Human Resource Inventory - Definition & Meaning

Published in Human Resources Terms by MBA Skool Team

What is Human Resource Inventory?

Human Resource Inventory, also known as the skills inventory comprehensively lists down the basic information on all the employees, like their education, experience, skills, age, gender, salary related data, job preference and special achievements. It is a vital tool used in HR planning and policy making.


The information contained in the human resource inventory should be such that it is not only relevant to the current job position that an employee holds, but can also be used by recruiters to consider the individual for other job openings that might come up in the future. Thus, the basic premise of maintaining a current skills inventory is to identify if there are gaps between the current level of skills and relevant knowledge possessed by the employees and the Knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) needed to meet future business goals.


This aids the HR managers to make better decisions in several areas, including but not limited to:

1. Hiring qualified staff for meeting current as well as future needs of various business departments

2. Allocation of right employee to the right job

3. Ensuring organisational success by efficient staffing

4. Analysing current deficits and taking up the right training programs to bridge the skill gaps

5. Strategizing a workforce plan for future needs of business.


Having an updated skills inventory benefits the HR as they can efficiently evaluate and compare information on several employees within the organisation. This can then be used to decide upon items like promotions, trainings, raises and future recruitment need of the organisation. However, it is of utmost importance that the HR inventory is updated frequently to ensure it is relevant and useful. Gathering accurate information on each employee in the company is often a time-consuming and cumbersome task, which is very challenging if maintained on paper. As the human resource inventory is also known as the ‘snapshot’ of an organisation, a static inventory is of no value.


Hence, this concludes the definition of Human Resource Inventory along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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