Profit, productivity and people

^{Business has always been a numbers game. But there’s some numbers a lot of businesses think they could make better.}

^{Only 3% believe there’s no room for improvement across all the areas listed.}

So – where’s the disconnect between excelling here, and achieving bottom line targets?

The answer is simple.

^{Businesses don’t give enough consideration to people in their profit calculations.}

80% believe there’s room for improvement in how they recruit and retain talented staff.

But only 20% consider attracting and retaining top talent a top-three priority. (Even fewer consider reskilling to be a primary focus.)

Worrying figures considering skill gap concerns, talent shortages, and the rising cost of staffing.

More worrying still considering that retaining talent and talent shortages are the most commonly cited challenges – outranking even the impact of COVID-19.

The decision maker’s delusion

The disconnect between employer and employee perceptions on the people question also suggests there’s much more organizations could be doing to prioritize their people and safeguard their organizational performance for the future.