By Colleen Gallion
One of the largest cost centers in most organizations is the employees. Payroll, benefits, recruiting, hiring, and onboarding are expensive! Most of the people I work with consider these as simply the cost of doing business. I believe that mindset is a costly blind spot. What if, instead of thinking of your people as a cost center, you looked at them as an investment?
Expense versus investment
When we think of something as an expense, we typically look for the best we can get at the lowest price. When we are looking for an investment, we look at the potential return on investment.
Think about a recent position you were hiring for. If you saw the candidates as potential investments, what effect would that have on your interview and selection process? Eagerness to learn and grow may become more important to you than previous experience. The ability to adapt and change in response to the organization’s needs may be more important than being a subject matter expert.
Let’s fast forward to performance reviews. If people are simply an expense, then it’s easy for your thinking to become transactional. Do you have someone who is just doing a mediocre job? You can say to yourself, “Well, I guess I get what I pay for…” and then start to grumble about how kids these days don’t have a decent work ethic. If you see them as an investment, then you have skin in the game. I can guarantee that you would have intervened in the event of mediocre performance far sooner if you saw them as an underperforming investment.
Training versus development
When companies see their people as an expense, they typically spend money on learning and development for three main reasons:
• Mandated training. Anything from the government, the legal team, or “the higher-ups” usually falls into this category. Typically, these trainings exist to ensure that if something goes wrong, the company can say, “We have evidence that this person received training! It’s not our fault something bad happened!”
• Operational training.This is what people learn so they can perform the tasks required for the job. For example, operating the cash register, using the company’s software system, logging your hours, and the like.
• Executive offsites. Replacing leaders is expensive, so companies invest in retreats, conferences, and seminars to increase retention.
What’s missing here? Investment in employee development. Development is essential if you are looking for a return on your investment. Development is all about supporting someone from where they are today to where you want them to be in the future. It’s about realizing the potential you saw in them when you decided to invest in them in the first place.
Developing your people investment strategy
If I have piqued your curiosity about what’s possible when you think about your people as investments, then I imagine your next question to be, “What does that look like, exactly?” Here are a couple of ideas:
• Career maps. How would someone go from being an entry-level employee to a member of the C-suite? If you can’t see it, neither can they. Sit down and map it out. If there are degrees or certifications they would need, are you willing to help cover the cost? If so, that’s a very appealing benefit.
• “Choose your own adventure.” Not every organization can promise a pathway to greater opportunities and success. Still, you CAN provide opportunities for people to gain skills and experience that will serve them in the future. Find out the greater goals of your people and craft a path that helps them get there.
Investment is a mindset. If you hire people you believe are worth investing in, you will attract individuals who share that same desire to grow.
I had someone on my team who wanted to pursue her master of business administration (MBA). The company didn’t need her to have an MBA, and her field of interest didn’t align with any future roles within the company. In exchange for the schedule flexibility she needed for her coursework, she created “lunch and learn” events where she shared what she was learning in her MBA program. I benefited from her expertise for two more years, and other team members were inspired by her achievements. An excellent investment indeed.
COLLEEN GALLION is an ICF-certified professional coach whose passion is supporting entrepreneurs and founders in building healthy and sustainable teams. For more information, visit www.gallioncoaching.com.
