Execs Put Profits First

When it comes to putting employees first, corporate executives talk the talk, but they don’t always walk the walk.

The majority of executives put profits first and people somewhere near the bottom of their list of priorities, according to a survey by Towers Perrin Co., the New York-based management consulting firm.

In interviews with 300 executives from medium and large-sized firms, 73 percent claimed employees were their company’s most important investment.

But when these same executives were asked to rank their business priorities, investing in people ranked fifth on a six-item list, just ahead of quality of marketing.