For decades, top executives and business managers have echoed the platitude “our employees are our

most valuable assets.” It’s a saying that begins to sound empty as we walk through the corridors and
halls of many corporations, attend executive or town meetings

Far from being valued for a profound commitment to company goals, or being rewarded for making
meaningful progress, many of a company’s most “valuable assets” — its employees — are sidelined
when it comes to reward, recognition or even equality.

Employees who are discontented find ways to disengage and if left without motivation or
encouragement, will shift from being an asset to being a liability to the organisation.

The ones that do not often display some recognizable scenarios:

Acting on the idea of cutting costs with job cuts. This cuts into the heart of the workforce

Performance ratings are used not to increase performance but as a negative tool

Managers play favouritism with their employees

Unethical practices between managers, favoured employees etc.

These scenarios make for an unstable work environment through declining loyalty, and the deterioration
of employees with high potential.

Staying in the cage or setting out

These scenarios reveal that being a most “valuable asset” means, in many instances, belonging to the
cluster of people who – at least for the moment – find themselves in favor with top management.

Since only a few people in a company having thousands of employees are granted these limited positions
of special favor, and these may vary according to the manager’s fancy, the declaration, “our employees
are our most valuable assets” may be a whopper of a lie. It is only meaningful if it is related to tangible
financial reward plans and recognition programs for employees that are implemented through and
through, in fairness and with consistency.
Being rewarded and acknowledged for making meaningful progress towards company goals – rather
than ending up trapped, burnt out, anxious, and fearful because your organisation fails to see or hear
you – is the only scenario that can overcome a feeling of disintegrating unity.

Honoring the maxim that the people in a firm are its most “valuable assets”, means reducing the
invisibility and increasing transparency, rewarding employees and encouraging a culture of learning at
every level in an organisation. Managers and leaders must find ways to understand the inner work life of
employees, and to respond to survey results by making meaningful progress towards fair and consistent
standards that ensure job security and compensate people well for their work.

This is both good for business and affirms the value of each person, building an ethos of trust.