Investments in Employees: Attitudes and Practices in Croatian Enterprises
Investments in employees and creation of 'human capital' are among the most researched aspects of modern human resources management. Education and training of employees, creating new knowledge and skills, and developing employee motivation, are the crucial elements of investments in employees. That should positively affect creation and maintenance of enterprise's competitive position, and eventually significantly contribute to enterprise's overall performance. This paper is based on a research performed on a sample of 47 Croatian enterprises from electro-informatics industry. Preliminary results show that those enterprises have quite strong awareness of importance and need for investment in people. Moreover, management of those enterprises gives higher importance to the investment in people than to the investment in 'tangible assets'. Although a direct (significant) correlation between investments in people and enterprise financial performances has not been found, a significant correlation between investments in people and competitive abilities of the enterprise has been found.