Workers over 60: A precious inventory

“Your organizational success probably depends disproportionately on a vital subset of your human capital,” writes John Boudreau on CFO.com.

Many argue the vital 20 percent of your human capital shouldn’t be analyzed like inventory.

But he presents an intriguing performance study of employees at 400 McDonald’s restaurants in Britain. “The study found customer satisfaction levels were 20 percent higher in outlets that employed kitchen staff and managers over age 60 (the oldest was a woman, 83, employed in Southampton).”

McDonalds “attributed the result to the older workers’ additional experience, work ethic, and face-to-face customer relations skills, along with their influence on younger workers.”

According to Boudreau, “Traditional human resources metrics report turnover rates by job, obscuring the vital difference. Principles of inventory management can ‘retool’” traditional HR numbers like turnover rates, hiring costs, and yield ratios to reveal opportunities to optimize for both your organization and your people.”

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