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Personnel Today

‘Human capital’ label defended

by Personnel Today 8 Aug 2000
by Personnel Today 8 Aug 2000

The head of human capital at Arthur Anderson has hit back at claims that the term is an insult to employees.

Michael Stanley said the phrase human capital sends out the message that people are valuable and are there to be nurtured.

“Resources are something which are mined and then depleted like a mineral. When the mines are exhausted you move on and seek out another resource. The term is atrocious.”

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In July Scottish Power HR director Paul Pagliari attacked incomprehensible jargon and singled out the term human capital as a particular hate (11 July).

Peugeot personnel director Mike Judge, who is known for disliking the term “human resources”, weighs into the debate, by criticising jargon.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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