U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (08/08/14)

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings increased from 3.9 million in January to 4.2 million in February, but the 3.3% hires rate and 3.2% separations rate were unchanged. Hires totaled 4.6 million in February, while separations totaled 4.4 million, both of which were little changed from the prior month.

The quits rate held steady at 1.7% for total nonfarm, 1.9% for total private, and 0.6% for government, while the layoffs and discharges rate was unchanged at 1.2% for total nonfarm and little changed at 1.3% for total private and 0.4% for government. For the year-to-year period, there were 54.3 million hires and 52.2 million separations, with a net employment gain of 2.1 million.

Wall Street Journal (04/08/14) Lauren Weber; Rachel Feintzeig

Some companies choose not to have a human resource department, arguing that the traditional HR department curtails innovation and burdens businesses with inefficient policies and procedures. Concurrently, software is making it easier to automate or outsource certain HR tasks.

However, there are downsides to forgoing a traditional HR department. The managers that handle HR on the fly may lack specialized legal knowledge, for example, which can open the business up to lawsuits. Furthermore, if managers don’t know where to find qualified job applicants, they may lose talent to another company.