CHA-CHING: Cashing in on Motivated Employees to Drive Business Success

Abstract

This study discusses the common view that physical capital should be valued as the focal point of an organization?s success. While this might hold partial truth, the idea that physical capital is the determining factor of a company?s success neglects the very element of an organization that makes the utilization of such assets possible: employees. This study based on the three p?s of business success: people, performance and profits, will challenge that employees are the most crucial element of a business?s long-term success rather than physical capital. The American economy has tested the strategies of companies of all sizes, which in turn has painted a dismal employment culture for many companies. The researcher will discuss the ways that the economy has effected employment and similarly, the ways the Great Recession has constrained business. Then the study will discuss the importance of employee engagement, as the fourth critical element of human resources that is often neglected by businesses and human resources plans alike. This will be followed by a human resource best practices guide developed by the researcher to motivate employees during economic hardships so that companies can cash in on their employees and achieve long-term success. The guide, developed from various pieces of information from an ethnographic study, literature and company analyses, will focus on the necessities of smaller businesses that often do not have actual human resource departments, but face the same employment challenges as corporate America. To narrow the focus of this thesis on smaller businesses, the human resources guide will be tailored for Sunshine's Coffee Shop a small coffee shop deli in Syracuse, New York that currently operates without human resources department.