# People Operations > *People Operations* involves designing and driving systems and practices that attract, engage, retain, and develop people within the enterprise (also called *human resources*). Any organization rises, stumbles, or falls on the actions of the people within it – full-time, part-time, contracted, volunteer. "People operations" include a wide array of [[attention-perception-action]] efforts that focus on the health, capacity, support, connection, and growth of the people that make the work. As Noelle Salerno describes it for [the Indeed job search site](https://www.indeed.com/lead/what-is-people-operations): > Simply put, “people operations” refers to the business function that supports employee engagement and productivity. People ops improves – and humanizes – business operations and works to create a positive employee experience. A related term in the business world is "human relations," although that approach tends to focus more narrowly on contracts, compliance, and even control. As people operations professional Evelin Andrespok defines the difference in a [*Forbes* interview](https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2019/03/28/human-resources-2-0-how-people-operations-is-powering-higher-productivity/): > “People Ops aims to understand employees holistically as individual contributors while the traditional HR mindset views them more as a resource to be calculated and managed for efficiency.” (Ferrer 2019) The nonprofit arts world is notoriously bad at people operations – underpaying, undertraining, overworking, discriminating against, excluding, and even straight-up exploiting artists, technicians, craftspeople, and administrative staff. The global pandemic and racial reckoning of 2020 and beyond made that reality impossible to ignore. > Read [Field Notes related to the People Operations function](https://notes.artsmanaged.org/t/people-operations). Some will say that the nonprofit arts [[What's a Business Model?|business model]] *requires* exploitative practice to deliver high-quality creative work in low-revenue contexts. Others will respond that any business model that diminishes the humanity, equity, dignity, and justice of its workers has no right to public or private subsidy and contributed income. --- ## Sources - Bock, Laszlo. *Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead*. Illustrated edition. New York: Twelve, 2015. - Cynova, Tim. “Why People Ops Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow.” *Work. Shouldn’t. Suck.* (blog), November 22, 2017. [https://www.workshouldntsuck.co/blog2/2017/11/22/work-shouldnt-suck](https://www.workshouldntsuck.co/blog2/2017/11/22/work-shouldnt-suck). - Farrer, Laurel. “Human Resources 2.0: How People Operations Is Powering Higher Productivity.” Forbes, March 28, 2019. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2019/03/28/human-resources-2-0-how-people-operations-is-powering-higher-productivity/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2019/03/28/human-resources-2-0-how-people-operations-is-powering-higher-productivity/). - Salerno, Noelle. “What Is People Operations – and How Is It Different from HR?” Indeed, August 24, 2021. [https://www.indeed.com/lead/what-is-people-operations](https://www.indeed.com/lead/what-is-people-operations). ## Tags (click to view related pages) #functions #functions/people_operations #seedling