‘Employee engagement and workplace productivity are inextricably linked’ according to an article from Consultancy.uk Engagement apparently means ‘absorbed in and enthusiastic about work’ – just don’t ask why the word engagement is preferred nowadays to the straightforward motivation ! Gallup have just issued a report entitled State of the Global Workforce covering employees in 155 countries (of the 192 …
Tag: Productivity
May 26
P.I.N. – a new productivity broadside?
Last week I attended the launch of a new initiative for improving UK productivity – I sent the following email to Kate Penney, PIN programme manager – she has already thanked me and promised to pass it on Kate, I thought the launch of the PIN (Productivity Insights Network) last Tuesday evening in London went well – …
May 22
CBI rides to the rescue
Having exchanged pleasant words about my new book Productivity Knowhow with the CBI’s Director General, Carolyn Fairbairn, and members of her team, I chanced upon a report they had written, entitled: FROM OSTRICH TO MAGPIE In it, they: “Set out to find new ways to tackle the striking variation in productivity that exists between UK firms …
May 19
Freelancing is good for many
Freelance employment should be used much more by most organisations in sectors which: Need certain specialist skills, but not on a full-time basis Have fluctuating demand patterns making employment of a full-time workforce to supply in good time prohibitively expensive Using freelance labour (say 20% part-time, 80% full-time) is much like outsourcing some processes – …
Mar 28
More demand, more productivity
According to Marshall Auerback, a market analyst and commentator, after a year-long analysis of seven developed countries and six sectors, global management consultancy company McKinsey reported that: “Demand matters for productivity growth and increasing demand is key to restarting growth across advanced economies.” The report by James Manyika, Jaana Remes and Jan Mischke was published in the Harvard Business …
Mar 10
UK skills shortages
Carolyn Fairbairn, Director General of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) claims it is ‘absolutely vital’ that UK businesses have access to migrant workkers from the EU ‘to mitigate intense workforce pressures’ Otherwise, British businesses and employers would no longer be able to compete – firms would be unable to get the staff they need …
Mar 09
Steel industry productivity
Professor Mark Perry, University of Michigan, wrote about productivity in the US steel industry – this is especially relevant given President Trump is threatening to protect the industry by introducing tariffs of 25% on imported steel and 10% on imported aluminium The main reason for the loss of US steel jobs is a huge increase …
Mar 08
Failure demand
The following article is reproduced en toto – it explains a concept which has an enormous impact on the efficiency and costs of many processes and staff morale – sadly, far too many managers, and consultants, seem unable to understand it or refuse to believe it – far worse, many of their customers, whatever the …
Mar 06
Be single-minded
The following is an article by Professor Martin Hansen of the UC Berkeley School of Information The secret to productivity? Do less, obsess more Do one thing well, not lots averagely In October 1911, two teams raced to be the first humans to reach the South Pole. One leader and his team achieved the …
Mar 03
Outsourcing and immigration have downsides
Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson and Harvard economist Jason Furman recently wrote that America’s weak productivity growth is a mystery in an article entitled “Slower growth has real political consequences” A Peter Skurkiss responded, commenting that “it wouldn’t be a mystery if these gentlemen would set aside their politically correct blinders” He continued A major …
Mar 02
Low productivity for low wages – and vice versa
One of the greatest capitalist entrepreneurs of all time, Henry Ford, famously declared: “There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible – it’s not the employer who pays the wages, employers only handle money – it’s …
Feb 28
Micro and Macro productivity
Productivity is a measure of how efficiently outputs are produced from costly inputs Sounds simple – but, if it means anything to anyone, it can also mean different things to different people, especially when used at micro or macro levels At the MICRO/ ORGANISATION LEVEL productivity measurement is used to: Check that most output is being …
Feb 24
How to improve national productivity
They say there are only two ways to produce sustained long term growth in the current material world: Increase the number of workers employed, assuming any one new worker produces as much as any other existing worker – but this is severely limited because: Birthrates, immigration constraints and right-skills availability restrict net increases The world’s …
Feb 18
Free trade is good for all nations
“Economists are worried about international trade” according to Harvard Professor Gregory Mankiw in an article printed by the New York Times No less than Adam Smith, in his famous ‘Wealth of Nations’ made the case for free trade, arguing that trade among nations is like trade among people: No one feels compelled to sew his …
Feb 17
National happiness beats GDP hands down
Economist Ed Conway claims in The Times that “GDP is actually pretty good at measuring the total amount of income generated in Britain” His main point is that: Every politician from right to left obsesses about income above all other measures of progress Yet income comes surprisingly far down the list of what really matters …
Feb 17
Much innovation not reflected in statistics
