Corbridge and Pilbeam (1998: 1) says that employee resourcing can be defined as that part of

personnel development which focuses on the recruitment, selection and release of individuals
from organizations as well as the management of their performance and potential whilst
employed by the organization. In this regard it follows that employee resourcing is influenced by
internal and external factors which shape how the process will be handled. Oxford dictionary
defines contingent as unpredictable or depends on. Internal factors that determine employee
resourcing are under control of the organization as their scope is within the organization and
these include HR policies, size and age of a firm, budget of organization, workplace productivity
and human resource planning . Armstrong (2009) says a good resourcing strategy must
determine the number of people required to meet business needs, the skills and behavior required
to support the achievement of business strategy, the impact of organizational restructuring as a
result of decentralization, delayering, mergers , market development and plans for changing
organizational culture. A well-developed strategy for human resources department takes into
consideration external factors that might affect its department. External factors are out of the
organization’s grip and are therefore followed trends, these include PESTEL environment and
government regulations. In achieving a milestone recruitment can not be neglected as it defines
the future of the company’s success building strategy. Therefore this essay seeks to show how
these internal and external factors reveal how employee resourcing activity depends upon
organizational context and circumstances.

To begin with, HR policies supports the notion that employee resourcing is contingent upon
organizational context or circumstances. An HR policy incorporates business objectives, reward
policies, preferred sources of recruitment, compensation and training. The HR polices
determines how the organization attracts, retains and release its employees. The policies must
have a potential to draw talent out of the talent pool, specifies the objective and implementation
of the recruitment process. An example can be noted at First Mutual Holdings Limited on how
they resource employees, they recruit in accordance to job analysis (JDs and Job
specifications).The way they reward and train its human resources depends on the type of job
one is holding so as to maximize providing their employees with the right skills, knowledge and
abilities for that specific job criteria. Thus showing how employee resourcing is dependent upon
organizational context and circumstances.

Adding on, size of the firm also defines the recruitment scope and need. Small firm’s HR
department is way easy to handle with less manpower unlike a large organization with high
demands of labor. In this regard employee resourcing is determined by how big or small an
organization is as organization goes wider, the recruitment complexities increases. Recruitment
process would become more time-consuming and needs more focus and large data processing.
Startup business can recruit new talent with an intention of one individual carrying out two or
more duties at once so as to minimize costs. Recruitment for a new firm is not as technically
handled as in fully established organizations. According to Senior (2002), new firms don’t have
strict HR policies to follow unlike old firms who have gained reputation in the market share and
needs to remain competitive. Recruitment is on flexible terms for startups. As the company goes
older with earning well-reputed label, its HR policies and framework get complex and the way
employees are recruited becomes different from initial process of a start up business. Hence
revealing that the size and age of firm determines how employee resourcing is conducted and
followed.

Moreover a budget is another internal factor that shows that employee resourcing is contingent
upon organizational context and circumstances. Budget can be defined as an estimate and
expenditure for a set period of time. Employee resourcing demands a reasonable amount of cost
over it for effective result. G wood (2009) says that an Integrated policy, planning and budgeting is
fundamentally about having expenditure programs that are driven by policy priorities and disciplined by
budget realities. Organization has to analyze the cost to calculate the return on the investment of
recruitment. Every organization defines their budget level, pre-defined for the recruitment
process. If a firm is already in deficits, it would hardly afford the recruitment budget on a big
scale. In this regard an organization may stretch its staffing budget by offering small base pay
and add voluntary benefits that reduce payroll taxes and low cost benefits they can pay for e.g.
health insurance. Organizations with a financial muscle can determine type of sourcing of
candidates that is to be used e.g. outsourcing. The concept of outsourcing activities affects
recruiting. For example, a food processing company would hire an outside IT firm to install and
administer the company's computer network because computers are not the food processing
company's core competency. This means that as an organization outsource, there is reduction in
the need for recruiting new employees. The human resources department will have to shift
resources away from recruiting for the outsourced functions, and focus on supplying
employment candidates for the company's core business units. Therefore showing that an
organization’s budget determines how employee resourcing is contingent on organizational
context and circumstance.

