By Mel Kleiman, President, Humetrics

I recently learned that when an organization provides a differentiated level of customer service, service quality or service offerings based on the perceived value of each customer, it is sometimes called “customer stratification.”

So, I couldn’t help but wonder if this might be a useful tool when it comes to managing employees. What if you “stratified” your people based on a combination of: (1) how productive they are, (2) how effective they are as team players and (3) how much effort it takes to manage them (or the specific qualities you value)? Then you could devote the bulk of your time and attention to those who will generate the biggest returns.