You’ve heard it before, "your most important asset is your employees". And how about, "take care of your employees and they’ll take care of you." Easily said, but perhaps not so easily done.

Looking at trends in the workplace we see a meaningful percentage of employees more frequently classified as contingent workers. They appear with a label of "temp", "consultant", "flex-staff", "part-timer", or "job-sharer". Individuals who previously only considered full-time employment are now opting for the "contingent status" as a result of work experiences connected with stress, respect, work/life balance, performance recognition and/or downsizing. This new phenomenon of "mixed employment status" has increased the complexity for management to develop and implement business strategies focused on maximizing all human capital, and assessing the value these workers are adding.

Successful companies like Southwest Airlines and Microsoft have figured out that qualified and motivated people, regardless of their employment status, make the difference in the enterprises’ ability to be profitable. They realize that traditional assets such as building, materials, equipment, or the latest mega-million capital investment in information technology, can’t make one cent for the enterprise until a trained and motivated human being applies the knowledge and skills to satisfy the customer.

Whatever the status, generally people come to work to make a difference. Just as full-time employees, the contingent workforce also has needs relative to socialization, esteem, motivation, recognition, and creativity. Understanding that fact, employers should not underestimate the value of developing or modifying, existing strategies to acknowledge the needs of all contributing workers.

A study by Professor Richard Hodgetts, Florida International University, identified that top performing companies valued strategies that addressed worker needs and those strategies resulted in a greater return to the enterprise than organizations without those practices. Here’s what he found.

• Each employee adds value, and tapping into unique potential requires a strategic commitment to flexibility, respect for differences, and valuing diversity in problem-solving, communications, employment status, and thinking styles, as well as gender, age, and ethnicity.
• Training and development are essential for enterprise growth. Continuous skill-building, at all levels of the organization, is essential for maintaining current market position and ensuring readiness for growth.
• Pay-for-performance systems are effective in providing clear communications of job expectations, mission and values, and providing incentives to motivate and drive performance to greater heights.
• Immediate recognition and rewards are successful at ensuring the employee will repeat the desired behavior. This practice often requires new skill sets for managers.
• Thinking outside the box to stay competitive is essential across industries. It involves making time and room for free-flow talking to occur. Away from regular duties brainstorming and dialogue act as a catalyst for problem solving and generating new ideas. Cross-functional teams, knowledgeable of the value of style differences, are another way to encourage creativity and problem solving.
• Development, communication, and feedback on goals, mission, problems, and practices adds ownership. Employees will be more engaged if they have an opportunity to participate.

A simple mathematical equation can help assess the value added by each worker, and provides a benchmark for future analysis. A – B – C = D D/E = F. Insert your business figures: A = Revenue; B = Operating expenses only for facilities, machinery, materials and supplies; C = Payroll and benefit costs, along with salary expenses for temporary workers or consultants, D = Adjusted Profit; E = number of workers, F = Profit leveraged per worker. After future investments are made in employee focused training events and organizational changes, repeat this calculation to determine the change in profit per worker.

The average profit leveraged per employee for 891 companies, as reported in the 1999 HR Financial Report by the Saratoga Institute, was $110,429 per person. This varied from <$50,000 to >$500,000 per company, indicating that how well workers are trained and knowledgeable about what they are doing, and how they feel about what they’re doing does make a difference to the bottom line.

So what are you doing to continue the investment in your workers, and ultimately your profitability? Do your management practices encourage or discourage profits? Take a moment to consider your business practices and run the numbers.