How Employee Profitability = Employer Profits

Profitability and profits are different.

The dictionary defines profitability as "the degree to which a business or activity yields a profit or financial gain." But when you look closer at the multiple definitions of profit, and discover that one is "the underlying or ultimate outcome or criterion," the realization hits you: Profits include, but are not limited to, dollars and cents.

Does your company make your job profitable for you?

For businesses, the bottom line means the final total of an account. For employees, the bottom line is personal, and it consists of the benefits that one's work has to offer in terms of positive impact on their overall well-being and lives.

One always has to consider expenses that negatively impact one's personal bottom line, which are the things that make work personally unfulfilling (e.g., high stress, long hours, long commutes, low pay, lack of appreciation, annoying co-workers, and any amount of unnecessary bullshit that you are forced deal with will top this list).

While the bottom line of companies is often profits (non-profits excluded), employees (their greatest assets) are seeking profitability. This puts them at odds with employers and makes personal values and company culture central issues in their quest for (greater) profitability. When companies empower employees (instead of merely employing them) they are happier and more productive, and inevitably generate more profits as a result.