Adding on, reputation is another factor that shows that employee resourcing is contingent on
organizational context and circumstance. Recruitment and company’s reputation has a strong
connection. In multinational worldwide recognized organizations, the HR department would
receive hundreds of entries for a single job opening, where all of them being competitive. This
generates huge talent pool to select from. The recruitment process in this scenario is very
systematic, planned and documented. This means that the organization is then supposed to look
into the talent pool and decide on which candidates best suit the requirements of the job. Scott
(1994) defines Human Resource Planning as a process of ensuring that the human resource
requirements of an organization are identified and plans are made for satisfying those
requirements. An example of internal changes can be promotions, transfers, retirement and
deaths of employees, an example can be noted at FMHL the HR department places much
emphasis on training and development, the training officer has the duty to make sure all new
transferred and promoted employees are trained before embarking on their jobs. Hence showing
that employee resourcing is contingent upon organizational context and circumstance.

Moving on, workforce productivity plays a pivotal role in employee resourcing in that as the
company grows; it may need to have additional administrative or operational needs that can’t be
fulfilled by the current workers. Instead of hiring contractors or additional employees, the
organization must consider offering staff training; add employee development to human
resources planning, including on-site training, tuition reimbursement and sending workers to
seminars and workshops. Sinha, and Thaly (2013) postulate that recruitment is viewed as a
process identifying the sources of workforce to meet the requirements of the resourcing agenda
and attracting an optimum number of prospective employees, so as to be able to make an
effective selection among the applicants. This helps reduce costs of employee resourcing and
simultaneously gaining a new set of skills. Also there is need to create the most positive
workplace possible by offering clear job descriptions and annual reviews, a wellness program,
morale-building activities such as contests or outings, an employee work life balance and
frequent communications about individual, departmental or company successes. Therefore thus
workforce productivity shows that employee resourcing is contingent on organizational content
and circumstances.

Furthermore, government regulations are another external factor that shows that employee
resourcing is contingent upon organizational context and circumstance. With the introduction of
new workplace compliance standards the human resources department is constantly under
pressure to stay within the law. In Zimbabwe for example the Labor Act Cap 28.01 have various
laws in it which guides how employees are treated. These types of regulations influence every
process of the HR department, including hiring, training, compensation and termination which
means that it covers for attraction, stay and exit of employees. This in turn implies that an
organization has a mandatory role of listening and following rules guiding employee resourcing,
without adhering to such regulations a company can be fined extensively which if it was bad
enough could cause the company to shut down. There are few laws implemented in the labor
market on the government level which influence the industry as a whole on the legal
requirements applying to workers so as to create a safe and secure office space enforcing
company policies and procedures and paying all required taxes and insurance. The circumstances
and employment conditions around the location of the organization also matters. Thus showing
that government regulation has impact on employee resourcing which must be adhered to so as
to survive in the market and this shows that employee resourcing is contingent upon
organizational context and circumstances.

Not only that but, one of the biggest external influences of employee resourcing is the shape of
the current economy. It does not affect the talent pool only, but it might affect ability to hire
anyone at all. Organizations must prepare and create a plan for when there is an economic
downturn. All companies can make due in a bad economy if they have a rainy day fund or plan
to combat the harsh environment. An example can be noted with industries that produce luxury
items or non-essential services, sell less and may even lay off some staff. An organization must
be aware of how much money is set aside for salaries, training and development, equipment in
human resource planning so as to predict how many employees will be needed and can be paid.
Hence showing that employee resourcing is contingent upon organizational context and
circumstance.

