Friday, June 10, 2011

What to Call HR

"Personnel" - What does this evoke? Pea-green walls, worn tile, metal desks, and lots and lots of polyester.

"Human Resources" - Is this a strip mining operation? Are steam shovels involved?

"People Department" - Very New Agey. Let me see those tie-dyed business cards, bro.

"Human Capital" - Well, this certainly removes any warm and cuddly feelings. "Hey, you'd better put that Human Capital back in the safety deposit box."

My own choice would be simple: "Employee Recruitment and Development."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about just "Employment"?

Michael Wade said...

Not a bad choice, but it may imply that once someone is employed, then the department is out of the picture. That's why I'd add the development part. You can drive a Mack truck through that loophole. It can include training, employee relations, compensation, etc.

Michael

Anonymous said...

The reason I picked one word is that any other term will be reduced to an acronym. Yours would be ERD, which sounds like some type of disease! This is what happens in large bureaucracies..You know, Personnel has a lot of merit to it...

Michael Wade said...

I had a case of ERD once and some ointment cleared it up.

You're right: "Personnel" is sounding better all the time.

Michael