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Human resources. ... Perhaps I'm overreacting, but isn't human resources the first ingredient in soylent green? Isn't the term "human resources" just a little bit demeaning? Isn't personnel a nicer term? If you can't even have a unique term for the people who work for you and you need to subclass them as just another form of resource, I feel you may be missing the point. Perhaps I'm not a special and unique snowflake. But I'm not a cow either. Energy resources, steel resources, beef resources, human resources. Mooo. People aren't just another resource for a company to use on its way to global domination, people are the reason companies exist in the first place. Perhaps it's because there are more and more people on a planet that seems to shrink every day that makes me notice just how many other people I'm shoulder to shoulder with. How many other people there are who would like to have what I have if for no other reason that they'd then have twice as much. Perhaps I'm just a little sensitive with jobs being outsourced globally, and the standard of living having trouble staying where it is, and social security being very social but not very secure... Perhaps I'd like to know that my effort is noticed. I'd like to be recognized as more than a cog in a machine. And why the term human in "Human Resources?" Are there a lot of Martians or amphibians on the work force nowadays? Is it so hard to refer to me as a person? Does upper management really think that the people it has can be replaced by machines? I think it is more likely that the management will be the first of the modern business worker to be replaced by machines. And although the replacement will be discreet, it won't be discrete. Management is already replacing itself bit by bit with machines. People don't have meetings any more so much as they e-mail, and present powerpoint slides, and leave voicemail. Cell phones, PDA's, cars, lights, computers... it's hard to tell where the person ends and the machine begins, let alone figure out which one is in charge. I don't want to be the subject of the machines. I don't want to be just another tool that a computer algorithm decides has a great statistical likelihood of achieving its purpose. Can we at least regain our dignity for the time that humans remain in charge of the machines and refer to ourselves as personnel rather than human resources? Or am I too late? Is the term Human Resources merely an indicator that we have already lost power? The switch has flipped. The tide has turned. The time has come. People are no longer in charge, they are merely a resource to be managed by the Machine. ... So what is it that the machine is going to have us do? Even more demeaning than the lack of respect for my being and my efforts is the idea that all of my effort may be for no good reason. If the leadership has so little respect for its workers that it views them as just another resource, am I supposed to believe that they share my ideals and goals? I work for a company so that we can achieve what? Can somebody reassure me that there are still people in charge? If there's anybody up there with a soul left, can you please start using the term Personnel rather than Human Resources as a signal that we still matter? I'll take the pay cut, and the lack of health care, and drive my car whatever the fuel costs, but please just let me know that all of this work benefits man when the day is done. Call me a person so that I know that you are one. People. Life. Precious and fragile. Not just something we bump into but the very reason we do everything. I hate the term "human resources," and so should every other human. If I were referred to as a carbon sink I might at least feel like I was benefitting the environment. And so I shake my tiny fist, and post this on a web page, and the first, last, and only visitor will likely be google. Seeking recognition from people, I'll probably score little more than a cursory glance from a machine. Boy, that's depressing. I think I'll try to cheer myself up by listening to some mp3's and playing a video game. |