If Employee Is An Asset, Why Is Salary Not An Investment?

Thank you all for the good replies.:)
My point is suppose if in XYZ place. Why is that one organisation pays 12000 and other pays 15000 for same post. Isn't there any industry average considered? Why is it so the situation like this

This is an excellent question and no doubt our finance friends would have a firm view about why salaries are treated as an expense! I really like the philosophy and if we treated our employees as valuable assets, their pay and perks as investments, perhaps many managers would work harder at retaining their staff and ensuring full productivity. This could prove a competitive advantage for a company if they got this right!

dear Indu Nair,
You must first understand what is an asset. An asset is purchased only once. Its one time payment. But the asset is supposed to pay back in return continuously. Similarly when an employee is hired, he is not purchased outright, in the sense he cannot be equated to any other inanimate subjects. But for the return of work done by the employee, he has to be paid.
Hence the employers wants to pay the employee the least possible salary (Unless the employee is really highly skilled hence higher payment is unavoidable). Employee is both an asset and a liabillity. Asset in the sense that company gets the return in the form of work done by the employee. Liability in the sense that employee has to be paid regularly.
Did any of the above make any sense or just confusion. Its left to you to decide.
Thanks.

hi everybody,
it is a nice topic raised. i havent gone through entire thread but i wanna leave my comment on this topic. Considering employee as an asset is not globally. it is in fact in the initial stage. there are very few companies like Google, Microsoft... and Dr. Reddy's.. such companies are complying this concept. it make take few decades to realize for rest companies. However company's revenue too is an instrumental in the pay structure. And to be practical... if you are found really worth enough, your company will definitely raise your pay. Else there are many companies wants to grab you outside.
Vishwanath