Most of us spend over fifty percent of our waking hours at work. According to GMJ’s 2004 Q3 survey, “of all U.S. workers 18 and older, 21.2 million – or 16% – are actively disengaged at work. Gallup estimates the lower productivity of actively engaged workers costs the U.S. economy about $300 billion.” In other words, we have a problem with employee satisfaction, and it’s affecting productivity. The amount of money wasted on disengaged workers could never accurately be counted, but we can only imagine when we stop to think about how much money just one miscommunication costs. It only takes a boss fed up with something, to yell at an employee, and the dominos start to fall. From the recipient of the message, to all the people he or she complains to, there is a tremendous loss of productivity and quality. And the blaming and complaining continues, with little, if any accountability. Then, the domino’s keep falling, affecting retention, recruitment, and even health.
So what can we do? How can we get employees more engaged and more accountable at work? If you can improve your situation by 50%, you’ll probably save your company thousands, if not millions of dollars a year, especially when you count the cost of hiring employees and health related costs. It’s time to consider our employees as human capital assets- as an investment. And when you think of other investments, they usually need some time, some maintenance and even polishing now and then. The only way you’ll get a return is if you take care of your investment.
Taking care of your human capital asset, your people, can be planned, organized, and simplified. It starts by believing that your people truly are an asset, and planning time and money to take care of them. For example, do you have a training budget? If so, what percentage of your revenue goes into that budget? Do you have a plan to align your people’s behavior with your company strategy? Do you know how much ROI you are getting for your investment in training? Are you tracking your “asset” regularly to get the best return?
Companies that invest in training and development experience increased retention and productivity, and they attract much better talent. As the talent pool continues to shrink, it will become urgent to put employee training and development into practice. Taking a proactive, rather than a reactive, approach will save your company time and money.
