This study examines the effect of human capital on the financial performance of quoted consumer goods firms in Nigeria during the post-COVID-19 period (2020–2024). Specifically, the study investigates the influence of employee benefit expense, number of employees, and human capital efficiency on return on assets (ROA) as a proxy for profitability. The study adopts an ex-post facto research design and utilizes secondary data obtained from the annual reports of 19 listed consumer goods firms. A total of 95 firm-year observations were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression techniques with robust standard errors. The findings reveal that human capital efficiency has a positive and statistically significant effect on financial performance, indicating that efficient utilization of workforce capabilities enhances profitability. In contrast, employee benefit expense exhibits a negative but statistically insignificant relationship with profitability, suggesting that increased staff costs do not necessarily translate into improved performance when not efficiently managed. Similarly, the number of employees shows a positive but insignificant effect, implying that workforce size alone is insufficient to drive firm performance without corresponding efficiency gains. The study concludes that human capital efficiency is the most critical driver of financial performance among the variables examined. Based on these findings, the study recommends that firms should prioritize efficiency-driven human capital strategies, align employee compensation with productivity, and focus on optimizing workforce performance rather than merely increasing labour cost or size.