@1 with the Gen Y people & the Transforming of Personnel

Today I was pondering something..... just for a change.....

Historically, HR has always been a somewhat fence sitting position between the business agenda and need, and the people in the business doing the work to deliver that agenda (hopefully).

Back in the day, and I do remember it well enough, it was Personnel, lots of forms, lots of paper, lots of group hugs and holding hands and making everyone 'happy' - or at least that way the theory.

Then along came HR, lots of forms, lots of paper, lots of terrific jargon, acronyms and it became a domain of those with educational qualifications far more so than those who had just been 'people oriented administrators'.  HR was a fun place to be in many ways, pushing the business agenda, really seeking ways to operate strategically, and asking questions about the business and what the team could do to deliver the agenda.

And then came HCM (Human Capital Management).  My reading and research at the time suggested this was very much about metrics, and demonstrating how HR contributed to the bottom line - balanced scorecards, and any other number of tools aimed at turning a people function into a value metric that showed the ROI for every process, function and piece of paper.  It didn't look to me like HCM was ever really going to fly, whilst the city bankers may be all about their bonus payments, and capitalism continues to thrive (or destroy the world depending on your perspective and mortgage commitments), there are very few human beings who would regard themselves as 'capital' anything in the 'asset' sense.  Is its failure to launch more about the fact no one really said Human Capital was about using the individuals knowledge, skills, wisdom etc?  Maybe?

And now, we are back at People, its not Personnel, no indeed, People.  Of course it resonates because ultimately business is about people, customers, the workforce, and everyone in-between.  The concept of 'people' seems in the theory to be about bringing together the best of all of the above elements, strategy, metrics, a seat at the table (an elusive beasty), and cultural practices that also show that business is about people, flexible working, diversity, flexible benefits, robust and fair reward and recognition.

We formerly HR and now People Practitioners are in an enviable place, on the cusp of another transition that will hopefully deliver on the dreams and goals of everyone who has gone before.  The ever present talk of workforce demographics are in no small way I think responsible for the changes, Gen Y aren't obsessive about mortgages, cars and having the latest everything, they realise their own humanity and wanted to be treated like people, we (as in me and my compatriots) from Gen X are somewhat the same, although we still do perhaps have a little bit of the Boomer mentality - just see how many 30 somethings are living in the burbs in their 4x2 with the BMW 4WD and the 4WD pram in the family room.....  but I love Gen Y - yes, there is that 'grumpy old man' moan about their fashion, their music and all that, but, what they are helping humanity to do is realise that being human is what counts and I think that is an awesome achievement.