The widespread neglect of human resources by enterprises: From "building block thinking" to hidden costs
The human resources logic of many enterprises remains at the level of "filling vacancies" - when recruiting, they only take a quick look at the resumes to see "if the candidates meet the basic requirements", ask a couple of questions like "can you work overtime" during the interview and then let the candidates start work. After they are hired, there is no training or mentoring. If they don't perform well, they are directly advised to leave. It seems that employees are not "people" with abilities and needs, but "building blocks" that can be stuffed into positions at any time. This "use-and-dispose" mentality has become the default practice of many enterprises.
"People Are in Abundance": The Overlooked Hidden Cost Trap
The phrase "there are plenty of people" often on the lips of bosses essentially represents a misinterpretation of "human resource value". On the surface, there is a continuous stream of job seekers in the labor market. However, those who can quickly adapt to positions and identify with the corporate values have always been scarce resources. When recruiting a new employee, the company has to pay recruitment platform fees and bear the time cost of interviews. After the new employee joins the company, it takes 1 - 3 months of training for them to start working independently. During this period, their output is only 50% of that of experienced employees. The probability of new employees making mistakes is more than 30% higher than that of experienced employees. For example, if a defective product is missed during inspection on the production line, it may lead to the entire batch of goods being returned by the customer, and the loss far exceeds the recruitment cost. More importantly, it takes time for the team to integrate. Experienced employees have to spend energy training new employees, which disrupts their original work rhythm and reduces the overall efficiency. The sum of these hidden costs far exceeds the cost of raising the salary of an experienced employee to retain them.
When "God" Quietly Drifts Away: The Chain of Loss of Employee Motivation
The "god" of an enterprise has never been an abstract concept, but rather the enthusiasm, creativity and sense of belonging of its employees. When employees feel unvalued - for example, they get no overtime pay, their suggestions are regarded as "meddling", and promotions are based on connections rather than abilities - their attitudes will gradually deteriorate: from actively seeking solutions to problems to passively completing tasks; from being willing to work overtime to meet deadlines to leaving on the dot; from having a sense of belonging to the enterprise to regarding the job as a "temporary meal ticket". Eventually, they will choose to jump to an enterprise that values them, taking away not only their personal skills, but also customer resources, team synergy, and even the enterprise's core technology. This is the process of the "god" quietly drifting away - not disappearing suddenly, but being gradually depleted.
The root of quality and productivity: People are the starting point of everything
The two major "pillars of survival" for enterprises - quality and productivity - are essentially "outputs of people". Quality is the bottom line: For food enterprises, the hygiene standards rely on workers washing their hands carefully and inspecting each batch of raw materials; for electronic enterprises, the defective product rate depends on engineers adjusting the equipment and employees carefully inspecting each part. Productivity is the driving force: For clothing factories, the output relies on workers' proficient use of sewing machines and workshop directors' optimization of processes; for Internet companies, the iteration speed depends on programmers' technical levels and product managers' insights into user needs. Without qualified people, quality will collapse - for example, a milk tea shop's reputation crumbled because its employees didn't wash the fruits clean, causing customers to have diarrhea; productivity will decline - for example, a factory couldn't recruit skilled workers, resulting in a production line operation rate of only 70%, delayed order delivery, and loss of customers. Without the support of "people", both quality and productivity are castles in the air.
The core logic of China's productivity: The human-oriented attribute has never changed
The development of China's productive forces has evolved from being "labor-intensive" to "technology-intensive", but the essence has always been "people-oriented". For example, in the transformation of China's manufacturing industry to "intelligent manufacturing", no matter how expensive the automated production line is, maintenance personnel who understand PLC programming are still needed; in the research and development of new energy vehicles, it relies on engineers who understand battery technology and designers who understand user needs. These talents cannot be obtained simply by having a large population. Instead, enterprises need to spend time cultivating them and retain them with good treatment. More importantly, the needs of Chinese employees have long shifted from "having enough to eat" to "being respected". Employees born in the 1990s and 2000s are often willing to take a pay cut to stay in a company because of reasons such as "the leader values my opinions", "the team atmosphere is good", and "there is room for growth". Ignoring this is to ignore the core logic of China's productive forces.
Bosses' confusion: Imbalance between short-term interests and long-term value
Why do some bosses just not care? Essentially, it's because of the misalignment between short-term interests and long-term value. They place more emphasis on "the immediate costs" - for example, instead of giving a raise of 500 yuan to old employees, it's cheaper to recruit new employees. However, they fail to see the "long-term losses" - the experience of old employees can reduce mistakes and improve efficiency, while new employees need time to get used to the work, which actually slows down the progress. They regard employees as "tools" but don't realize that while a broken tool can be replaced, once the enthusiasm of "people" is lost, no matter how many new people are recruited, it can't be made up for. For instance, a factory owner insisted that "new employees' salaries are lower than those of old employees". As a result, old employees left one after another, and new employees came and went. The production line never reached full capacity. Finally, the orders were snatched away by competitors, and only then did the boss regret it.
In the final analysis, the competition among enterprises has always been a "competition among people." Ignoring people means ignoring the foundation of one's own survival. Those enterprises that treat employees as "building blocks" will eventually find that building blocks can be replaced at any time, but "building blocks that can build high - rise buildings" are never easy to find.