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Comment by civilized | Hacker News Reader

The dehumanizing name "Human Resources" says it all, doesn't it?

We're not people. We're not even workers. We're just resources that happen to be members of the human species. Similar to other resources like staplers.

There's no perfect euphemism for what HR does, but something like... I don't know... Workforce Management? Would be a little less awful, I think?

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I've noticed this as well. Especially going through layoffs. It's not "people" getting "fired," it's "resources impacted." Oh, it's also not a "layoff," it's a "reduction in force."

Maybe I'm old-school, but give it to me straight.

OOM killer

I think it's a mistake to put much weight on the name. In companies where that department is called "People Ops" or "The People Team", the fundamental responsibilities to the company are unchanged.

people operators

Honestly, it is one of the few honestly named things in the corporate world. You are a corporate resource. Nothing more.

There is something to be said for honesty.

I guess part of the raison d'etre in larger companies is precisely to make humans measurable. And that is necessary to make a company manageable by executives. Although I think in some businesses that kind of work is largely performative.

It's still common among recruiters and staffing companies. Back in the mid-2000s when I was last looking for jobs, it was the bane of my existence to be summoned as a "Linux resource" or something...

Many companies are moving away from calling it that. Let's not pretend it's like that everywhere. I can't recall the last place I worked that actually called it "Human Resources".

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