HR role evolving.

The human resource profession has seen itself mature over the last few decades, to become a position of influence in the public and private sectors.

"25 years ago, in the late 1980s, HR was seen as a roller responsibility in an organization, and it really wasn't viewed as a profession people could choose to go into," says Antoinette Blunt, who began working in the field around the same time.

A Sault Ste. Marie-based board member of the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario [HRPAO], Blunt says the decade was a boom time for many businesses, which were able to grow and expand their operations. But, she says the period also marked the advent of complex legislation and the creation of more unions.

"The 1980s were a really good time for organizations, whether private or public, but what we saw in the public sector at the end of the decade was a lot of unionization, growth and legislative changes in Ontario," she explains.

"In light of these changes it was very important for businesses to have a better understanding of new legislation and the rights of employees and employers," she adds. "Because of this, the position of human resource was now seen as a necessary role by senior management."

Gail Lawrence, president of TrendLine Consulting Services in Thunder Bay and president of the northwestern Ontario chapter of HRPAO, says when she began working in the sector in the 1970s it was not called human resources.

"We were called personnel," she says. "The way organizations see the role of HR has certainly changed. When I started it was all about getting employees in the door, doing orientation, and getting them signed up for benefit plans."

In the 1990s, a second stage occurred, due in part to the extensive funding cuts to the private sector, restructuring and layoffs, Blunt says.

"All this led to changes in the roles of employees," she says, adding that new legislation about pay equity, changes in compensation, bargaining, and the development of social contracts massively impacted both the private and public sectors creating even more of a need for HR.

"It was during this time organizations began seeing growth and offering more education and services to their employees," says Blunt. "HR managers were involved in the planning of frameworks to better position the labour force of the company for the future."

"It is far more complex than when I first got involved in the profession," adds Lawrence. "There is much more legislative rigor, both in the amount of legislation regulating employment and the extent to which the legislation dictates how things need to be done."

Now, she says there is pressure on employers to be supportive of their employees' situations, financially, morally, and with flexibility. As a result, businesses are leaning more and more on HR professionals.

By Dean Lisk

For Northern Ontario Business