Reference no: EM132736751

Expanding on the history of the personnel/human resources function within organizations.

The aspect of humans as resources and getting the most out of your employees has always been involved in organizations and companies. It is just a matter of what capacity. In today's workplace it is becoming one of the most important components of a successful business. You hear more and more about companies pushing culture and certain perks that competitors may not have. Through the course of history the responsibility to take care and provide more than just pay to employees work fell on the leaders and management. Human resource management thinking was created for guidelines and societal structure within an organization. "Social responsibility commands organizational leaders to incorporate sensitivity to societal concerns in organizations' objectives and decision making processes" (Nickson, 2019) Companies started to become aware of trends and certain wins they can provide to their employees. Insurance, annual raises, certain vendor discounts were some of the early on concepts. Currently, there are teams set up to send surveys and consistently dig into ways they can better people's work lives and experiences on the lowest budget.

When departments truly started to have the ability to track data more accurately, "it was the worker performance combined with the rise of large organizations and government intervention that forced companies to develop formal personnel management departments." (Richman,2019). Employees were getting more skilled and more educated, where organizations needed to find ways to keep them. This is a challenge that every HR department faces- how can we keep our best talent? Money? Benefits? Kids outings? Home owner benefits? Etc. As the world continues to change I am sure HR will need to change with it and the services offered need to adapt.

My organization does a good job of putting the focus on human resources. They call the department the "talent team" and have more of a culture first approach rather than a business first approach. The perks, discounts, unique time off plan and other benefits do play a huge role in the retention of talent. I believe a lot of companies have been able to see the real paradigm shift that has led to needed offerings and insurances that were once the bonus, now the norm. I think my company does a very good job with continued education and coaching. They have programs for certifications and specific business tools. It is another layer to think about when the thought of leaving crosses the employee's mind. The modern offices themselves were another perk, but allowing work from home is even better. Each opportunity/issue that presents itself for talent to be involved may not necessarily be the one reason an employee wants to leave, but a variety of small perks does make you think twice before making that decision.