Susan Athey, ex Microsoft and now Expedia and winner of a prestigious medal for being the best US technology economist, was interviewed by journalist Ana Fuentes The following are extracts from her article: Q. Global growth, now running at 3.5%, might be a lot higher if we took into account the whole contribution from digitalisation …
Feb 12
AI pluses versus minuses
Some optimists, like technologist Nick Bostrom, believe AI is: “The last invention the human race will ever need” However, given these are early AI days, fundamental questions still being asked include: How can we make sure robots’ only purpose would be to serve humans and our environment and make human lives better? Should robots make …
Feb 09
NZ Productivity Commission slams their public sector
A new NZPC (New Zealand Productivity Commission) report slams parts of their public sector for inefficiency It says the private sector measures its productivity but the public sector falls short despite $40 billion being spent every year on such as health, education, justice, law and order and social welfare “The New Zealand government has been …
Feb 02
Japan pushes CI into Africa
The Japanese government, via the JPC (Japan Productivity Centre) is helping African companies on their productivity journey by adopting Kaizen (aka CI – Continuous Improvement) and lean management techniques At first, they selected three Model Companies in Africa – Japanese experts trained their middle managers and supervisors – then productivity improvements were sought The results were …
Jan 29
Buffett bullish on the future
Warren Buffett, stock-picker extraordinaire and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the richest men in the world – his words are invariably ‘pearls of wisdom’ His optimism contrasts well with the pessimism of his fellow-countryman Professor Robert Gordon who claims progress, and so prosperity, has peaked A precis of a recent bullish article by …
Jan 29
Clusters of SMEs are a priority
According to research conducted by Opus Energy, the top three geographical areas in the UK where SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) have productivity issues are: West Midlands North East London To compete, SMEs there are being forced to implement a wave of changes, including: Introducing flexible working Paying employees above the average wage Offering …
Jan 18
Groupthink waffle or results needed
The following is a precis of part of an email from Professor John Seddon of Vanguard Consultants who spoke at a public-sector ‘shared services’ conference The opening keynote was from the interim leader of the Government Shared Service programme – a very nice man – who said: We aim to be the best civil service in …
Jan 15
Scrap traditional organisation structures
Alison Vekshin, a freelance journalist, says: “Companies have followed a linear top-down organisation structure, but that approach is quickly becoming outdated – business leaders now favour a more flexible structure, and have seen that workers are more productive and innovative in an autonomous work environment” The traditional linear organisation chart was designed to ‘create order …
Jan 13
Japan falls down productivity ladder
Back in the 80s, the West was besotted by the miracle performance levels of Japan’s manufacturing sector and mistakenly concluded that TQM – Total Quality Management – and ‘culture change’ was their secret Actually, it was mostly due to good performance measures, use of basic statistics and common sense in finding best ways to meet …
Nov 23
Shoot the productivity messengers?
One groans when leading economists, senior government ministers, even John Humphries on the BBC’s Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme, trot out the same old message about the dire straits of the UK economy viz: “Woeful productivity gap” “Grim reading” “More austerity” “We’re in a new paradigm of lower productivity growth” Philip Hammond, the dour UK …
Nov 21
Continuous productivity improvement
Gerard Lyons, Chief economist at Netwealth, quoted a report from the Centre for Economic Justice: “There is no magical solution to low productivity – instead, marginal improvements can make a difference” Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, said you can master anything so long as you practise it for 10,000 hours – but make the same …
Nov 21
CBI calls for more companies to use digital technology
According to the CBI – Confederation of British Industry – the UK needs ‘more companies skilled to find and adopt available technologies and management best practices known to improve productivity and pay’ In particular, the use of cloud computing, mobile technology, e-purchasing, cybersecurity and on-line procurement could result in a £100 billion boost to the …
Nov 21
AI will create millions of jobs
Professor Robert Gordon of Northwestern University, USA, says: “No invention in the last 250 years, since the first Industrial Revolution, has caused mass unemployment “Though jobs are constantly being destroyed, they are also being created in even larger numbers – there is enormous churn in the job market – at present, there is actually a …
Nov 07
Scanning the productivity horizon
First, productivity improvement transformed the agriculture sector providing millions more people with more and better quality of food and drink at more affordable prices Then it was manufacturing’s turn, providing more and better clothes and shoes, white goods and cookers, bikes, cars or planes – all making lives easier and getting from A to B …
Oct 23
‘Flat earth’ brigade rides again
Watch, listen to or read the media and the great and good of the economic world – the heads of the UK Treasury, BoE, IFS, IMF, OECD, OBR or ONS to name but a few – and, with rare exception, all paint the same dismal picture viz: It’s doom and gloom for the UK economy from now …