What used to be called "personnel"

[woo me with science]

is now called "human resources."

Think about that for a second.

[Taverner]

1. Been like that for a while

Karl Marx would argue it is the objectification of labor - or on other words, the prostitution of labor

[cloudbase]

2. Our most valuable asset.

Oh, by the way, we're cutting your pay and increasing your medical co-pay.

[arcane1]

3. That term has always made my skin crawl..

:puke:

[HopeHoops]

4. "cannon fodder" is more appropriate.

[somone]

5. We value our associates

sometimes as much as our furniture

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. ...$1.29 a pound. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. Seen on a resource-extraction industry motivational poster;

"People are our most important renewable resource.

[Odin2005]

9. OMG!

:puke:

[Odin2005]

8. I hate that word. Calling human beings "resources" is offensive and dehumanizing.

It portrays us as cogs in the machine to be exploited and then thrown away when no longer useful. We need a society that is focused on the needs of PEOPLE rather than on the needs of Capital. We need to replace our inhuman and dehumanizing society with a society CENTERED AROUND PEOPLE.

[EC]

11. Or bought and sold

just like other commodities...

[EC]

10. I know

when that happened back in the early 80's it was the end of people being treated like humans.

[geardaddy]

12. Soon it'll be called "Soylent Green Resources"

[LostInAnomie]

13. Funny enough, human resources is the department most likely to treat you...

... like an object.

[hifiguy]

22. Those who can do nothing else

and have the worst interpersonal skills inevitably wind up in HR. I have never seen it fail, not once.

Want to kill the Chinese economy? Parachute in tens of thousands of people with MBAs and MAs in "human resources." That'll shut 'em down, if the Chinese don't kill them first.

[ljm2002]

14. The even newer term is "human capital"...

...ugh.

It's been going on for years, though. I remember noticing 30 years ago that news stories were referring to the US population at large as "consumers" rather than "citizens". It's outrageous. Now we know that those changes in terminology have been part of an ongoing plan by right wing players, who understand that language molds thought. I wish our liberal leaders realized the same thing.

[GrannyK]

17. In the sports industry

individual players are referred to as products. I haven't paid much attention to sports in a very long while. So I was stunned the first time I overheard this term being used to discuss a player. That peaked my interest so I've paid attention enough to know this a common term now.

It begins with high school, then progresses through college.
Sports announcers will say "quarterback Green is a product from University of Texas." Or tight end Black is a product out of Midway High School."

Chilling!!

[tammywammy]

15. Well, I think there's a differene in those terms

Personnel was more about hiring/firing. HR encompasses learning development, career coaching, training/leadership development, along with areas such as harassment, ADA, etc. Or maybe that's just where I work.

[Lisa0825]

18. Thank you for a factual response on the subjetc. nt

[tammywammy]

25. Heck, just today I signed up for a class offered through the HR department

Excel Intro to Pivot Tables

The classes like this that are offered where I work is done through the HR department.

[tk2kewl]

16. my father always said "there's nothing humane or resourceful about them"

when speaking of human resource professionals

[Buns_of_Fire]

19. I've railed against that for years. Along with calling me an "associate."

But the oh-so-individualistic Captains of Industry jumped on any new term that was promoted by the WSJ like fleas onto a politician. I think that they thought it maximized their paradigms, or something like that.:eyes:

[lpbk2713]

20. Or a "Team Member"

I always knew they were just playing some kind of a fuggen game with me.

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. Yep. Rah, rah, rah!

I found myself really resenting all that crap. I went into work every day to do my job -- for which they paid me. That was how I viewed the deal. I perform the function for you, you pay me for that function. Nothing more, nothing less, no antagonism, no buddy-buddy, just business. No big deal.

But also not good enough for the defective egos who not only demanded performance, but love.

(Bitter? Hey, not ME...)

[XanaDUer]

28. My last job called everyone associates

I think it was to raise morale or something. Of course, the horrible working conditions, abuse, and weasly management kept morale down...but at least we were not mere employees!

[hifiguy]

21. The point of language manipulation like this

is to depersonalize individuals and reduce them to drones with numbers. The fat cats don't like to be reminded that it is human lives that they are wantonly destroying so that they can light their cigars with $100 bills.

[MountainLaurel]

24. Even worse

A local university has completely taken the emphasis of the people by referring to it as "workforce management."

[The2ndWheel]

26. Aren't we products of public schools?

The sooner we accept that we're molded into what the greater social machine requires us to be in order for it to function, the easier it's going to get. Your life isn't yours. You need to be a productive future tax payer. You go to work to buy the goods to sustain the state. You are a resource. Nothing but.

[hvn_nbr_2]

27. I was just thinking about that the other day.

The creepy term "human resources" means that they think of you and me not as persons but as "resources" to be exploited, to have as much as possible extracted at the least cost. To the corporate overlords, we're no different from a lump of coal or a piece of dirt, and just as expendable.

[XanaDUer]

29. The new concern is for "employee engagement"

they're worried "disengaged" employees do all sorts of shit that will affect the bottom line in a negative way.

[rucky]

30. At least they recognize them as humans

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