[drfuchs]

Except that in the 70's it would have been "Personnel Administration" (or more commonly "Personnel") rather than "HR".

[DaiPlusPlus]

Honestly, that's a much better name than "Human Resources" - where did "HR" come from anyway?

[eru]

Wikipedia has got you covered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resources#Origins_of_the...

They also have 'Concerns about the terminology' as the next section.

[tareqak]

Anyone have any suggestions for a better name? Human Capital?

[goatinaboat]

No, “Human Resources” is an accurate description of the view a company’s senior management has of its workers. Something to be used up and then discarded, like a cartridge of printer toner.

[rmdashrfstar]

How bleak an idea.

[kitotik]

I was going suggest “Pleb Management” but the acronym “PM” is already overused between Product/Program/Project Management.

[zw123456]

Management Ass Covering is the most accurate name.

[PopeDotNinja]

Talent Retention.

[eru]

That's not really what they do in practice.

Personnel department perhaps? It's nice and bland.

(It's just a direct translation of the German Personalabteilung.)

[PopeDotNinja]

It more a reflection of what I'd like them to do.

[tiny_epoch]

The need to conflate humans with resources so the C-level can exploit them without too much thought.