Efficiency can be measured in many ways, but one very high-level indicator is how much revenue a company brings in per employee it hires.
Investment firm Clare Capital was kind enough to compile the ASX company numbers for The Motley Fool this week.
Because the 2020 financial year has not finished for many companies, the 2019 stats are our best guide.
Surprisingly, A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) has come out on top. It made a whopping $5.7 million per staff member.
It's a shock result because sectors that produce highly scalable products and services, like technology, are usually expected to have high revenue-per-employee numbers.
Certainly over in the United States this holds true, with Netflix ruling the roost with $3.28 million of revenue per employee.
For an agricultural product company to come first in Australia is a testament to how well A2 Milk is going at the moment.
Its shares have climbed from just above $14 at the start of the year to $17.29 at 12.25 pm AEST Monday.
The highest tech company is not one you'd think
Two finance companies then followed: Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) and Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF). They raked in $5.1 million and $5 million per employee, respectively.
AMP Limited (ASX: AMP), which has been rocked by both customer service and sexual harassment scandals in recent years, made $3.8 million per worker.
| Company | 2019 revenue | 2019 headcount | Revenue per employee |
| A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) | $1.3 billion | 228 | $5.7 million |
| Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) | $643 million | 125 | $5.14 million |
| Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF) | $3.4 billion | 687 | $4.99 million |
| Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) | $2.2 billion | 483 | $3.86 million |
| AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) | $13.8 billion | 3586 | $3.8 million |
| AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) | $24 billion | 6500 | $3.78 million |
| Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR) | $1.8 billion | 485 | $3.49 million |
| Meridian Energy Ltd (ASX: MEZ) | $3.5 billion | 1001 | $3.36 million |
| Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) | $1.7 billion | 508 | $3.3 million |
| Australian Finance Group Ltd (ASX: AFG) | $671 million | 203 | $3.06 million |
| Source: Clare Capital, table produced by author | |||
The highest-ranked technology company is not one of the famous WAAAX shares.
It's little-known distributor Dicker Data, which came in 7th. The Sydney company made $3.49 million per staff member.
The Dicker Data share price has enjoyed a handsome ascent over the past 18 months. It was around $3 in February last year, but now sits at $7.55 – all while paying a dividend yield of 4.39%.
And for the 2019 financial year, it remains as the only tech company among the highest-ranked revenue-per-employee players.
TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG) is the next best tech company, sitting at 32nd place with $1.8 million per employee.
