Employers that find creative ways to get their staff to willingly work harder will usually see a boost to their bottom lines, but can tapping the discretionary energy of their employees actually improve an organization's stock performance? The question is critical since programs to tap that creative spark within employees carry a cost. 

In a new report, "When your people go the extra mile," Korn Ferry researchers lay out the math and show that those efforts can greatly benefit shareholders. Over the course of 2017 though the beginning of 2018, companies with high discretionary energy clearly outperformed companies with low discretionary energy. Indeed, the high discretionary energy portfolio had a value of roughly $125,000, whereas the low discretionary energy portfolio had a value of roughly $113,000, a difference of about 9%.