Dear Business Owner: Your Overhead Employees ARE Just as Important as Your Revenue Generating Employees

Are you a business owner who thinks that your sales team brings the most important value to your organization? Do you continuously pay your back office/administrative positions much less than your front-line revenue generating positions but can’t figure out why you have so much negative attitude and turnover in all of your overhead departments?

If so, then let’s seriously talk.

I am sure that you are not doing this on purpose…that you have a true belief that ONLY your sales generating personnel are creating the utmost value for your company. Yes…they do bring in sales revenue that most overhead employees do not have the skills or wants to do. However, I believe you are drastically overlooking and devaluing the true reality of what your administrative employees do…to the point they lose all respect and eventually leave your organization.

Have you ever thought about and truly evaluated what those backline employees are doing and how they impact your bottom line? Could your sales employees survive without your administrative employees holding them up?

Probably not…and IT IS costing you a lot of money. Let’s discuss a few of the reasons why your overhead employees ARE just as important as your revenue generating employees.

Finances/Cost Control

Just as your sales people are traveling and bringing in revenue, your overhead people are “burning many midnight hours” managing finances, cutting costs and improving efficiency…therefore bringing in more revenue or net income.

Your accountant stays long hours at the office, ensuring that all state and IRS tax guidelines are met; therefore, preventing huge financial penalties. This same employee constantly stresses, worries over, analyzes and fixes what costs your sales personnel have not entered correctly into your system…just so their profitability looks better (low cost of sales vs. revenue).

The IT and software administrator you employed ensures that only certain employees have access and security to certain functions within your software system…so as to reduce fraud, embezzlement, etc. This same employee sacrifices personal time to create efficient work processes and assist all employees with technical difficulties for performing their jobs on time.

Your inventory control department is constantly frustrated because there is no accountability for sales employees who try to “go around the processes” so as to quickly meet customer needs. Inventory is received and removed without being recorded on the books; therefore, causing many cost and quality issues.

Organization/Time Management

Who manages your sales employee’s schedules and payrolls? Who keeps office supplies stocked, sales orders entered, customer invoice payments collected, and vendor bills paid? Most likely not your sales personnel. If office management type personnel did not adhere to their detailed and organizational job duties, your sales employees would not get paid, not attend customer meetings on time, not remember their travel arrangements and therefore not bring in that important sales revenue that you place such a high value on.

Human Capital and Relations

Your company’s HR department may seem just like a cost inducing problem. However, their many hours spent on recruiting, training, and employee engagement is something that you as a business owner should not take lightly. Your employees (or rather human capital) are the most important assets you have. If your HR department does not perform efficiently, then your turnover will increase; therefore, costing your company many sales dollars.

In conclusion, for a truly successful company, all employees need to be valued the same…whether on the sales revenue generating side or the cost reduction side. They are all equally important in creating your “in the black” bottom line results.

Even if you are seeing high sales dollars, that doesn’t mean your business is not losing high costs and therefore more net income…all because you don’t think your overhead employees are as valuable. Make sure to recognize and reward your overhead employees just as much as your revenue generating employees.

I think you will be surprised and pleased with the bottom line results.

Originally published at http://thedeeperpocket.com on January 24, 2020.