The term "human capital" refers to all employees in an organization. They are the key ingredients to achieving an organization's central objectives. It is up to experts in human resources to help managers leverage the combined talents of employees so that all objectives can be met.

Managers and HR workers can experiment with performance management strategies, but they need effective HR practices to motivate employees and maintain their loyalty.

Tip

Human Resources fulfills organizational goals by helping managers leverage the combined talents of employees so that all objectives can be met.

Determining Staffing Needs

Because managers need employees to carry out their initiatives, they depend on HR personnel to assist with proper staffing. HR experts offer technical assistance, such as writing job descriptions, classifying workers into proper departments and assigning a fair rate of pay. Managers can often count on HR specialists to screen applicant pools and only recommend qualified candidates for interviews.

Without HR support, managers would have to perform all staffing activities.

Creating a Positive Corporate Culture

Every company projects a vibe or attitude that tends to permeate all levels. This corporate or company culture impacts how employees view their jobs. It also impacts the way potential employees view job openings.

A company with a standout, engaging, supportive culture draws and retains employees, reducing employee turnover.

The HR team works to build, balance and drive a corporation's culture with focus groups, anonymous surveys and such in order to give each worker a voice. Human resources experts then collect the data, focusing on employee concerns and relaying them to upper channels to discuss solutions.

Oftentimes, leadership needs to become more nurturing or understanding to correct cultural woes.

Pay and Benefits

Organizations can take two approaches to the view of compensation and benefits. On one hand, an organization incurs these HR costs to staff operations. On the other hand, pay and benefits can be viewed as investments in employees.

Either way, HR administers pay and benefits so that employees want to perform in their jobs. Without appropriate incentives, employees are likely to find work elsewhere.

Employee Development and Training

Organizations use different processes to ensure workers have enough opportunities to develop in their jobs.

For example, employees are a source of future leaders. If employees are viewed as human capital, then the HR function must provide them with adequate opportunities for learning, including ongoing training and managers who guide their development. These ensure that workers are placed on a path to making a bigger contribution to the organization.

Employee Performance Management

HR information systems offer data that management and HR experts can use to make decisions about employees.

For example, management can review the latest results of an employee survey and decide what changes to implement in the workplace in response to employee concerns.

Without such a decision-science approach to the working conditions for employees, management will miss important chances to improve the way talent is managed. Happy workers help an organization achieve its goals.