What is Human Resource Development (HRD)? 2026 Complete Guide
by Ryan Stoltz
Last updated
17 min read
Table of contents
- What is HRD?
- Human resource development vs. Human resource management: What’s the difference?
- What are the key aspects of HRD?
- Key benefits of human resource development (HRD)
- Different types of HRD programs
- How to build an effective HRD program
- Human resource development challenges and how to overcome them
- What are some examples of human resource development?
- HRD and technology: Leveraging digital tools
- Conclusion: HRD as a key driver for business success
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Organizations can’t adapt faster than their people can learn.
But helping people grow requires more than offering occasional training. Organizations need an intentional approach that connects learning, career development, performance, and business priorities.
Human resource development, or HRD, is the structured process of building employees’ knowledge, skills, and capabilities over time. Through learning programs, coaching, mentoring, leadership development, and career planning, HRD helps people reach their potential while preparing the organization for what comes next.
This guide explains how human resource development works, the functions and tools it includes, the benefits it can deliver, and how to create an HRD strategy that strengthens both people and organizational performance.
What is HRD?
Human resource development refers to the organization’s plan to help employees develop their abilities, skills, and knowledge. In return, this process enhances the organization’s efficiency.
Generally speaking, human resource development ensures the effectiveness and advancement of individual employees, collective departments, and the organization itself.
HR professionals focus on three primary aspects of human resource development in the HR life cycle:
- Training and development - improving knowledge and skills necessary for transitioning to future roles and responsibilities
- Organizational development - improving organizational effectiveness and well-being through macro and micro changes
- Career development - improving individual career planning and management through mentorship
Human resource development helps ensure that your employees are competent enough to perform his/her current job. Moreover, it equips your employees with the necessary knowledge and expertise needed for career growth.
Why is HRD crucial for organizational success
The goal of HRD is to improve both technical and soft skills in a way that serves the organization’s goals. But that’s not all.
The HRD initiatives have been proven to foster motivation, adaptability, and innovation, all of which can lead to positive and healthy employee competitiveness, as per the research paper “The Role of Human Resource Development (HRD) in Improving Employee Competence and Competitiveness.” As a result, you get closer to developing high-quality human capital.
Plus, a 2022 study, “Human resource development and employee turnover intentions: The mediating role of employee engagement," indicates the presence of a link between HRD and the different types of employee engagement, including behavioral and cognitive engagement.
Performance management studies, such as Workhuman’s “Continuous Performance Management Blueprint,” also reveal that simply discussing growth opportunities with employees positively impacts engagement, retention, and the potential for attracting the right talent.
The discussion takes the employee engagement rates from 32% to 69%. Employee retention increased by 41%, compared to a mere 18% without managers discussing growth opportunities. Similarly, the increase in quality hires was 59%, compared to 32%.
Insights from Gallup align with these stats as well, with the State of American Workplace report showing that having opportunities to learn and grow is one of 12 key drivers of employee engagement.
Human resource development vs. Human resource management: What’s the difference?
HRD and human resource management (HRM) may intersect. Both areas of HR function to serve the organization, while helping employees excel. Yet, they’re not the same.
Here are three core differences between HRD and HRM:
1. Focus and objective
HRD is mainly concerned with the employees’ skill sets and competencies. It focuses on what they might need for future roles. So, its initiatives are created to enhance learning and career progression.
The key outcome of HRM is an efficient workforce and boosted organizational productivity.
2. Activities and scope
Some HRD programs include succession planning, leadership development, and tuition assistance. Other activities that upskill employees fall within the scope of HRD professionals, including talent nurturing, identifying mentoring opportunities, and designing training manuals.
It’s worth noting that HRD activities are typically strategic and proactive. HR development professionals have to predict future workplace trends and tailor their programs accordingly.
The implementation process for HRM, however, covers recruitment, performance evaluation, conflict resolution, incentive programs, compliance, and policy enforcement. This gives it more of an operational, reactive scope.
3. Timeframe
Since it’s focused on preparing people for future roles, HRD tasks are long-term.
In comparison, HRM is a short-term to mid-term area of HR. It’s usually limited to day-to-day personnel management and workforce efficiency optimization.
What are the key aspects of HRD?
