Abstract:

In the current economic context, when human resources function is ever more gaining the role of a strategic function, and the costs have become priorities in setting up strategies, we regard the efficiency assessment of human resources investment as an important and up-to-date-topic.
During crisis periods, when investment decisions in technology, real estates, and various equipments are under costs constraints, the shareholders/executives attention is focused on the intangible assets offered by the company’s human capital.
Consequently, the decision to invest in human resources function, maintaining or raising its allocated budgets, will still be made during the current period, but unlike the previous periods, it will be justified by the choice of programs with an immediate and maximum impact on the organization business.
The European Union provides support to European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is available in different forms such as grants, loans and, in some cases, guarantees. Support is available either directly or through programmes managed at national or regional level, such as the European Union’s Structural Funds. SMEs can also benefit from a series of non-financial assistance measures in the form of programmes and business support services.
The companies’ investment in artificial intelligence and information technology have turned into the most important objective of their budgets, standing for a giant source of invisible structural capital. However, in reality, they missed the essential that the most advanced intelligence is not the artificial one, but that the true super-computer is the human brain.
The intellectual capital means both employees and business relations, organizational structures and the renewal power of an organization. As a component of intangible assets, it can be defined as the Human Capital: the attitudes, skills, talents and knowledge the employees of a company have; the Social Capital – the knowledge accumulations and flows derived from the relationships inside and outside the organization; the Organizational Capital: the company’s culture, the leadership, the alignment of employee’s values to the company’s mission, their ability to share their knowledge with their colleagues.
Human resources development and valuing is a basic responsibility of a modern management.
For an employer, the gains expected from investments in human capital mean improvements of performance, productivity, flexibility and innovation capacity, which should result in the expansion of professional aptitudes basis and increase of knowledge and competence levels.
However, unlike material assets, the human assets are not included in the accounting books, as they are not the company’s property. Nevertheless, the financial expression of the company’s human potential is a justified endeavour, offering the substance for a human resources strategy aimed at developing the basic competences of the organization’s employees and the assessments can also be used to measure the effectiveness of human resources practices.
Analysis on the efficiency of investment in human resources in SMEs was based on analysis of data provided by several companies, beneficiaries of European funds aimed at financing the human resources , training and professional development at work.

Keywords:

Investments, economic efficiency, financial rates, intellectual capital, human capital, training, analysis plan, structural funds, SMEs.