Employee Value Added: Measuring Discretionary Effort and Its Value to the Organization

The intent of this paper is to suggest a method for answering this question: Can we measure the value employees add to the organization? We know they add value-they make the work of the organization happen. But can we determine that value beyond the simple exchange of pay for work? Productivity measures are not sufficient for this purpose because they are so greatly influenced by systems, technology, procedures and other factors beyond the individual employee’s control. What we are after is the “voluntary ” or “discretionary ” effort made by employees. If this can be captured, it would be one measure of employees ’ added value to the work of the organization. In addition, such a measure would enable businesses to assess the effectiveness of the human resource and management policies and practices which are intended to produce such effort from employees. We are building upon traditional measures of satisfaction in an attempt to assess behavior that can readily translate into “value ” for the organization. As long as there have been organizations, there have been efforts to measure the human dimension of organizational performance. The need for such measures i