bcbusiness.ca december 2015 BCBusiness 27
Two or Three deCades ago, the personnel
departments of many organizations were decidedly
impersonal. Or at least that's how Cissy Pau remembers
it. When she graduated with a degree in business admin-
istration from
UBC in 1995, the days of managing the
workforce with a tight, paternalistic grip were still
fresh in the minds of her superiors. "When I -rst
started, I was working for a -shing company—this
old-school traditional industry," says Pau, now
principal at Clear HR Consulting. "People would
tell me that back in the day HR was about keep-
ing tabs on the workforce. Did you leave for lunch
on time? Were you late coming back? It was much
more of a policing role."
Human Nature
In the information age, many traditional
business functions have undergone
transformative change—but none more
so than the once-staid human
resources department
b y J e s s i c a b a r r e t t
■
i l l u s t r a t i o n s b y k e n n y p a r k
Meet one high-flying tech
researcher who gave up big
city opportunities for the
west Coast lifestyle p. 32
our exclusive survey on how
British Columbians view
their job, career prospects
and work priorities p.35
T HE F U T URE
OF WORK
