Yesterday and today: beyond hire and fire.

• Author: Myers, Deborah J.
• Position: Human Resources

Over the years, much has changed in human resources, which was initially called "personnel." The concept was introduced in the early 1980s as a natural result of the workers' rights movement, which seeks to make management view employees as people, not just dispensable assets.

The biggest overall change in I HR has been in respect to its role in the company.

"When HR was personnel, they weren't considered a main part of the organization," said Deeta Lonergan, who trains through Right Management Consultants in Anchorage and has worked in HR for 20 years. "They typically did not have a seat at the executive table. HR has made a push at the last 10 years to be part of the business strategy."

While lawmakers added more legislation to the books as to how companies could treat employees, facilitating compliance with these laws developed the whole department of human resources, including recruiting, hiring, training, benefits, workers' compensation, and (in some cases) payroll.

"Policy development ... has become more important to ensure legal compliance," said Jill Dean, an employment law consultant with Innovative Solutions Consulting in Anchorage. She gave discrimination policy as an example. Simply writing into the manual is not good enough.

"They need to make sure everyone knows the policy: employees, supervisors and owners. Everyone needs to know it and follow it."

The areas of hiring and termination have experienced the most changes as law and policy developed; however, human resources has changed in many other areas as well.

Training has become a retention tool. Instead of merely showing an employee how to do the job, training also is an ongoing process of developing valuable employees and expanding their skill sets to broaden their versatility so that they can work in more than just one area. That helps the company remain competitive, Lonergan indicated.

Whether it's formal schooling or on-the-job instruction, training is an investment in the company's future. Employers have discovered that hiring from within has many benefits, including familiarity with the company's product or service, lower training costs (the promoted employee and his promoted replacement will be easier to train than outsiders), shorter downtime, and improved morale and productivity.

Benefits are expected, not a perk, in...