# People Operations

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{{Short description|Organization's workforce}}
{{Business administration}}

'''People operations''', sometimes referred to as '''people ops''', is a professional field and organizational function that deals with the management and development of employees, through various aspects of [employment](/source/employment).<ref name= "What Is People Operations, Really?"></ref><ref name= "What is People Operations (PeopleOps)?"></ref><ref name= "From HR to People Operations: Why The Language We Use Is Changing"></ref>

These include [organizational culture](/source/organizational_culture), [upskilling](/source/education), compliance with [labor law](/source/labor_law), [hiring](/source/recruitment) and [onboarding](/source/onboarding), interpersonal relations, performance management, policy and process development, employee engagement, employee recognition, and working to ensure that a system of personal and professional development is maintained for all employees at a given organization.<ref name= "People Operations: 9 Key Responsibilities">{{cite web|url= https://www.aihr.com/blog/people-operations/ |title= People Operations: 9 Key Responsibilities |author= |publisher= The Academy to Innovate HR |date= |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "What Is People Operations, Really?">{{cite web|url= https://www.personio.com/hr-lexicon/people-operations-definition/ |title= What Is People Operations, Really? |author= |publisher= Personio |date= |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "What is People Operations (PeopleOps)?"></ref><ref name= "From HR to People Operations: Why The Language We Use Is Changing">{{cite web|url= https://www.edenworkplace.com/blog/from-hr-to-people-operations-why-the-language-we-use-is-changing |title= From HR to People Operations: Why The Language We Use Is Changing |author= Catherine Tansey |publisher= eden |date= 19 July 2022 |access-date= 17 November 2024 }}</ref><ref name= "Human Resources 2.0: How People Operations Is Powering Higher Productivity">{{cite web|url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2019/03/28/human-resources-2-0-how-people-operations-is-powering-higher-productivity/ |title= Human Resources 2.0: How People Operations Is Powering Higher Productivity |author= Laurel Farrer |publisher= Forbes |date= 28 March 2019 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "People Operations: A Guide to the New HR Term You Should Know">{{cite web|url= https://www.trinet.com/insights/people-operations |title= People Operations: A Guide to the New HR Term You Should Know |author= |publisher= trinet |date= 4 December 2023 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref>

People operations is a holistic reinvention of traditional [human resources](/source/human_resources), and is tailored to a more modern workplace and work practices, such as remote roles and global teams. It aims to put people first in company decision-making.<ref name= "People Operations For Beginners: How To Modernize Your HR Practices">{{cite web|url= https://nectarhr.com/blog/people-operations-for-beginners |title= People Operations For Beginners: How To Modernize Your HR Practices |author= Rebecca Noori |publisher= nectar |date= 22 May 2025 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "What Is People Operations, Really?"></ref><ref name= "Eddy - People Operations">{{cite web|url= https://eddy.com/hr-encyclopedia/people-operations/ |title= Eddy - People Operations |author= Malea Booker |publisher= Eddy |date= |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref>

While there is some overlap between human resources and people operations in terms of tasks and responsibilities, the overarching methodology of people ops is quite distinct.<ref name= "5 key factors of People Operations in Building a Successful Organization">{{cite web|url= https://www.chrmp.com/what-is-people-operations-role-and-responsibilities/ |title= 5 key factors of People Operations in Building a Successful Organization |author= |publisher= CHRMP |date= 13 February 2023 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref> HR has historically been centered around [policies](/source/human_resource_policies), business goals, compliance with [labor legislation](/source/labor_legislation), and [payroll](/source/payroll)-related matters.<ref name= "People Operations vs Human Resources"></ref>

People ops, in contrast, focuses on [organizational culture](/source/organizational_culture), [learning and development](/source/Training_and_development) (L&D), role fulfilment, recognition and reward, personal and professional development, interpersonal relations, successful interfacing between senior management and other employees, organizational values and identity, [coaching](/source/coaching) and [mentoring](/source/mentoring), [employee engagement](/source/employee_engagement), and [diversity, equity, and inclusion](/source/diversity%2C_equity%2C_and_inclusion) (DEI).<ref name= "People Operations For Beginners: How To Modernize Your HR Practices"></ref><ref name= "From HR to People Operations: Why The Language We Use Is Changing"></ref><ref name= "People Operations vs Human Resources">{{cite web|url= https://www.avadolearning.com/blog/people-operations-vs-human-resources/ |title= People Operations vs Human Resources |author= Nilesh Jha |publisher= Avado Learning |date= 22 October 2024 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "The Role of People Operations in Modern HR Teams">{{cite web|url= https://workproud.com/blog/the-role-of-people-operations-in-modern-hr-teams/ |title= The Role of People Operations in Modern HR Teams |author= |publisher= WorkProud |date= 9 January 2024 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref>

People operations positions itself as highly integrated across business departments, and aims to utilize a proactive, people-focused mindset to drive cultural cohesion, integration, career satisfaction, and employee retention. People ops takes the humanistic side of [business administration](/source/business_administration), as well as the entire employee lifecycle (from hiring to departure) into consideration. In contrast to human resources, people operations seeks to focus on people's intrinsic value, and the ways that [upskilling](/source/education), [rewarding](/source/Reward_management), and keeping employees [happy](/source/Happiness_at_work) contributes directly to overall business success. People operations is therefore based on [employee-driven growth](/source/employee-driven_growth).<ref name= "What Is People Operations, Really?"></ref><ref name= "BambooHR - What Is People Operations?">{{cite web|url= https://www.bamboohr.com/resources/hr-glossary/people-operations |title= BambooHR - What Is People Operations |author= |publisher= BambooHR |date= |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref>

