This time — and every time — it’s personnel

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/05/2023 (1203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As readers have probably noticed, the month of May has seen one recognized celebratory day after another. We had Mother’s Day, which celebrated the importance of mothers in society. We celebrated Victoria Day, originally designated a special day in 1845 in recognition of the former Queen Victoria, who was, until recently, the longest-serving British monarch. This May, we witnessed the crowning of King Charles, who is now Canada’s constitutional monarch.

The month of May is also special for me personally. I have now been writing the Winnipeg Free Press working world column for 22 years. My first article, “Been There, Done That,” was published on May 5, 2001. When I look back on the trends in human resource management, I see many significant changes, but I also see that some things remain the same.

In fact, one of the key issues that bothered me the most when I started the column was the lack of women in senior leadership, the lack of recognition in the news about successful women, and the fact that women were so much more underpaid in comparison to men. So, it’s really distressing to see the April 2023 report that showed an average Manitoba woman continues to earn only 71 cents for every dollar that a man makes. Indigenous women on the other hand, earn even less: 50 cents compared to a white male’s dollar. The report also indicated that this salary differential continues to be seen across all occupations, industries, levels of education, age and racialized status.

However, the role of human resource professionals has fared much better. Twenty-two years ago, a typical HR professional was known as the “personnel” person, with the scope of their responsibility limited to hiring new employees and looking after payroll. There was little recognition of the value that employees actually had on an organization’s overall performance.

During my early years as an HR consultant and leadership trainer, I would often encounter naked Playboy posters on the walls of internal manufacturing offices. I would be confronted with sexist comments on my dress and demeanour, and often found myself in the middle of sexist jokes. I was offended when my professional advice was challenged outright with comments such as, “What do you know, you’re a woman?” And I rarely met a manager who wanted to harness the value of his employees by providing them with leadership training that could help create a more “participative” work environment.

Thankfully, the philosophy related to employees and work has changed for the better. No longer are naked photos, sexism, bullying and harassment tolerated in any workplace. We now have legislation and investigative processes that help deal with these issues. As well, the growing focus on workplace health and safety has not only led to new progressive legislation but it has helped to create an entirely new profession. Currently, the new legislative processes have led to the development of workplace investigators as another growing profession and has encouraged human resource professionals to broaden their skillset.

While there is still room for improvement, things have changed for the positive. One big positive change is that human resource professionals more frequently now have a “seat at the table,” which means they are engaged in strategic discussions on organizational issues right at the start of an organizational change and/or a crisis discussion.

Another area of change in the human resource profession is technology that has allowed professionals to streamline administrative tasks. It has allowed for the identification of internal issues such as attendance trends, salary and compensation issues, challenges with employee benefit plans and performance issues. Computerization has enabled organizations to communicate more effectively with key stakeholders, their staff, and their vendors. Today, a recruitment advertisement can be seen across the world. One of the unexpected benefits and/or consequences of technology arose during the pandemic: working from home. Even summer cottagers can avoid returning to the city by installing technology at their lake location.

Yet, because people are people no matter where they work, there are HR issues that continue to surface today. One of the biggest issues is helping organizations and employees deal with change. This has led to the growth of training and development as a profession, and as a necessity for organizations. Today, we see both in-person training as well as online modular learning and video conferencing.

It is hard to believe that a total of 1,146 of my articles were published over the past 22 years. The articles were deliberately alternated between a focus on employers one week and employees the next. Some focused on both career and management issues. Readers learned about new HR issues and received advice on leadership, team building, managing and/or initiating change.

The articles included plenty of discussions on engaging employees, developing positive workplace relationships, getting that first job, moving to a new job, being promoted and managing one’s career. In addition, it was a pleasure to highlight and feature organizations that represented best practices in HR and/or an individual professional who represented personal growth and success.

You would think that as a columnist I would run out of ideas, but that has never been the case. Every week and every day, HR issues pop up. Issues in one organization often result in a general trend that impacts everyone. In today’s global world, what happens elsewhere directly impacts organizations, HR professionals and individuals here.

The Chartered Professionals in Human Resource association of Manitoba (CPHR) is now in the final stages of becoming self-regulated, similar to other professions such as engineers, nurses and lawyers. This will strengthen the ability of the professional association to protect both employers and employees by ensuring adherence to professional credentials and ethical work practices.

Change will always be with us. It is now time for me to participate in my own personal change. As such, I want to share that today is my final column. I am passing the torch to a talented new columnist who will keep you informed and up to date on all the HR and career changes that will continue to come your way. In closing, I want to say thank you to the Free Press for this wonderful 22-year opportunity. Thank you to all the readers of my column and especially those who took the time to contact me with questions, concerns and even compliments. The best to all of you.

Barbara Bowes, FCPHR, B.Ed, M.Ed, CCP is a human-resource professional, author, radio personality, speaker, executive coach and workshop leader. She can be reached at barb@bowesleadership.com.