Please do not call people resources
Telling phrases, part 0
Throughout my work life, I have developed an allergy against certain words or phrases. Out of this collection, the top one is “resources” (when being used for people).
Why is this so bad?
Water is a resource: Two glasses of the same amount are basically the same, without any worry whether I get this one or that one. If I have a glass of water, and I accidently spill it, I can easily refill it.
What does it say about me if I talk about people the same way — or treat them like this? Would you like to work for me?
This way of talking about people was appropriate during the Industrial Revolution, when workers were treated like just one out of many resources for production, without any regard to the individual. Nowadays it is bad to use language that reflects this time.
Times have changed. We want to care about people. In the era of knowledge work, people are replaceable but not interchangeable. Problems are best solved by involving people who are exactly not the same. To be successful, you need to appreciate the differences.
Language does not create reality. As reality changes, the use of language or meaning of words gets an update.
I know this. So why am I so picky? Exactly because of this! Reality has moved on — it is time that we speak appropriately. I ask myself whether people who call other human beings “resources” are stuck with their mindset in the industrial age.
Yes, we have whole departments called HR — Human Resources. This is a language-specific thing. In other languages, the equivalent expression does not necessarily contain the word for “resources”. In German, HR is called “Personalabteilung” (“staff department”). Why insist on a bad word just because English uses it?
The Human League: Human