The main aspects of HRD are:
Training and development
Learning and development teams (L&D) can use well-thought-out training programs to fill performance gaps.
Through technical training workshops, your employee can become more proficient in a tool or task (CRM, data analysis, etc.) currently in demand or predicted to be in demand in the future. These skills are often role-specific, so the training has to be tailored.
Soft skills training, on the other hand, targets general professional life skills and tends to be harder to quantify. Think communication, adaptability, and creativity.
Keep in mind that training is relevant to any career and all phases of employment.
Take, for instance, the orientation training material. The SHRM recommends following the 4 C’s of onboarding: clarification, compliance, connection, and culture. Whether you’ll hold in-person or virtual training, these 4 C’s help integrate new hires.
For onboarded employees, you can rely on on-the-job learning and company-wide training events with dedicated workshops.
But know that digital learning solutions have their place, too. Insights from LinkedIn, published in “How to Use LinkedIn Learning as Employee Training Software”, indicate that 50% of the L&D teams at top companies include e-learning options in their employee training programs.
Aside from equipping employees with new knowledge or skills, these training programs benefit your organization directly by improving productivity and engagement levels. After all, 65% of organizations with effective mentoring see an increase in employee engagement, as per Workhuman’s report “Continuous Performance Management Blueprint”.
Career development and talent management
To build a magnetic culture, companies should foster growth, which demands career development initiatives that provide the right resources, clarity, feedback, direction, and recognition. Mentorship, coaching, and career planning are all valid initiatives to consider.
But you can’t have career development without career advancement. The latter gives employees skills to develop their careers, which only sets them up for career advancement over time.
And when your workforce is working towards advancement, they’ll likely need frequent reviews. In fact, this is one of the top reasons employees ask for feedback. And you can provide said feedback using modern talent management solutions.
Regardless of the tech you use, nailing your performance reviews and career development is crucial for talent management.
Research from Workhuman, “Increasing Employee Retention,” also indicates that a lack of opportunities to grow in a preferred career drives 21% of employees to quit, while 86% report that professional and career development benefits are crucial for overall job satisfaction.
The key is guaranteeing fair access and advancement for all employees as part of your workplace DEI, per the Gallup-Workhuman research, “From Appreciation to Equity.” If you realize that employee uniqueness is a barrier to development and advancement, your lead might be alienating talent.
Leadership training
Managers play a pivotal role in retention. Yet, many have had no formal training. Making a point of checking in and asking for feedback is a good first step for managers, says the Workhuman report “How the Great Resignation Will Shape HR and the Future of Work.”
However, the company still carries the burden of preparing people for leadership from the get-go, and not just once they’re in a leadership position.
HR helps build the leadership pipeline by identifying and nurturing visionary talentOpens in a new tab from day one. Then, HR’s role extends to developing perennial skills, such as decision-making, effective communication, team supervision, and embracing diversity.
For senior managers, a formal leadership training (or retraining) program can prove useful. If they can’t invest five months or so, they can still get involved in a smaller way by taking only select components of the full program. That’s what companies like BluSky are doing, as per “How Great Companies Are Building Leadership Training Programs.Opens in a new tab”
On the other hand, Progressive’s leadership development program is mainly focused on entry-level leaders. Within two years of completing the program, 90% of graduates had earned a promotion or made a career-enhancing move.
Cisco’s leadership development program, however, is a bundle of initiatives wrapped up in one. The comprehensive program covers different leadership levels from entry-level managers to senior leaders, with contributions from Cisco executives.
Organizational development
At its core, organizational development (OD) is a process of changing the organization’s culture — attitudes, values, and structures included — for the better. The desired outcome is improving performance and nurturing a growth mindset.
OD is an evidence-based and systematic process that has to be aligned with organizational goals, though.
The process starts with problem diagnosis, followed by data gathering and interpretation. To implement the right changes, interventions are chosen based on the data and organizational goals.
Change management is usually either adaptive or transformational. The adaptive type is concerned with making small, incremental changes. Meanwhile, the transformational change is larger in scope and leads to dramatic cultural evolution.
Either way, the process as a whole has to be evaluated through consistent feedback (from both leaders and employees). If the desired changes took place, you embed them into the organizational structure. Otherwise, you re-identify obstacles and make adjustments as needed.
