Recognizing the importance for companies of having high-quality employment relationships with employees, previous studies have sought to explain the variability in employees' perceptions of HRM service value. However, most of these studies view employees as inactive in employment relationships and, therefore, do not consider whether employees' own attributes affect their perceptions of HRM service value. In accepting the alternative notion that consumers create value "in use, " the current study regards employees as active consumers of HRM practices, and so examines the extent and way in which employees' HRM competences (i.e., knowledge, skills, and abilities) explain the variability in HRM service value. Based on data collected from 2,002 employees in 19 companies in the Netherlands, a positive relationship has been found between employees' HRM competences and their perception of HRM service value, albeit one that is mediated by the perceived quality and nonmonetary costs of HRM services. The main implication of our fi ndings is that employees should be seen as active agents in employment relationships who, through coproducing and consuming HRM services as well as leveraging their knowledge and skills, infl uence the value of HRM services and have the potential to increase or undermine the outcomes of the employment relationship. An exclusive focus on the characteristics of the HRM service providers is also problematic in that it implies that employees are inactive in employment relationships and, hence, have no role in creating HRM service value.