s were the same as companies on the lists in prior years. There seemed to me a formula with HR that if administered correctly would conjure up a wonderful organization of happy employees. The problem with this belief I had was that of change. Change inserted itself to alter that formula and alter it drastically and continuously. Because of this no one can predict the organization of the future. No one can predict the future course of the HR profession. No one can predict how HR practices will change in the future. Thinking about this future though may lead to innovative insights into how better prepare for the changes that will inevitably occur. Thinking about this future of HR may help to change today’s HR practices in positive ways. This paper then is to look into the future and take a look at the future trends of the HR profession. Before diving into our time machine to go future scaping, how did we get to the point we are now in HR? What people, places, and policies have made the workplace what it is today? I would like to look at four companies – Procter & Gamble, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Southwest Airlines who created places of work that stood out during various times of the last century. These companies are just a small sample of HR thinking today, although, they comprise of an important part of it. Started in 1837 as a soap and candle maker (Fortune, 139), Procter and Gamble was a model of exemplary employee relations at the turn of the 20th century. This employee relations improvement came about when the company introduced a profit-sharing plan to foster company loyalty. The plan was improved in 1903 by tying it to the purchase of company stock, and today it is known as the oldest profit sharing plan in operation. In the year 1915, the company introduced an employee disability and death benefit plan. It also gave its employees an eight-hour workday and guaranteed 48 weeks of work in a year, and the...