Policy and procedures
HRD requires identifying the needs of your business and developing suitable policies and procedures to meet them. This is achievable through a cycle of creating, launching, monitoring, and improving development initiatives.
HR departments must contribute to collecting feedback and reporting on these policies and procedures to be certain their initiatives meet the needs of employees as well as organizations and their own departmental goals.
As part of the information-gathering and planning stages, be sure to define these goals and measurements so you can launch your initiatives successfully.
Compensation and benefits program
Compensation and benefits refer to two distinct concepts. Compensation refers to the cash return employees receive in the form of salaries or wages. Benefits, or fringe benefits, are the various forms of non-cash rewards.
HR teams can use both to provide professional development opportunities through funding for classes, procurement of learning platforms, or the creation of internal training.
On top of their wages, your employees want peer recognition, autonomy, and other perks. Development opportunities are among the top perks applicants are seeking.
Therefore, following a solid human resource development plan can attract high performers who seek ongoing learning opportunities. This way, you can attract, maintain, motivate, and support your employees.
Key benefits of human resource development (HRD)
HRD initiatives can be key to effective talent management, higher productivity, and a stronger workforce. Here are the top benefits to expect:
Attracting the best talent
A company’s human resource development plan can be a major attraction to the best employees in the market. Generally speaking, career-oriented employees are always in search of new opportunities to develop and sharpen their skills.
In fact, a 2019 report found that 86% of U.S. employees said they would leave a position for an organization with development opportunities. And that was before the pandemic changed professional development approaches, as noted in the SHRM article “Keeping Up with Professional Development During the Pandemic”.
The Great Resignation made learning and development a priority for many organizations, as highlighted in the ATD article “Combatting the Great Resignation: Professional Development as a Tool to Boost Employee Satisfaction and Reduce Turnover”.
Continuous performance management is also a vital tool for attracting and retaining talent. But in order to reshape your performance management, you have to acknowledge the link between performance, recognition, engagement, and retention.
The performance management cycle doesn’t just demand an environment with open, two-way feedback. It also calls for a focus on developing human resources.
Increasing employee loyalty and satisfaction
The goal isn’t only to attract but also to retain talent. Job markets are incredibly dynamic. Therefore, you need to keep an edge to keep your ideal employees. This can be done by investing in them through human resource development opportunities.
Encouraging and improving your employees can be crucial for increasing their loyalty and job satisfaction. As such, they’re more likely to remain with you.
HR development plans need to be built on a high-trust culture with consistent, clear communication in the employee-manager relationship. In turn, this relationship can lead to a positive employee experience and foster loyalty.
Preparing for future challenges
Human resource development helps prepare new employees for future posts. It allows them to develop new attitudes, skills, and knowledge to take on leadership positions.
On top of that, it helps you identify your employees’ strengths and weaknesses to create effective company succession planning strategies.
It’s worth noting that no industry is immune to the evolving workforce needs. SHRM advises service industries to keep up with the increasing demand for personalized experiences. While knowledge industries need overhauls in data management practices.
Companies are also encouraged to align their L&D programs with the upcoming projects. This would prepare employees for specific tasks and challenges they’ll face soon.
Investing in continuous training will also play a vital role in HR. A report by SHRM and TalentLMS, “2022 Workplace Learning & Development Trends,” found that 76% of employees are more willing to stay if they’re offered continuous training.
And to make the continuous learning practical, consider opting for microlearning sessions. This way, you help employees and recall key information without compromising their workload.
Raising performance standards
Constant training and development can boost the performance level of the entire organization. In other words, a well-trained workforce excels and thus raises the business itself.
That’s mainly because human resource development fosters commitment and alters their attitude towards change with their new enhanced capabilities.
Fostering healthy workplace relationships
Investing in your human resources can be a great way to foster healthy relationships in the workplace. In short, creating an encouraging and ongoing learning environment increases a sense of respect and trust between you and your employees.
Moreover, such development plans promote the employees’ participation. This, in turn, enhances team spirit, allowing for a healthier workplace.
Higher retention rates
There are several strategies for improving a corporation’s retention rates. Providing recognition, reviewing the compensation plans, and offering workplace flexibility are common ones.
But investing in employee training and development is also a valid, effective employee retention strategy backed by data, since employees prefer to stay in place with growth opportunities.
