Human resources, or HR, is one of the most important departments in a company, and whether the company has 50 employees or a few thousand, human resources will be playing an essential role. If you are not someone who is trained in human resources, it is still important to know what is going on in that department. Consider these five buzzwords that are currently getting a great deal of play, and make sure that you know what they mean.
Diversity Training: We have always known that all people are different, but in a global economy, it is has never been more important to be understanding and aware. Diversity training works to make sure that employees have a thorough grounding in how to respect people of different races, cultures, orientations, and statuses, and in a time when a single slip can be spread like wildfire over social sharing networks, diversity training is essential.
Traditional and Non-Traditional Benefits: The traditional benefits provided by a company include things like retirement, health benefits, disability benefits, and life insurance. Non-traditional benefits can include things like child and elder care, life management, education reimbursement, and stock buy-ins. In order to keep their best employees, human resource management is currently investigating non-traditional benefits and how they can improve relations between employees and the company.
Employee Retention: Just like an employee needs to worry about keeping their job, a good company needs to worry about keeping its best employees. When there is a lot of employee turnover, morale tends to be very low and a rather cold corporate environment is created. If a company loses employees regularly, employee retention techniques must be used in order preserve the training and investment the company has put into the current workers.
Corporate Culture: A corporate culture is a rather vague term, but it defines the vibe that a company puts out. A corporate culture is always present, and without careful minding by human resources, it can turn into something very frustrating and tiring. For example, if a company wants to work on selling itself as a place that works for its employees, it needs to be a rather nurturing and open place. It cannot rely on closed doors, fear, and other tactics to keep people in line.
Leadership Development: More and more companies are realizing that instead of bringing in new consultants and leaders, the best leaders come from within. Someone who has come up through the company knows how things work, and they can offer the best insights with regards to how a company can proceed. Many human resource programs are now making strides toward developing leadership qualities from the people who already work within the company, and the results are leaders who are intimately aware of what needs to be done.
When working with HR, it is important to be aware of some of the most important terms. Not only are these things important in and of themselves, they are also an integral part to how the company will grow and develop in the years to come.
