Resources

Math posts are still on hold while I get my Algorithms summary done. This one is a little less fluffy than yesterday.

Among the grave crimes of Corporate HR is the trend towards dehumanizing the workforce. In particular, companies have taken to referring to the folks that work for them as "resources" or, even worse, "assets". Listing a person as an asset on your books became illegal on December 6, 1865 with the ratification of the 13th amendment. I've been supporting HR and accounting systems in various forms for 20 years and, trust me, if companies could claim employees as assets, they most certainly would.

The reason they can't is because to claim something as an asset, you have to actually have ownership of that thing. Even though it's clearly an investment that will be realized over time, you can't capitalize the cost of a training class or tuition reimbursement. Why? Because that person can walk out your door at any moment and never come back and there's not a thing you can do about it. The only exception to this is the military, which is protected under desertion laws and can (and does) require service in exchange for education. Some companies try to get around this by requiring you to pay back the cost if you leave. Of course, that's completely unenforceable; the worst they could do is ding your credit rating. At any rate, if a company ever asks you to do that, you might want to ask them why they're so scared you'll bail. Maybe it's not a very good place to work.

Resources and assets are things you use to get a job done. You may do well to conserve them or use them wisely, but you're not required to. They belong to you. People are living creatures created in the image of god. To treat them as resources is an insult to them and their maker. Even if you don't believe that, you'll get a lot more out of them if you act like you do. Unlike resources, people can choose how useful they want to be. Motivated people are incredibly more capable than people who don't care about the organization they work for. Why companies want to diminish this by reducing them to financial line items is beyond me.

My current client doesn't want to do that. They're taking THE ENTIRE IT staff (employees and contractors) to Star Wars this afternoon. You wouldn't believe what happened to morale when that was announced unless you were here to see it. They'll have to expense the cost, but the gains will be realized for quite some time.