I can’t start off this editorial in any other way than thanking Greg Bunch, our esteemed columnist, for his column last month, in which he talked about the concept of revenue per employee.
Within the context of the metrics of running a business, this particular KPI is quite interesting, but I wanted to explore a different side of this very same concept. I recently listened to a VP of a big industry supplier talk about employee happiness and satisfaction. Many bigger companies survey their employees to figure out different perceptions of their jobs, their day-to-day, and how they feel about their jobs. You’ll allow me to doubt these surveys, as the fear of speaking out negatively outweighs the benefits of actually telling the truth without repercussions. With that stated, it’s not always an easy road for leaders of companies and organizations to make their employees happy. We could go into the different aspects of what makes a job “good. Salary, benefits, flexibility, work/life balance… yes, they are all important. But in my opinion, there’s one more aspect here that trumps them all, a detailed and specific career path. And I firmly believe that this aspect of employee satisfaction can have a direct impact on the revenue per employee.
Many stages of life are just steps into bigger and better. Sometimes we don’t know when or what will be bigger and better, and we just rely on the faith that arises from our day-to-day effort. Does this mean that we need to have a clear path forward constantly? No, it doesn’t. But when we know where we are going, what our next goal is, and we have a road map of how to achieve it, we have an added reason to go the “extra mile”.
And as usual, easier said than done. Creating and crafting a career plan, or better said, career advancement plan, requires a mindset of growth, systems and procedures to accommodate that growth, and proper training. So how can you do this when you run a single shop and don’t have plans to expand? Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to this. And maybe there isn’t a single correct answer, but I’m also sure that if we are creative enough, open-minded enough, and look for the right guidance, we can find that solution that suits each case. Understanding our employees, their career aspirations, the growth that they want to see, both financially and personally, will make a better employee. It will make road to the goal that much faster, that much better, and that much more relevant as factor the everyday work task. Thus likely increasing our revenue per employee, and employee satisfaction. Two birds with one stone.