Develop strong leaders
HRD initiatives can help you promote internally and improve your succession planning. This way, leaders at different levels, from junior managers to C-suite executives, will already know your organization’s processes inside and out.
Just aim to train these leaders so that they have the right skills for building strong teams and opening communication channels.
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), for instance, reported that CCL program participants achieved an average of 60% improvement in team engagement and in developing others within two months of completing the program.
Adobe launched the Leadership Circles program to address the diversity needs in its leadership pipeline. 35% of the program alumni have been promoted to a director-level position or higher, including 24 senior directors and four VPs.
Google’s multi-year research initiative, Project Oxygen, gathered data from semi-annual reviews, analyzing managers’ satisfaction and performance. Teams with high-scoring leaders saw less turnover, with employees having clear development guidelines.
Project Oxygen identified eight behaviors shared by those high-scoring managers. These key behaviors were then used to create leadership training that sold the company’s engineers on management.
Different types of HRD programs
There’s no one right “look” for HRD training plans. HR professionals have to find the blend of initiatives that best serve their organization.
Here are four common types of HRD to consider:
Mentorship programs
Mentorships pair employees with experienced mentors willing to impart knowledge and guidance on building a successful career.
Mentors answer the employee’s questions. Together, they might also set specific development goals and achieve them through short-burst learning, practice, and real-world application.
That said, there are many types of workplace mentoring programs. Some focus on leadership development or diversity, while others are mainly concerned with career advancement.
In career advancement mentoring, the focus is on training the employee so they can grow within the organization. Mentors show the mentee their career trajectory and why it matters, driving up the employee’s investment level in their personal and professional growth.
Note that while mentorship programs typically take on a one-on-one relationship, they can be adapted to fit a group structure. That’s when peers help one another develop and grow as a group.
Either way, the mentoring dynamic benefits all participants and the organization as a whole.
For one, mentors can use this relationship to develop their communication and leadership skills. It would also be a good chance to keep up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies.
As mentees, junior employees get a confidence boost and acquire valuable skills and institutional insights. They can get help with everything from networking and career navigation to time management and problem-solving.
According to the Forbes article, “Does Mentoring Still Matter For Fortune 500 Companies?,” organizations with mentoring programs reported having profits that were 18% better than average. Those without mentoring programs had profits 45% worse than average.
One Forbes case study, “Improve Workplace Culture With A Strong Mentoring Program,” looked at the impact of the programs in corporate settings. Retention rates for both mentees and mentors (72% and 69%, respectively) were significantly higher than for employees who didn’t participate in the program at all (49%).
On-the-job training
The Workhuman® Analytics and Research Institute Survey revealed the most in-demand perks. Naturally, things like flexible work settings and healthcare coverage were high on the list. But so was on-the-job training (also called OJT).
Because OJT takes place in the work setting, it’s usually a cost-effective option that’s flexible enough to be shaped around the employee’s workday and task load. It can also be highly tailored to each employee’s daily duties.
Another perk to expect from OJT is that it provides employees with hands-on experience, which might be hard to replicate in traditional HR training sessions.
Leadership development initiatives
Harvard Business Review (HBR), through “How to Create a Successful Leadership Development Program,” reports that leadership development initiatives are most effective when they’re focused on performance outcomes. You want to pick outcomes that directly relate to and support one of your company’s key priorities.
Revenue increases and business expansion are both common outcomes to consider.
Regardless, establishing your key business priorities helps you identify what you want from leaders and who among the team carries the potential for each role. Then, you shape the development initiative’s structure and content based on your findings.
HBR also recommends collecting data before, during, and after the program. This data would then be helpful for measuring the progress and optimizing for the next rounds.
Senior leaders should be encouraged to have some sort of involvement in the initiative, too. This way, they can identify teachable moments and nurture a learning culture that keeps the leadership pipeline going.
E-learning platforms
LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning ReportOpens in a new tab revealed some important insights into what the workforce needs. The survey showed that 58% of employees prefer opportunities that allow them to learn at their own pace.
The report indicated that talent developers are relying more on digital solutions, both to deliver information and to measure the program’s success. Nearly 90% of companies are opting for digital learning. And it’s all for good reason.
For one, the inherent flexibility and scalability of e-learning make it a good fit for the increasingly diverse, multi-generational workforce.
