Employees – The Only Appreciating Asset

Employees - The Only Appreciating Asset - Qimpro

Employees – Our Biggest Asset

We all acknowledge that our employees are our biggest asset.

I would like to add that employees are the only asset of an organization that appreciate in value. Particularly, in a learning organization.

So in a turbulent business environment, why is it that we first think of job cuts? Currently, in the auto industry? Retail? Food and beverage? Etc, etc, etc.

The problem is that we account for employees as a cost and not an asset!

Strangely, our equipment depreciate in value….and we account for them as an asset!

Education & Training

Education prepares you for tomorrow’s responsibilities. This is how/why people appreciate in value. The reason people stay in an organization.

Education with action leads to Learning.

Education without action is easily forgotten. A clear Cost Of Poor Quality (COPQ).

Training improves your skills for today’s responsibilities.

The problem is that we measure Number of Man-hours of Training per Employee! This measure includes Education. We are driven by this measure.

The by-product of this approach is that we train and educate the idle people in our departments. Is that a COPQ?

Strategic Goal

Is Training the subject of your Strategic Goal? If yes, that is a problem. A key COPQ.

Training should be the means to achieve a Strategic Goal. Training just-in-time for action.

With a just-in-time approach to Training the ROI (Return on Individuals) is guaranteed to be significant.

Random Thoughts:

  1. We don’t train municipal workers in order to create jobs. How else can we seed a pot holes epidemic in Mumbai?
  2. Military campuses have great roads.
  3. We don’t train municipal supervisors in order to create jobs. How else can we engage a committee to collect Mumbai garbage?
  4. Military campuses have great housekeeping.



12 thoughts on “Employees – The Only Appreciating Asset”

  • Absolutely right Mr Lulla! “Employees are our assets” is only a slogan for most organisations! Since organisations have not been able to value their employees, they now have to contend with increased costs due to high attrition, low productivity, higher waste in internal operations – all contributing to COPQ! Organisations have to learn to respect people else all their success will be shortlived!

  • The entire corporate accounting system values employees at zero. Maybe people are afraid of putting a value on humans as it would be a reminder of the slave days when slaves were indeed valued as an asset on the books. Maybe sports teams and movie studios, the entertainment business does it now but I am not familiar. Anyway, I would like to see some systematic effort by the accounting profession in this arena, so that the asset value of employees can indeed be included.

  • The problem is that we account for employees as a cost and not an asset!

    Strangely, our equipment depreciate in value….and we account for them as an asset!

    Above two lines tells us lot and no need to make any one to understand by self.

    Thanks for sharing.

  • Most organization lack this vision. Thanks for your post. It is always a pleasure to read and learn !!! The discipline issue at the random thought is what an employee must think and reciprocate!!!

  • An eye opener blog ….workforce needs to be treated with dignity …caring and valuing this appreciating asset is a pre-requisite for customer delight. Technology and processes can be replicated by competitors, but can people be replicated?

      • Many years back, my senior colleague Mr. Ramesh Saraph wrote an equation on the board, which read… C=A-K (Committment=Action-Knowledge). It highlights that an obligation for action is inseparable from an urge for acquisition of knowledge, to demonstrate a positive commitment.

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