Published February 2003

Successful companies invest in workers, customers

Everywhere I go, everybody I talk to, I hear this common refrain: “I’m tired of limping along in a tired economy — I want to energize the company and begin making a nice profit like we used to do.”

As soon as the sentiment is expressed comes the plaintive question, “But how?”

Close to 10 years of research and analysis of business has led to just one inescapable answer.

Invest in people — the ones who walk through the front door each workday, the ones who buy your product and the ones who don’t, the ones that may not know your company even exists.

By investment, I don’t mean throwing a bucketful of money at the situation, hoping for a magical explosion of sales and job growth reminiscent of the late 1990s. I mean investing in people to learn their ideas, feelings, needs, wants, desires, concerns, attitudes and how they relate to what your company produces or, more importantly, could begin to produce that people would be excited to make or buy.

Every study, survey, poll or inquiry I have seen on the subject confirms that companies that invest in “human capital” are more successful than those that depend on system improvements. They are the companies that place superior customer service, employee development, innovation and new product development ahead of bottom-line priorities.

One study, by management and human resource consultant Towers Perrin and The Economist, found that most companies tacitly acknowledge the benefits of this approach but become so overwhelmed by change that they revert to traditional thinking and system strategies such as cost management, operating efficiency and staff reduction to remain economically viable.

Fortune has found that companies in the top 10 percent of investment returns consistently outperformed competitors in customer service, engaging employees in making key business decisions, business literacy training, encouraging innovation, and crafting reward packages based on both individual and business performance. They also greatly emphasize career-enhancement opportunities, challenging work and company branding to focus employees to deliver outstanding business results.

Some call it “holistic management.” It’s considering the human factor in all business decisions, hiring and promotions, sales and marketing, compensation and customer service.

Most medium to large organizations have human resource departments. But too many operate little different than the old personnel office whose main job was hiring and shuffling paperwork.

The most financially successful companies, as measured by investment returns, consistently survey employees on how they feel about their jobs and the people they work with, including their managers. When concerns are raised, the company quickly addresses them. A former chain-store owner said solving problems raised in employee surveys makes workers feel as if a 2-ton elephant had been lifted off their backs, making them more eager to work.

Companies that don’t routinely survey employees would find, if they asked, that their employees aren’t producing as well as they could be. Why? People don’t care as much when they aren’t being paid attention to.

Want a sure-fire way to improve productivity? Make sure employees are given clear, work-related goals; ensure that they know their work makes a difference; and eliminate inefficient bureaucracy. That’s what 1,000 surveyed employees told Training magazine in 2000.

This year, when looking to improve the bottom line, consider the hidden factor — the people who do the best to contribute to it when they are truly treated as a business’ most important asset — your customers and employees.

Eric Zoeckler operates The Scribe, a business-writing service with many Snohomish County-based clients. He also writes a column on workplace issues that appears Mondays in The Herald. He can be reached at 206-284-9566 or by e-mail to mrscribe@aol.com.

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