Keep Your Greatest Competitive Advantage * Your People

In the many blogs I follow, especially the HR-focused ones, there is a recurring debate over referring to employees as “capital” or “assets.” While I agree to an extent that these terms can be dehumanizing, especially when employees are crying out to be seen and valued in this recession, I have no problem with defining employees as competitive advantage.

Some may argue that their latest widget or technological innovation or software “differentiator” is their greatest competitive advantage. To those people I would say, “Where did the ideas behind those items come from? Who was involved in dreaming it up, bringing it to fruition, marketing it, selling it, ensuring customers understood it, loved it, and wanted more?”

Without your people you have nothing. They are truly your greatest competitive advantage. Yet survey after survey, article after article, shows the majority of employees are planning to jump ship as soon as they safely can – largely because of the way they have been treated during the recession. Stephanie Lloyd writes well on this topic in her post: Why Taking Advantage of Your New Hires is a Really, Really Bad Idea.

The major research firms are finding the same – As reported in this Forbes article, Deloitte reports 65% of internationally distributed senior executives polled in May are highly or very highly concerned that high-potential talent and leadership plan to leave when the economy turns. More than one in four of these executives report this is already happening as they are seeing an increase in turnover of high-potentials during the March-May time period. Ipsos Reid found 22% of Canadian employees are expressing decreased loyalty to their employer. CIPD found 34% of employees would change jobs within the next year in an ideal world.

Note that employees often understand why company leadership had to reduce headcount, cut costs, freeze pay, and other actions. It’s the lack of respect and recognition for what the remaining employees were able to do that is behind this mass desire to “find someplace where I’m appreciated.” What are you doing to show you appreciate your employees today and value their contribution over the long term?