Employees as Assets or Investors
Assets or Investors?
Conventionally, employees are the most important resources of an organization. Without them, an organization would be on the verge of collapse and losing productivity and subsequent competitiveness in the market. Employees can be viewed as assets and investors. An asset is a valuable item that is owned while the investor is a person who obligates investment to receive financial gains. This paper examines the perspectives of considering employees as assets and investors and the appropriate time to treat them as each. Although they are fundamental assets of an organization, employees can also be fundamental investors in the same organizations.
The Difference between Treating Employees as Assets and as Investors
Notably, treating employees as either assets or investors exhibits arguable differences. Firstly, investors are carefully selected because the employees invest their finances with them. As investors, employers strive to create a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with employees. Contrastingly, employees are the investments that the employers use in the hope to reap maximum benefits at the lowest costs possible (Indi & Ray, 2019). Accordingly, most employees pay minute wages to their employees despite getting huge returns from their efforts. As assets, the employers use the skill-set and experience of the employees to determine the growth and pace of the organization. The more efficient and talented employees are, the more a company becomes highly competitive. As investors, individuals choose to work for a company whose objectives and operations match their skills and knowledge (Indi & Ray, 2019).
Additionally, if employers treat applicants and employees as assets, the staffing team is focused on monitoring the asset while managing costs. In this regard, the deployment of cheap and quick labor is majorly the objective of that firm (Business & Staffing Strategies). Contrastingly, if applicants and employees are treated as investors, the employers aim to establish a mutual relationship with them since they are thought of as investing their skills, talents, time, and energy towards the success of the company (Business & Staffing Strategies). As such, an organization with such a perspective strives to remain as attractive as possible to lure the potential expertise to their company.
When it is Appropriate for an Organization to Treat Employees as Investors
The need to treat applicants and employees as assets and investors are determined by the organization’s staffing strategy. Admittedly, an investor puts money into financial structures to achieve a profit. Employees are stakeholders of a company in the consideration of salaries and job security provided to them (Giannetti & Yu, 2016). As investors, they offer or devote their strengths, skills, knowledge, and expertise towards achieving organizational goals. As such, employees’ talents are very vital in shaping the pace of productivity. In this regard, it is appropriate to treat employees as investors, when employers have specific goals that require certain skills and expertise. In this case, employers assign tasks carefully to specific individuals, especially where long-term goals are involved (Giannetti & Yu, 2016). The employees will, therefore, be expected to invest their wholesome expertise towards the success of the assigned projects.
Motivated employees work with the aim to fulfill their career zeal. Their drive to fulfill their desire also makes employees work harder and with high determination. In this consideration, they are treated as investors. Further, organizations whose goals entail the development of new products require high skill-level and a commitment of efforts by the employees (Business & Staffing Strategies). In this regard, such an organization is prompted to treat employees as investors since their efforts and commitments are vital in innovating new products.
When it is Appropriate for Organization to Treat Job Applicants and Employees as Assets
Profoundly, assets are valuable items that an employer would not wish to lose. In this regard, there are times that deem appropriate to treat employees as assets. Such include, when the employees want to establish long-term goals that require experienced employees. Viewing employees as assets indicates a low-cost approach to staffing. Based on this approach, if the task involved requires cheap and quick labor, employers should consider employees as assets) (Business & Staffing Strategies). Further, it is appropriate to use an asset-based employee strategy when high levels of skills and talents are not necessary or turnovers have mild or no impacts on the productivity of the organization.
Long-term goals would be possible to achieve if the employees present at the time of setting them to work in that organization until they are achieved than when new employees keep on being employed (Indi & Ray, 2019). The durability of an asset is increased if such an asset is well-maintained. With the rising need to work with sophisticated machines, employers are prompted to train employees to coordinate the assembly lines and maintain them for long-term engagement due to their vast experience (Indi & Ray, 2019). Training them increases their asset value and hence a need to maintain them. It also enables trained and experienced employees a chance to train more employees who join the company and hence increasing productivity.
Summarily, as aforementioned employees are important pillars of any organization. Employers can either treat employees as assets or investors depending on the nature of work and the objectives of the organization. When treated as assets, they ought to be motivated regularly to increase their value. Conversely, when considered investors, employees have to invest their expertise towards achieving specific goals. Although they are fundamental assets of an organization, employees can also be fundamental investors in the same organizations.
References
Giannetti, M., & Yu, X. (2016). The corporate finance benefits of short horizon investors. SSRN, 2723357.
Indi, R. M., & Ray, R. (2019). A study on investors’ perception towards the stock market investment in India with reference to private sector salaried employees in Pune City. Our Heritage, 67(9), 38-50.