While employee recruitment and selection are key to good business productivity it does not sell products. Business success is evaluated by both revenue and shareholders perceptions not your staff roster. Areas that are more worthwhile investments are product design and development and marketing. Investment in design ensures innovation and that the business is able to adapt and carry forward its successes as market conditions change. Investment in marketing promotes and helps to sell the product, build a brand image and overall increase profitability of the company. It won’t matter how good a company’s staff are, without sales of a product or service there is no financially viable way for a company to survive.
The strength in focussing on other areas of investment is the opportunity for the company to flourish with the resources and technology available without being tied to high recruitment costs. The biggest potential disadvantage is not having employees with the right knowledge and skills to best utilise the resources and technology available to them. This being said, I am an advocate for people (skilled or not) being open enough to learn and adapt into the company’s mission. Hard work and perseverance can go a long way for existing employees in today’s digital and modern work environment. People motivated to learn and change with the current market will be unstoppable, regardless of their qualifications and skills prior to employment at a company. For these reasons a business needs to carefully balance its hiring and recruitment costs to allow for investments in other core business functions allowing the business to adapt and thrive in any market condition.
You point out some great strengths and weaknesses. It is definitely important to have a strong team of employees, but it is equally as important to have a quality, well-marketed product.
Abigail, I understand the point that you are making when you talk about how companies are evaluated by their revenue and their shareholders perceptions. I think the argument that Jay is trying to make is that a company will not be able to make revenue or have any sort of good perceptions without solid employees. Employees are the lifeblood of any organization and they are what keep an organization profitable and legal as well as efficient. You could take any successful business and change out the employees with inefficient cheating employees and the company would come crashing down weather it is from a lawsuit or bankruptcy.
I liked your comment about the need to have employees who are able to learn and adapt to change. I think, however, this still lands in the realm of recruitment and selection. These qualities should be weighed with the technical abilities of a prospective employee, should it be anticipated that the company mission will morph over time.