Employee Transfers in 1920 - Look familiar?

Chicago, Milwaukee etc. RR employee form
Originally uploaded by mod as hell

Back in the day, forms like these were the 'technology' and mechanism behind a standard Human Resources process of effecting an employee transfer.

Or as this form indicates, an 'employe' transfer. Thanks to my friend Nicole from RemoteRevolution for finding out that the 'old' spelling variant was largely out of favor by the mid-1920s.

The form, which was from the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad, provides a nice glimpse back into the old days in HR, when simple employee transactions like transfers were processed on paper forms, and required several individuals to handle and sign the forms.

Wow, hard to remember a time when simple transactions had to be done manually, on paper, over and over again. Easy to mess those up, and HR staffs now have more time for 'strategic' activities.

What's that?

Your organization hasn't automated and streamlined these processes yet? You are still processing employee transfers just like the railroad did in the 1920s?

I hope at least you have updated the spelling on the form to 'employee'.