Are people a Resource or an Asset?
Chris Baker
Leadership Training Manager: Helping Individuals Reach Their Highest Potential.
Almost every organization has a "Human Resources" department whose main function is to support the hiring, administration, and training of personnel. This would indicate that people are seen as a resource and, while this is true to a degree, I believe the most progressive organizations treat people as an asset. So what is the difference?
The word "Resource" is a noun and means a source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed. A resource is a source or supply from which a benefit is produced and that has some utility.
The word "Asset" is also a noun and means a useful or valuable thing, person, or quality. For companies, assets are things of value that sustain production and growth. Simply stated, assets represent value of ownership that can be converted into cash.
As you read these definitions you would be right in saying that a company does not "own" people, employees or customers, so therefore they cannot be seen as an asset and from an accounting perspective this is correct.
The reason I believe people are an asset is that they are "things of value that sustain production and growth" whereas a resource is something that you only call on when you need it. People are the lifeblood of every organization. After all, without employees or customers what would be left?
This is why it is so important to develop an engaged workforce who "want" to be at work rather than feel that they "have" to be at work. The benefits for an organization are increased productivity, lower absenteeism, greater loyalty, and ultimately higher bottom line profits that are sustainable.
Developing Tomorrow's Leaders Today is my passion. My mission is to help bridge the gap between the corporate world and our youth so that we create a workforce who want to be better every day.
My vision is a world where a Culture of Empowerment and a Legacy of Leadership Excellence is common place. We can change the world together and harness the human resource to make it our most valuable asset creating sustainable growth.
If you want to know more about how you can achieve this for you and your teenagers or employees reach out to me and we can chat 1:1.
Email me: [email protected]
Failure Analysis and Engineering Technician 25+ Years Experience
8 个月Employees are assets to a company since they are getting paid during their employment and that time is worth the money that is being paid for whatever job they are tasked to do. But they are also a resource to make up the money that was paid to make them an asset in the first place to accomplish a project. You can't be one without the other.
Enterprise Architect at Network Effects
1 年Assets are thing that the company owns and is in full control of. I'm not sure that applies to people in a comfortable way.
People & Organization Effectiveness
2 年if you say people are an asset, that it means they'll get depreciated and in the end will be sold at salvage value ??
Happier People. Better Results. Founder + Culture Cultivator @CultureStoke
4 年People = the greatest asset! Assets can (and should) be nurtured, grown, and developed. When cared for properly, assets provide reliable and consistent ROI. As for the term "human resources," I'd love to see it grow into "resources for humans."