To embrace the digital transformation in HRD, consider accessible online courses that provide certifications and at-the-point-of-need learning.
The Workplace Learning Report also highlighted that microlearning and just-in-time learning are two of the top trends in online learning.
Microlearning is when you break content into digestible chunks and reinforce the information over time. According to the Association for Talent Development (ATD) blog, “Using Microlearning to Boost Knowledge Retention in Healthcare Settings”, microlearning can significantly improve knowledge and skill retention.
When you consider that HEC claims that 64% of learners forget what they learn within a day, incorporating microlearning opportunities in your e-learning platform becomes even more appealing.
How to build an effective HRD program
The development of an HRD program requires five main stages, arranged as follows:
1. Define clear objectives
When creating your first HRD program, you might be tempted to start considering the tool, content, and timeline. However, it’s crucial to stop and look at the bigger picture.
Recognizing your company’s goals will help you outline clear, measurable HRD objectives. This way, you develop organizational skills that match your strategic needs.
But your workforce has to be aligned with the business strategy, too.
One study, “Examination of Employee Alignment as a Predictor of Work EngagementOpens in a new tab,” showed that researchers can trace about 56% of the variance in engagement levels back to perceived organizational support, leadership support, and employee alignment. And, alignment was the biggest contributor of all three factors.
2. Assess training needs
The next step is to analyze skills and knowledge gaps through talent development assessment.
Odds are, you already have plenty of data at your disposal from recent feedback and performance reviews. However, it also helps to survey your employees.
Don’t add too many questions, though. Just set out to find what the employee’s goals are within the company, how they want to navigate their career path, and what they prefer to learn. Analyzing the responses will show you the skill sets you need to focus on.
As you gain insight into areas for improvement, you’ll start sorting through the short-term and long-term needs that your HRD should cover.
3. Design effective programs
Using the result of the needs assessment, you can customize the HRD program.
For the most part, you’ll want to put together training content that addresses job-specific gaps, along with general soft and hard skills. This, of course, depends on who you’ll target. And you can always run parallel HRD programs for different teams within the organization.
During this phase, HRD managers select trainers and consider the best delivery method for each course. Many training programs are now built on blended learning, with a mix of instructor-led workshops, e-learning modules, and mentoring sessions.
For reference, companies like Conway Corp used a blended approach to develop their customer service teams. The result was a higher employee buy-in to training, an improved self-directed learning engagement, and a better overall customer service experience.
But no matter which delivery approach you choose, make sure to keep budget constraints in mind as you lay out the HRD application plan.
4. Implement the program
Communication is extremely important when rolling out the HRD. You need to clearly state the program’s goals, its scope, and why it’ll benefit the workforce. The goal is to “market” the program internally in a way that draws attention and increases participation rates.
Even within the HR team, clear communication is needed. Let everyone know the roles they play and the resources they can use as they implement different sections of the program.
Managers, team leaders, and executives should be looped in on the training schedules so that everyone can fit the program around current projects and workloads. Employees will also likely need managerial support as they learn new skills and are eager to put them into practice.
5. Measure success and adjust
Evaluating the effectiveness of the HRD as you go will help you improve the training and keep it relevant enough for the employees to stay in the program.
To get a feel for how well the program is doing, use human resource management solutions to monitor performance ratings.
Asking the employees for feedback is vital as well. Not only does it give you a measure of the perceived success of the HRD, but it also gives the workforce a voice in their own development program. Plus, periodically requesting feedback and acting on it can build trust and belonging.
And since your HRD is built to serve your company’s strategy from the get-go, you can use the changes in business outcomes as indicators as well.
Side Note: The data you’ll gather for the evaluation phase can be incredibly helpful for identifying and recognizing participating employees’ development.
Human resource development challenges and how to overcome them
Here are the common challenges that you might face while developing an HRD program:
Budget constraints
Executives need to consider the long-term benefits of investing in employee development plans. And many are actually embracing a “build, don’t buy” approach to skills in the post-AI corporate world, saving them thousands annually, as per HRD Connect’s article “Setting Up For 2024 Success: Navigating Budget Constraints in GenAI Era of L&D.”
However, that doesn’t change the fact that budget constraints are still among the main challenges facing L&D teams.
