Evaluate the importance to Muka of workforce planning as she tries to reduce MAA's total labour costs.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] Workforce planning – planning for the future workforce needs of the business, in terms of number and skills.
2. [1] Analysis of existing skills and number of workforce and plan for recruitment and training.
3. [1] Different types of contracts, full-time, part-time, zero hours, permanent, temporary, short-term.
4. [1] Link between flexible contracts and workforce with labour costs
5. [1] Flexible workforce
6. [1] MAA park is likely to be a seasonal business
7. [1] Current workforce are on a range of contracts, including full-time, casual and volunteers, but most permanent staff are full-time.
8. [1] Women employed in the local co-operative run the souvenir shop, a type of outsourcing
9. [1] HR issues, such as difficulty of finding trained staff essential for care of animals.
10. [1] Guides needed for new safari vehicles
11. [1] Relevance of training course run by MAA to future workforce needs.
12. [1] Analysis of how workforce planning could predict future employee needs, such as high and low seasons and different services such as safari drives.
13. [1] Flexible contracts such as casual, seasonal and impact on costs if these are planned properly.
14. [1] Social enterprise conservation objectives and consequential opportunity to offer work experience to volunteers, impact on costs and brand image
15. [1] Analysis of why more flexible contracts may be difficult to introduce due to full-time permanent resident employees.
16. [1] Analysis of how flexible contracts may have a negative impact on motivation and staff retention.
17. [1] Workforce planning may not address the problems caused by difficulties in recruiting trained employees, although pay may also be an issue here.
18. [1] Judgement as to how successful workforce planning may be in the future success of MAA.
19. [1] Recognition of possible limitations, such as existing workforce resistance and shortage of employees with right skills
20. [1] Judgement as to which may be best mix of contracts to introduce.
21. [1] Other factors e.g. importance of maintaining focus on conservation objectives, so vital to maintain good team to care for animals 24 hours a day.