In addition technological advancement is another external factor that shows that employee
resourcing is contingent upon organizational context and circumstance. A job that used to take 2-
4 people could be cut to one done by a single person and resulting in redundancy which means
that the company can release some employees considering the legal framework for example the
Labour Act Cap 28.01 section 12C covers on retrenchment and one of the reason being reducing
expenditure or costs, adapting to technological change . Technology is revolutionizing the way
business is done from an internal cost-savings way. This was supported by Wilkinson A (2009 )
when he states that new technology brings new skills requirements and companies always need
to be aware of proficiencies and training needs when planning human resources. New products
and services also may require recruiting highly skilled employees or training existing employees
to meet the need. This means that HR managers must be aware of new equipment or knowledge
needed so they can build the required skills, and most likely salary enhancements, into the plan.
Thus technology advancements shows how employee resourcing activity is contingent upon
organizational context or circumstance.

More so, employment law is the most significant sector of the legal system that affects human
resource planning, and it changes all the time. Employment law changes must be reflected in
company policy and implemented on the ground by supervisors and managers, there is need to
incorporate another training need into the human resources plan. An example can be noted at
FMHL where they comply with legal factors in their employee resourcing by sticking to National
Employment Council (NEC) minimum wages as per job grades in their salary packages for
employees and also their Collective Bargaining Agreement for insurance industry. There is need
to keep the organization up to date, and have an employment law specialist available to consult if
necessary. This implies that employee resourcing is contingent on organizational context and
circumstance as the managers have to recruit candidates matching the current legal
advancements.

To add on, political factors also shows that external factors also affects employee resourcing.
Political sanctions for example Zimbabwe being sanctioned to do certain business with other
countries or to borrow money result in some international companies to reduce their interests
and hence also reduce their workforce in Zimbabwe. This also means that when planning ahead,
there is need to consider likely changes to markets, budgets and availability of suitable applicants
as a result of recent or anticipated political influences. For example, if a change of government is
possible in the coming year, understand the new administration’s priorities in relation to markets,
industries and businesses. In this regard the HR department needs to keep abreast of government
regulations which therefore shows that employee resourcing activity is contingent upon
organizational context.

Several social factors may influence HR planning and there is need to take into account
equalities and diversity in particular. According to Stredwick, J. (2005) , an organization must
indulge itself in Corporate social responsibility (CSR) where there is a clear discrepancy of one
social group, it’s a good idea to build in ways of opening up new opportunities. For example, an
organization must look into the type of people they are operating in so that they try and match
the resources to redress the balance. An example can be noted at FMHL they engage into
quarterly wellness programs for their employees and the society at large, where specialists are
invited to treat people for free thereby enhancing company image so much that when the
organization recruits it will have a large talent pool to select from. This shows how the
organization has the society at heart and increases its chances for employee resourcing. Hence
supporting the assertation that employee resourcing activity is contingent upon organizational
context and circumstance,

Furthermore, environmental factors also show that employee resourcing is contingent upon
organizational context and circumstance. This might include where the business is located in
relation to finding sufficient appropriate staff or changes to the environment that mean a need for
more or fewer employees. A simple example of environmental factors affecting human resource
planning is the consideration of how your employees get to work safely during extreme weather;
the plan may need to include the possibility of telecommuting in order to keep everything going.
According to (Senior (2002) dynamic environment shapes the resourcing strategies of the firm
An example can be noted from FMHL which provides its employees with buses to and from
work as their head office is located outside town. This helps cut travelling costs of employees on
top of their transport allowances for use from home to town.. Therefore environmental factors
influence employee resourcing activity.
In a nutshell it can be noted that those involved in human resource management does more than
hiring and firing as they make sure that every type of internal or external influence is listened to
and proper procedures are followed to avoid lawsuits and sanctions on their organization. Factors
above have revealed how recruitment demands a Manager to avoid turning a blind eye or deaf
ear to the internal and external factors that determine employee resourcing as these shape how
the organization is to. spearhead its superiority over the rest of organizations in the market
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Sinha, K and Thaly, M. (2013). Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the
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