Tips for working with a tight budget
- Don’t limit your program to formal training only. Try cost-efficient alternatives, such as job rotations, mentorships, and cross-functional projects.
- Incorporate digital solutions into the program. Ernst & Young cut their training costs by 35% by using an 80/20 hybrid of e-learning and in-person learning, as per “An Assessment of the Effectiveness of e-learning in Corporate Training Programs.”
- Keep your HRD content relevant to daily tasks and future roles to encourage leadership buy-ins.
- Treat the development programs as part of the total compensation.
Employee resistance and lack of engagement
There’s always a chance that new changes in the workplace will be met with uncertainty. In fact, change management is one of the biggest HR challenges.
But the problems begin when this uncertainty translates to resistance and disengagement in the HRD.
Tips for overcoming resistance and lack of engagement
- Maintain transparent communication in your rollout plan.
- Keep your HRD programs employee-led, says HR Drive’s article “Employee-led learning: Allowing workers to stray from the beaten path.” Giving employees a voice in their development may reduce hostility and suspicions.
- Incorporate microlearning and interactive training elements to make the training more enjoyable.
- Hold awareness training to make employees aware of the biases that might be getting in the way of development, such as the Dunning-Kruger effect.
- Schedule check-ins with disengaged employees to find out how the program can be tailored to their needs and preferences.
Difficulties in measuring effectiveness
Research from the European Journal of Training and Development, “Measuring the impact of human resource development (HRD) practices on employee performance in small and medium-scale enterprises,” has shown that career development initiatives have an impact on employee performance. Still, measuring the impact can be tricky.
Tips for measuring program effectiveness
- Use a mix of quantitative (turnover, performance ratings, ROI, etc.) and qualitative measures (feedback, employee engagement surveys, etc.).
- For hard skills, do pre- and post-HRD assessments.
- Follow the career progression of participating employees.
Lack of creativity and innovation
Tips for overcoming a lack of creativity and innovation
- Educate your HR team on the cognitive barriers to innovation, such as the bandwagon effect.
- Identify the unconscious bias in your HRD and work to counter it.
- Balance between the "culture fit” and the “culture add" in your talent attraction and retention practices.
- Empower employees to be at the center of their career development.
What are some examples of human resource development?
Human resource development can be done formally or informally. Here’s a list of formal and informal human resource development ideas:
Formal human resource development examples
- Tuition assistance
- Work-related college courses
- Personalized development plan
- Organizational training sessions
- Internal training with consultants or qualified staff members
Informal human resource development examples
- Mentoring by managers or more experienced employees
- Managerial coaching
- Cross-training with highly trained employees
HRD and technology: Leveraging digital tools
Despite the challenges, human resource development doesn’t have to be complicated — not when you can use HR automation software to your advantage.
For instance, Learning management systems (LMS) can streamline content management and participation tracking. Using LMS for assessment requires a tech infrastructure and may involve a learning curve, but it can make your HRD more accessible.
AI-based solutions, too, have a place in training and development programs, especially in programs that rely on e-learning platforms.
Your digital HRD content can be gamified, optimized, and even used to create role-play activities, where your employees practice newly acquired skills in a low-stakes environment.
Finally, investing in reliable assessment tools, such as Conversations®, can streamline your HRD’s design, implementation, and evaluation phases.
Conversations® is a modern, intuitive take on growth and skill development. It helps you set the outdated annual reviews aside and replace them with a human-centered employee experience.
Conclusion: HRD as a key driver for business success
With AI and automation driving a fast evolution in the corporate world, HR professionals now need to reskill and upskill employees more quickly than ever.
The right human resource development plan will prepare your employees for the future, while serving your organizational success with a loyal, engaged, skilled, and change-ready workforce.
For your HRD efforts to pay off, you need to have a solid foundation of clear objectives and a reliable needs assessment. You also want to put the employee at the center of their own professional development plan.
And don’t forget that development doesn’t have to be a linear process. So, track progress, tailor programs, and recognize your employees’ advancements.
Ryan Stoltz
Ryan is a search marketing manager and content strategist at Workhuman where he writes on the next evolution of the workplace. Outside of the workplace, he's a diehard 49ers fan, comedy junkie, and has trouble avoiding sweets on a nightly basis.
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