"Imagine a company spending one-third of the revenue on a capital investment or an interest payment and never addressing it with shareholders in their annual report," said Rick Guzzo, a Mercer consultant. "It's unthinkable."
Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a unit of insurance brokerage Marsh &McLennan, conducted a Two Year Study of the 100 largest publicly traded American companies.
25% of the largest publicly traded companies included a platitude equivalent to, "our people are our greatest asset".
20% of the companies actually included human capital contribution to business success in the annual reports.
Budgets track the expense of employees, benefits, travel and entertainment.
How do you measure contributions and impact of personal performance?
What is the impact to revenue, risk or cost control if the human asset is missing or not functional for an extended time?
What would it cost to replace them and train someone else? How long to train, how much experience lost and how much productivity would you lose?
If you invest time and money to improve the efficiency of your most valuable asset, human capital, how will you measure the Return on Investment?
How do you communicate the value of personal performance on a regular and frequent basis?
The biggest impact to controlling costs, generating revenue and operating the business is the time and talent of the individuals. Success is the result of collaborative individual performance. Measure, monitor and invest appropriately in the biggest impact to your business. If the people thrive then the business will follow.
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Words of Wisdom
"Good people are in short supply. Whether you're an investor, a company owner, or someone strategically tying to figure out what to do in business, you need to pay more attention to employee motivation and human relations."
- Esther Dyson, Chairwoman, EDventure Holdings
"Don't try to change people. Instead, work to improve them."
- Doug Blevins, performance coach for professional athletes
"You're only as good as your people, that's why the war for talent is intense."
- Thomas Weisel, founder and CEO, Thomas Weisel Partners
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About the Author:
John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital
By: John Mehrmann