The Work Contents of the Personnel Specialist in Latvia

The contents in the work of personnel specialist differ in organizations from one field to another. It continues to evolve with an emergence of new technologies and business methods, as well as with structural changes in the economy, both at a global and national level. However, the existing professional regulations of particular professions in Latvia has not been changed for almost 10 years, while the economy as well as the workforce appears to have changed. The aim of the paper is to illustrate what currently forms the contents of work of personnel specialist in Latvia. To achieve this, a study on trends in the work of personnel specialists has been conducted with an informative support of Latvian Association for People Management. The topics of daily activities and tasks, as well as individual features of personnel in various fields, including building, banking, manufacturing, IT, retail company, and public service companies have been included in the study. Overall, 18 personnel specialists from public and private sectors were interviewed. The results show that the classical model of human resource management is still popular, although some of the industries have adapted many or most of the cutting-edge approaches in the field, including flexible jobs and continuous employee support. Therefore, it is advised to update the existing documentation, including the professional regulation and university curricula, to meet the needs of the contemporary companies employing personnel specialists.