Meaning & use
human resource
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Meanings
nouncountablebusiness
A person considered as a worker with skills and abilities that an organization can use to achieve its goals.
Grammar: Has a plural: the company's human resources are its main strength.
Patterns
- a valuable human resource
The company sees every employee as a valuable human resource.
A skilled nurse is a vital human resource for any hospital.
Training turns new hires into a stronger human resource.
nounusually pluralbusiness
The department in a company that hires, trains and looks after its employees, usually in the plural form human resources.
Grammar: Usually human resources, often shortened to HR; it takes a singular or plural verb.
Patterns
- work in human resources
- the human resources department
She works in human resources and handles hiring for the office.
Please send your complaint to human resources.
The human resources department organizes training for new employees.
Word forms
| plural | human resources |
|---|
Common combinations
- human resources department
- The human resources department posted the job.
- human resources manager
- The human resources manager interviewed ten candidates.
- work in human resources
- My aunt works in human resources at a bank.
- valuable human resource
- Every employee is a valuable human resource.
- human resource management
- She studied human resource management at college.
Synonyms and how they differ
- staff
- This is an everyday word for the group of employees, whereas human resource treats them as a resource to be planned and developed.
- personnel
- This is a slightly older term for employees or the department that manages them, while human resources is more current in business.
- workforce
- This describes all the people who work in a company or country, whereas human resource often focuses on their skills and management.
- manpower
- This is older and sounds gendered, whereas human resource is a neutral modern term.
Word family
- resource noun
- something useful that can be used
- human adjective
- relating to people
- HR abbreviation
- short for human resources
- resourceful adjective
- good at finding ways to solve problems
Commonly confused: human resource or natural resource? human resource or human relations?
human resource vs natural resource
A natural resource is something from nature such as water or oil, whereas a human resource is the skill and effort of people.
human resource vs human relations
This usually refers to how people get along, whereas human resources means the department or workers an organization manages.
Practice
When Daniel was unhappy with his pay, he booked a meeting with the ___ department.
Choose one answer.
The human resources department deals with employment matters such as pay. Natural resources are materials from nature, public relations manages the public image, and customer services deals with buyers.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “human resource”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.