Small businesses list staff as most important asset

One
in four small businesses say their staff are their most important asset,
according to a recent NOP survey.

Commissioned
by Venture Finance, the survey asked companies to select their most important
asset from a list including buildings, client expertise, machinery,
intellectual property and stock.

In
all, 24 per cent of businesses surveyed said staff were their biggest asset.
However, as turnover increased, so did the value of staff. Forty-five per cent
of companies with turnover of between £500,000 and £1m rated employees as their
greatest asset.

Employees
are most valued in the construction industry (41 per cent), and least valued in
catering and leisure (12 per cent).

Overall,
buildings were rated as the next best asset (19 per cent), followed by client
expertise (16 per cent), machinery (14 per cent) and intellectual property (11
per cent).

By Quentin Reade