First, says Kelly, the company needs to categorize employees as "A," "B," or "C" employees.

• "A" employees learn and become independent quickly. They require less management and support, work well with a team, demonstrate leadership qualities and always perform on time and on budget.
• "B" employees require a basic learning curve, seek management before direction, regularly meet objectives, demonstrate a higher comfort level as a team member and though may not lead, won't hold a team back.
• "C" employees are competent but require too much pushing, have weak people skills, listen too little, learn too slowly, are inflexible, get by on personality instead of hard work, and tend to drain the energy out of a team.

Once organizations have identified the categories of employees they have, the challenge HR professionals and CFOs often have is trying to quantify the value of work output that can be achieved with an "A" employee versus a "B" or "C" employee.

One simple formula many businesses use is Revenue Per Employee. This formula takes a company's total revenue and divides it by its permanent employee headcount. A company's RPE can be used for comparison against companies of similar revenue size or employee count, and it can also be used for comparison against similar companies in the same industry.

To look at quantifying value another way, consider the hypothetical Acme Industries. The company has a savings goal of $3 million this year. How many of each type of employee would Acme need to employ to achieve this goal?

If a "B" employee can save the company $500,000, then:

• An "A" employee can probably save the company $750,000 ("B" x 1.5).
• The "C" employee may save the company only $250,000 ("B" x .5).

Using this formula, Acme Industries would need only four "A" employees to achieve its goal, while it would need to keep six "B" or 12 "C" employees on the payroll to realize a $3 million cost savings. Taking into consideration salaries, benefits such as healthcare and 401(k) matching contributions, and administrative costs, it would be far more efficient to employ four top performers than 12 below-average ones.

View the full white paper from Kelly Financial Services: Human Capital and the Road Ahead: What Is the Value to Your Future Success? (PDF).