In vernacular usage, people operations can refer to the people operations (people) department of a business, or to the people operations field in which such practitioners work. Similar fields with a more specific focus, which may be situated underneath a people operations department, are employee experience and employee success.<ref name= "What Is People Operations, Really?"></ref><ref name= "What is people operations?">{{cite web|url= https://www.hibob.com/hr-glossary/people-operations |title= What is people operations? |author= |publisher= HiBob |date= |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "What is People Operations (PeopleOps)?"></ref><ref name= "A new operating model for people management: More personal, more tech, more human">{{cite web|url= https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/a-new-operating-model-for-people-management-more-personal-more-tech-more-human |title= A new operating model for people management: More personal, more tech, more human |author= Asmus Komm, Fernanda Mayol, Neel Gandhi, Sandra Durth, and Jasmin Kiefer |publisher= McKinsey & Company |date= 7 February 2025 |access-date= 17 November 2024 }}</ref>

Companies that have switched to using a people operations methodology, instead of traditional HR, include [Google](/source/Google), [IBM](/source/IBM), [Cloudflare](/source/Cloudflare), [Yelp](/source/Yelp), [Relativity Space](/source/Relativity_Space), [Propel](/source/Propel_(company)), and [Credible Labs](/source/Credible_Labs).<ref name= "Bettertean - What is People Operations?">{{cite web|url= https://www.betterteam.com/what-is-people-operations |title= Bettertean - What is People Operations? |author= Garth Coulson |publisher= Betterteam |date= 9 May 2024 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "People Operations: A Guide to the New HR Term You Should Know"></ref>

==Activities==

The people operations field is quite broad, and may vary in the size of its scope depending on a particular company's goals, or the needs of a specific role. However, in general, People ops is likely to cover the following functions:<ref name= "People Operations For Beginners: How To Modernize Your HR Practices"></ref><ref name= "Human Resources 2.0: How People Operations Is Powering Higher Productivity">{{cite web|url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2019/03/28/human-resources-2-0-how-people-operations-is-powering-higher-productivity/ |title= Human Resources 2.0: How People Operations Is Powering Higher Productivity |author= Laurel Farrer |publisher= Forbes |date= 28 March 2019 |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref name= "People Operations: 9 Key Responsibilities"></ref><ref name= "What is people operations?"></ref><ref name= "What is People Operations (PeopleOps)?">{{cite web|url= https://www.deel.com/glossary/people-operations/ |title= What is People Operations (PeopleOps)? |author= |publisher= Deel |date= |access-date= 3 June 2025 }}</ref>

* Crafting a positive, sustainable [organizational culture](/source/organizational_culture)
* Developing and maintaining a system of organizational values, and an [organizational identity](/source/organizational_identity)
* Ensuring a system of [employee recognition](/source/employee_recognition) is in place
* Implementing and managing a comprehensive [performance review](/source/performance_appraisal) process
* Developing suitable business [policies](/source/Human_resource_policies) and processes
* [Engaging with employees](/source/Employee_engagement), for example via [surveys](/source/Employee_surveys)
* Conducting [coaching](/source/coaching) and [mentoring](/source/mentorship) of other senior employees, for matters relating to, for example, interpersonal relations, [people management](/source/Management_development), [succession planning](/source/succession_planning), reward, and communication
* Tracking and improving upon [diversity](/source/diversity_(business)) in the workplace
* Overseeing [skills management](/source/skills_management), [probation periods](/source/Probation_(workplace)), and [performance improvement plans](/source/Work_motivation)
* Ensuring [compliance](/source/regulatory_compliance) with applicable local [labor legislation](/source/labor_legislation)
* Engaging in [contract](/source/contract) [negotiations](/source/negotiations), [salary](/source/salary) benchmarking, [promotions](/source/Promotion_(rank)), and [culture](/source/culture) management in times of business change
* Managing the [hiring](/source/recruitment), [onboarding](/source/onboarding), and [offboarding](/source/offboarding) processes of a business
* Administrating [people management systems](/source/Human_resources_information_systems)
* Tracking [salaries](/source/Financial_compensation), and ensuring fair compensation and [benefits](/source/Compensation_and_benefits)
* Involvement in [payroll](/source/payroll) and [expense management](/source/expense_management)
* Tracking various employee-related [metrics](/source/Human_resource_metrics), such as job satisfaction, churn, and performance
* Creating and maintaining a system of communication and feedback across departments
* Enabling and driving [professional](/source/professional_development) and [personal development](/source/personal_development), through, for example, [learning and development](/source/Training_and_development) (L&D) programs and [training](/source/training)

==See also==

* [Business administration](/source/Business_administration)
* [Commerce](/source/Commerce)
* [Management](/source/Management)
* [Industrial and organizational psychology](/source/Industrial_and_organizational_psychology)
* [Industrial relations](/source/Industrial_relations)
* [Worker's rights](/source/Worker's_rights)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Diversity (business)
Category:Coaching
Category:Job evaluation
Category:Employee relations
Category:Organizational culture
Category:Industrial and organizational psychology
Category:Organizational behavior
Category:Workplace
Category:Personal development
Category:Employment compensation
Category:Labour law
Category:Labor relations
Category:Business ethics
Category:Leadership

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [People Operations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Operations) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Operations?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.