If your employees are your organization’s most important asset, does it show?
If your employees are your organization’s most important asset, does it show?
It’s common to hear organizational leaders say that, “our employees are our greatest asset.” If this is true, is it reflected in your employee performance and in your HR budget?
In an article by HR consultant Harold Ford entitled, “Employees AREN’T Our Greatest Asset,” he points out that the saying is not backed up by facts.
Most notably, Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace Report found that 70 percent of American workers are “not engaged” or are “actively disengaged.”
His point is that we give lip service to the value of employees, but organizations are either not investing in development, or what they are offering is not working.
US companies alone spend almost $14 billion annually on leadership development.
That sounds like a lot. On the other hand, active employee disengagement costs the U.S. an estimated $450 to $550 billion per year; and US businesses lose $10 billion annually due to employee turnover when disengaged employees finally quit. The return on that $14 billion isn’t very good.
Talent acquisition specialist Teresa Gabriele points out the impact of disengagement on overall organizational sustainability, “Employees aren’t quitting their jobs–they’re quitting their bosses! That’s bad news for organizations planning for innovation, succession, and market longevity.”
Every organization wants a talented, empowered, accountable workforce.
But traditional employee development just plain doesn’t work––it’s boring and unproductive. Putting a bunch of people in a classroom to learn theories and concepts that aren’t relevant to their job and company is counter-productive. They come back with a notebook and a certificate. The notebook goes on a shelf and is never touched again, and the certificate goes on the wall as a memento. In the era of personalization and automation, this approach just doesn’t work.
A new type of leadership development program is emerging.
This program leverages the latest leadership research about leadership development, and combines classroom education with project-based learning tailored to each participant’s organization.
This is the type of program US corporations, nonprofits and government agencies need—one that engages, inspires and rewards employees and organizations by turning employees into leaders, while giving them the skills and confidence to improve organizational performance.
What You Can Do About It
You can reach out and schedule your initial, completely free, organizational evaluation. One of the key tenets, here at Jager, is that you can empower yourself and your team to identify and embrace their unique abilities and to move the organization as a whole toward it’s most succesful future!
Do you want to give more than lip service to the idea that your employee’s are your greatest asset?
We’d love to hear from you, to set up an initial, free, organizational evaluation with our own Simon Ellett, on (440)-385-6737!
Portions of this article have been excerpted from a piece originally written by Dominican Executive Education, for Barowsky School of Business