People - That Big Expense

Have a look at your P&L. Got it in front of you? Good. Now have a look through the rows of costs and pick out all the ones which are directly related to your people. Not just the salary row, consider training, taxes, recruitment, health insurance, life insurance etc. Now add in costs such as business travel, office rent everything you spend on moving people around, providing a place to work. What about the bonuses and commissions you payout? Hmm, that number is mounting up, isn’t it? In fact, it is now quite a sizeable percentage of all the costs of your organisation.

Now, do you consider all of those just costs or are some of them ‘investments’? The money you spend now in the expectation of getting a return in the profit line of your P&L. I hope so, otherwise, why employ the people?

Just a couple more questions for you. Firstly, is that the end of your investment? You hire some people and expect them to produce the profits you are hoping for? Or, do you nurture that investment, making sure it has everything it needs to be as productive as possible?

Like any investment, the people who work for you need help to grow. That help will come in many forms (it’s not all about sending people on training courses) but the one constant in all of this is you.

Without you taking the time and making the effort to support, engage, mentor, coach your people, you will not see the development needed, in fact, it is quite likely several people will seek places and new leaders that will offer the support.

It’s quite a simple choice, be the leader who invests in his/her people and see the return on the investment grow, or be the manager who wonders why the people leave.