What makes an employee invaluable? 26

[structineer]

This is a question for those that either run their own business or manage employees. What are your opinions of what makes an employee invaluable? I'm looking for a little more than the typical cliches.

Thank you for your input!

 

[berkshire]

IR Stuff,
I believe that method is used in goverment. It is called "kicking a problem upstairs".
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[TheTick]

Be invaluable to yourself. Build and exercise skills that make you valuable to this employer and the next. Yes, there will be a next. Be hireable.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Invaluable? As an employer, any employee who can take over my responsibilities and handle them with the same care and ability that I do... without a desire to do so on a permanent basis... is invaluable.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[thruthefence]

Old Blues Lyric;

"One Monkey doan stop no show!"

 

[ornerynorsk]

Being both an employee and an employer, I see the best and worst of both sides of the fence. Being invaluable simply means the degree of difficulty in finding an adequate replacement for that employee. We are all replaceable, some more easily than others.

Personality, skill-set, creativity, ability to empower others, communication skills, ability to identify problems ahead of criticality and solve them, and the list goes on.

Just my 2 cents.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[patprimmer]

I think there are two different definitions of invaluable going on here.

Some responders are interpreting it as so valuable as to be difficult to place a value on it.

Some are interpreting it as irreplaceable.

Here are some dictionary definitions.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/invaluable

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invaluable

Regards
Pat
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[MiketheEngineer]

Probably already said but the bottom line is "NOTHING". Everyone can be replaced and history has well proven that.

 

[joshua0977]

What makes an employee invaluable? That's a great question.
I believe its the intangibles he / she brings to bear in the job.
We can all hire well-qualified, capable people to retire in place so to speak. Recognizing candidates or people in your organization who have those qualities is the key. You can teach most people any given task, you can't teach (on a rare occasion maybe) someone to look beyond the task, reach out to find a solution, engage in the process, or get others engaged, without being told or prompted to do so. The question you have asked is interesting because it is tough to quantify or describe adequately, but we all recognize individuals like that because they become our go to people. They're accountable, engaging, and when they speak, as EF Hutton used to say "People Listen.” I'm fortunate because I have several in my group. I wish I could bottle up their enthusiasm and energy and inject it into a few others. Hope that helps.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Photographs.

- Steve

 

[ornerynorsk]

Too right,Steve. I've got a little bit of that insurance, myself. Might be worth a very nice severance package someday!

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[moltenmetal]

Nobody is invaluable. If you disagree, test that by asking for twice your current salary and see what they say.

Nobody is irreplaceable. Check the graveyard as bridgebuster so wisely pointed out.

A wise and cynical person once told me that all employees can be neatly fit into a 2x2 matrix: smart and stupid on one axis, hardworking and lazy on the other.

Obviously the smart and hard-working ones are the ones you want, as they net you 10x their salary in revenue.

Smart and lazy is OK too: they may only generate 3x, but they're still good.

Stupid and lazy is OK too- they cost you only a little more than a salary.

But stupid and hardworking- those you've got to find and fire QUICK before they bankrupt you!

All kidding aside: what makes someone an invaluable employee? It depends totally on the business they're in- and who is employing them. Many unsuccessful companies have invaluable employees, remember, so what is in the company's actual interest and what the company perceives to be in its interest may be different. It's also true that some of the skills that make me totally successful in my current employ would make me a complete disaster in other lines of work.

A good employee can figure out what the business needs and then build those skills, without waiting for their boss to tell them that they're not measuring up.

 

[ports394]

I think it's been said already.. but the invaluable employee will never get promoted.

 

[IRstuff]

"invaluable employee will never get promoted"

That's perfect, particularly if a promotion makes you a manager instead of an engineer.

TTFN
faq731-376

 

[lacajun]

Hopefully employees that add a lot of value to the company have the characteristic of "spreading their wealth" to others in the company. Good and bad behaviors rub off on people, which is Biblical truth. That is, the sins of the father are visited upon the third and fourth generation. This repeats itself until someone decides they are sick of family generational problems. I think this can apply to companies, too. We've probably all seen it. The converse of that Biblical point is also true in my mind.

While I think companies should help their employees, I struggle with how much help should be provided. I think companies are too harsh on some and too lenient on others. But, if the church weren't falling down on its functions, Christians would be much better in the workplace because their family baggage would be dealt with elsewhere.

There are all kinds of situations in life with creative and innovative solutions, which is the fun part.

Overall, I don't think of any of us are indispensable. Value is often an intangible measurement, which should be considered with care.

My training to shed union employees was enlightening. There are several steps that have to be meticulously documented for obvious reasons. The company's perspective was don't bother because it isn't worth the time and effort because the union will win anyway.

But, I have friends in business who love their employees because they make life and business so much easier. It seems very personality dependent to me.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[SomptingGuy]

I often look around the team I'm in and wonder how we'd cope if a certain piece of our puzzle were to fall out. Makes you think deeply about who does what and who knows what. This is probably only possible in a smallish team of closely interacting people (c. 15 in my case). Fun to think about though.

In another team where I work, no current member was part of it when I joined the department. That team is in at least its second generation, possibly third.

- Steve

 

[MacGyverS2000]

the invaluable employee will never get promoted.

They will if someone higher than their boss believes they are invaluable... always let your light shine a little higher than just one floor.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[patprimmer]

If you do particularly good work, you can only really be promoted when you train up someone to fill your current role.

Also it takes more than being good at your current roll to be good in the next role. Management has to guess as to how you will handle untested qualities that will be required.

Regards
Pat
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[KENAT]

"you can only really be promoted when you train up someone to fill your current role"

I wish Pat, instead they just dump the new work on you while in practice still expecting you to do whatever you were already doing.

(Of course if I wasn't wasting time on eng-tips maybe I'd have made some progress;-))

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[MiketheEngineer]

There are 5 in my team. One I would like to let go - but he has 3 kids. Two are great. The last one is too new to know just yet - but seems promising.

So I made one mistake in five -- I am not invaluable - I just run the department.

 

[KENAT]

Off topic so OP feel free to red flag but...

"One I would like to let go - but he has 3 kids"

From a business point of view why is the quantity of his off spring your concern? Don't get me wrong, I dislike excessively hard nosed business folks as much as the next employee. However, if they are really so bad you want to get rid of them is them having kids a good enough reason to keep them? How is their poor performance impacting other employees etc.?

Sorry, just stood out to me for some reason.

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