Human resources optimisation: structuring a Tunisian business’s priorities

1. Describe an HR problem that calls for a decision

Avoid general statements such as ‘teams lack engagement’. Instead, describe what happens: delayed approvals, repeated tasks, onboarding delays or frequent interruptions. Record situations, their frequency and their effects on the business.

Gather the views of the people involved and those they work with. A delay may come from a missing document, contradictory instructions or unpredictable volume. The same symptom does not always call for the same response.

Choose a manageable scope: preparing quotations, processing an order or onboarding a new person. State what enters and leaves the process. The initiative should lead to a concrete decision about roles, resources or rules.

The CIPD’s workforce planning approach connects organisational needs and human resources. Your application should remain proportionate to the context, without importing a cumbersome method for a small team.

2. Distinguish capacity, skills and coordination

Three situations deserve separate consideration. Capacity concerns the volume of work that can be done. Skills concern the ability to perform a task to the expected standard. Coordination concerns handovers, priorities and decisions.

These responses are possibilities, not automatic diagnoses. Observe several situations and check the causes with the people doing the work.

A workload estimate should account for variations and less visible tasks: corrections, assistance and coordination. Counting only completed deliverables often underestimates the resources needed.

3. Clarify roles and decisions

For each stage, identify who prepares, who decides and who receives the result. State the expected information and who provides cover during an absence. Clarity is measured by the ability to handle a real situation without searching for the person responsible.

A small organisation may combine several functions. This combination must be explicit and accompanied by proportionate controls, particularly for sensitive decisions. Do not create a theoretical organisation chart that does not match the resources available.

Also define decision boundaries: what can be handled directly, what requires approval and what must be escalated. A rule sending every decision to the business owner can recreate the delay you want to remove.

The internal procedures should set out these elements in a usable format. A short sheet linked to everyday work may be more useful than a detailed document that is never consulted.

4. Prepare skills and cover arrangements

List important tasks and the people able to perform them. Distinguish theoretical knowledge, supervised practice and demonstrated independence. These levels help organise learning; they must not become permanent labels attached to people.

Choose skills to develop based on planned activity and dependency risks. A critical task mastered by only one person requires cover. Prepare a handover, an exercise and feedback, with time that is actually available.

Training must connect to a work situation. Define what the person will be able to do after support and how that ability will be checked. Attending a session alone does not prove independence.

If the need persists despite clarification and learning, examine additional resources. The recruitment brief then specifies responsibilities, conditions for success and onboarding support.

5. Choose an initial improvement and its indicators

Select a useful, limited and verifiable improvement. A new approval workflow, a handover sheet or a priority rule can be tested before changing the entire information system.

Measure a baseline over a relevant period. Then track lead time, rework and blocked situations, comparing figures with observations. An apparent improvement may simply reflect a reduction in volume.

Add feedback on workload, interruptions and understanding of instructions. Indicators focused exclusively on speed can encourage poorer quality or conceal correction work.

Data should support management and be protected by appropriate access. Avoid turning the test into permanent individual surveillance. Explain what is tracked, why and how the results will lead to a decision.

6. Fictional example: reducing quotation rework

Fictional example. A service business observes quotations being reworked several times. It first considers hiring. Examination of the files shows requests arriving without an agreed scope and two people giving different instructions.

The pilot covers one service category. A sheet specifies the necessary information, the person who settles the scope and when the file is handed over. Cover is defined for absences.

The team tests the rule, records missing information and examines rework. It also gathers feedback from those preparing quotations: does the sheet make work easier or add redundant data entry?

At the review, the business can distinguish what concerns the workflow from what still concerns capacity. The example does not demonstrate that recruitment is unnecessary; it shows why work must be understood before choosing resources.

7. Establish a review and answer common questions

Organise a review with the people performing the process and those deciding on resources. Present facts, exceptions and unexpected effects. Select an action, an owner and a date for checking it.

Documentation evolves from real situations. Keep useful versions and remove superseded instructions. An organisation becomes difficult to follow when several contradictory rules remain accessible.

Our human resources and organisation advisory service helps define priorities and responsibilities. Specialist activities and regulatory decisions remain the responsibility of the competent practitioners.

Should we start with an HR information system?

First clarify the process and information needs. The tool should support a defined organisation.

How should we address understaffing?

Document workload, its variation and necessary tasks, then compare options for simplification, learning and resources.

Which indicator should we choose first?

One that makes the selected problem visible, complemented by a quality measure and feedback on the conditions in which work is done.