Two decades covering the HR world

Two decades covering the HR world(Canadian HR Reporter, July 12, 2007)

A look back at the evolution of HR in Canada as Canadian HR Reporter celebrates its 20th anniversary
By Todd Humber



A hazy smoke-filled office. The sounds of Whitney Houston crooning her new number-one hit, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All.” A group of office workers huddled around the water cooler, discussing just how badly an extra-marital affair could go wrong after watching Glenn Close and Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction at theatres on the weekend. Another group of workers debating the merits of the paper dollar bill versus the strange new loonie.

That’s what a typical workplace might have looked like the day the first issue of Canadian HR Reporter came out on Sept. 21, 1987. It arrived in a very different working world from the one in which this issue landed.

Employees, for the most part, could still smoke at their desks. If desks were off limits, there was always the lunchroom. There was a lot of concern, confusion and fear over AIDS and how it was spread. There was plenty of hand-wringing over free trade with the United States and what it might mean for Canadian business and computers were just starting to make inroads into the business world. E-mail and the Internet were far-off dreams.

But, from an HR practitioner’s point of view, the late 1980s sounded a lot like today. In the Jan. 11, 1989, issue which took a look ahead at the 1990s, the major challenge for HR for the coming decade was finding enough workers.

“Demographic changes and structural shifts in the economy will force Canadian employers to radically alter recruitment policies and programs through the 1990s,” read the story, which pinned the blame on low birth rates and aging baby boomers.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Canadian HR Reporter, we dug through past issues and over the next few pages you’ll find watershed moments and some offbeat tidbits from the early years. If there’s one thing to be learned from 20 years’ worth of coverage, it’s that HR has never been a dull profession. The issues it faces are sometimes controversial, sometimes entertaining but always extremely important to business. Canadian HR Reporter has been with the profession through the good times and the bad, and made the journey with HR practitioners as the profession evolved from back-office function to strategic partner. The next 20 years look like they’ll be just as much fun.

From : //www.hrreporter.com/

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