employees for flexible working options

• Political and legal changes: E.g. legislation on areas such as maximum working time and other employment rights impacts directly on the workforce planning and remuneration