Dive Brief:

• Apple had the highest revenue per employee among tech companies in 2016, at $1.9 million, according to an analysis of the S&P's 500 Index by Business Insider. Facebook was close behind at $1.6 million per employee, followed by Alphabet at $1.3 million. Microsoft scored the lowest among the tech giants, ranking 10th at an average annual revenue per employee of $748,000.

• The bottom half of the Top 20 included Cisco (#13, $684,000), Yahoo (#15, $608,000), PayPal (#16, $599,000) and Intel (#18, $560,000).

• By sector, energy companies had the highest average revenue per employee at $1.78 million. That’s twice as much as healthcare companies and almost four times as high as IT companies. The IT sector finished near the bottom of the scale at $484,000.

Dive Insight:

We often hear how well-paid tech employees are, so why did revenue per employee lag behind in the tech industry? It turns out IT is fairly labor-intensive, and non-employee costs can be high since most IT companies have to buy materials and produce a tangible product.

The exception is companies like Facebook that sell ads or clicks, which brings down non-employee costs and increases revenue per employee.

Talent costs money, but it also makes companies money, and you can’t have one without the other. The key is getting the most value as possible out of employees.

Maximizing employee potential is where Apple shines. Apple's brand attracts passionate, dedicated employees that often buy into the company and the brand on a very personal, as well as professional, level.  That dedication, it turns out, earned Apple nearly $2 million per employee last year.