Programmers are not 'resources' [comic]
blog.codeboff.in
blog.codeboff.in
There had been no explanatory panel in the first version but I discovered after a bit of 'user testing' that unfortunately the joke carried over in the real world; a lot of people didn't know who Stroustrup was.
Think about it - almost all personnel departments are called HR for a reason; it used to have very positive connotations. The term kind of devolved as the modern corporate culture grew, and it's kind of an anachronism that a young businessman is more careful of using. I'd guess the term will completely leave usage in the next 20-40 years.
Its usage when it grew in popularity was generally understood to be a positive thing - something similar to what happened to the word "welfare", which used to have overwhelmingly positive connotations as "the welfare of the people." Now welfare is out, social safety net is in. Likewise, human resources is gradually being replaced; actually, the main reason it's hanging around is probably because there isn't a really clear alternative term for "all organizationally-yet-not-operationally-focused personnel decisions."
In my experience they are called HR for the very reason that it's impersonal, whereas personnel sounds like it might be about people. In large companies, HR truly is dealing with 'resources' and not people, and this distance from humanity is helpful when HR is brought in to lay people off.
If I ever run a company that department is going to be called personnel.
Oh absolutely not, they don't mean anything bad by handling people as they handle objects. They just don't give a damn.
Is that supposed to make those considered objects happy?
I will note that, in my experience, the only people to ever defend calling people "resources" are managers.
> Now welfare is out
How? Where? Apart from fox news, I haven't seen welfare as being "out".