Changing Personnel to Human Resources was definitely the start of that process. It was an attempt to "professionalize" the work that Personnel departments did

Changing Personnel to Human Resources was definitely the start of that process. It was an attempt to "professionalize" the work that Personnel departments did and make it sound more important. It meant that you could have "Vice President of Human Resources" which sounds as "impressive" as "Vice President for Manufacturing". It also leads towards today's stupidities where these same people are called things like "Leader for People and Culture" or some other BS touchy-feely title. Employers do what they can to commoditize and standardize their use of workers. Anything to make them more fungible makes them more replaceable and therefore easier to a) lower costs (ie wages) and b) automate.