Section Threepointed out the importance of employment security policies as
a factor encouraging human resource planning:
In some countries—for instance, in the
Netherlands—the commitment of many
organizations toward their personnel is high,
which means that protection from dismissal exists
as well as good career opportunities, good work
circumstances, and the like. This is partly in
contrast to the United States, where people can
be fired on short notice in many organizations.^29Guvenc Alpander has provided a similar perspective on
Dutch firms in an example of the Philips Company’s human
resource planning efforts for a new plant. Because of its
responsibilities to an immobile workforce, Philips assumed
employment responsibilities from 20 to 30 years into the future.
Consequently, Philips forecasters attempted to link the plant’s
technology to its workforce for the next 20 years.^30 Whether
such firms will be able to maintain commitments to their
employees in the future remains to be seen, because many
European firms have experienced strong pressures to downsize.
Verhoeven also has identified concerns over irregular age
distributions, such as disproportionate numbers of younger or
older employees, as a reason for human resource planning.^31