Asset vs liabilities

Does your organisation consider employees to be an asset or a liability? Even if you do or don’t – it’s irrelevant! The most telling evidence of whether this is true will come from your employees themselves.

If you are business owner and you employ others to represent you, then your employees should be viewed as the single biggest asset of your company. After all, they are the ones who bring your brand to life. Your competitors can copy your product offering, the services you provide or your pricing structure, but nobody can copy the competence, interrelationships and competitive advantage you can gain from your employees.

Unfortunately, too many companies still see their payroll as pure expenditure capable of being cut. These companies are not seeing the bigger picture. Even in a struggling economy, “doing more with less” is simply a thought that can lead to dire consequences in the future.

When an organisation treats an employee like a resource, something that can be used up, discarded and then replaced, they will never gain the full advantage their people can add to the organisation. Don’t think that your other employees are not taking note about this behavior, because they most definitely are paying attention. As soon as they have the chance, those employees who remain with you will bolt for an organisation which demonstrates compassion and development opportunities and will work diligently to ensure everyone knows what it was like to work for you!

Here at Athwal Resourcing we are very much on the same wave length as Anne M. Mulcahy, former chairperson and CEO of Xerox Corporation, who believes that employees are and should always be regarded as assets.

“Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission”.

Let’s look at some of the ways that you can use to help showcase that your business believes that an employee is very much an asset:

Embrace people as your most valuable asset.

With the challenges organisations face, opportunity and promise are still very much around. Recognise that your people are your most valuable asset. Realise your best performing employees will come from the ranks of the most engaged, and understand that employee engagement ultimately drives business outcomes. It’s very important to keep in mind that it’s through your employees that customer loyalty is built. Also, it’s through them that products and services get delivered, and profits and growth are achieved.

Help leaders lead.

Business environments demand significantly more leadership today than in past years. Management positions play a vital role in engaging people and getting results. You need to set the pace and tone, communicate expectations, get people actively involved in running the day-to-day business, and provide regular coaching and feedback so your employees can keep the momentum going and make needed course corrections.

Develop your people to be the best they can be.

Always remember, people want to do a good job. They want to participate in a winning organisation, where they know they can make a difference, have influence over their future, and feel appreciated for their contributions.

Embrace learning and growth.

Your employees need to know you value them as much as you do any customer. One way to show them is to invest in their professional development. When you ensure they have the skills and information they need to perform well in their job, they know you care. When you take the time to reinforce what they’ve learned in training, they know you support their success. When you teach them everything you know and strive to help them become the best they can be, they know you value them and their contributions.