Human Resources Today

The more than two decades of marketreality have proven the right to the existence of modern human resource management services. Of course, there were not excesses. There have been periods of rampant euphoria from fashion tests, and bitter disappointment from the uselessness of Western technology in Russian reality.

In general, we can confidently say thatThe transformation of Soviet HR services into HR departments (departments, and more often specialists in a single person) was completed. Nobody disputes their necessity, their benefits and their compliance with new realities. New concepts have emerged and firmly established in the society, including human resources, summaries, assessments, competences, human resources management, outsourcing and many others.

Let us dwell in more detail on the first concept -human resources, or human resources (HR). In a broad sense, it means the aggregate of the labor resources of a country or a society, in a narrower sense it is the competent personnel of an organization. In the domestic practice, the term "staff" is frequently used as a synonym, although in Europe and the United States this term was used primarily in the middle of the 20th century. The term "human resources" characterizes the emergence of a new, more humane, paradigm in the contradictory relationship between the administration (owners) and wage workers. In Russia, however, the term HR could not completely displace the concept of "cadres", so beloved by the notorious leader. Here, as nowhere is the difference in mentality. The word "cadres" refers to professional military personnel, human resources are reminiscent of machines and mechanisms. The specificity of HR is this: it is the only resource that can carry out its work meaningfully and is capable of self-improvement.

Human resources have certaincharacteristics. There are quantitative indicators: the structure and number of staff. With the help of approved methods, the qualification and sex-age structure, the coefficients of fluidity and absenteeism are determined. Qualitative indicators include: qualification or competence, motivation, potential and, of course, efficiency. Naturally, the first indicators are much easier to measure than the second. This is due to some disappointment of proprietors in pro-Western technologies, when it was discovered that their thoughtless "copy-paste" increased staff costs and did not lead to real payback.

Human resources planning is an important stepfor the integrated work of the whole company. After the development of the company's business goals, each structural unit compiles the necessary forecast of staff requirements, which takes into account the composition, required competencies and the salary fund of new employees. Based on the data received, the staff service, using methods such as expert assessments, extrapolation and employee turnover analysis, draws up a recruitment plan. The economic recession of recent years has convincingly shown the precariousness of such planning. The mobile world dictates new rules, proven techniques in selection and hiring, training and career development cease to meet the needs of the time.

There were revolutionary methods usingweb-resources: electronic services for employment, interview on Skype, remote access to the workplace. All this leads to a change in the relationship: through the usual directive management style, the timid germs of partnership are punctured.