February 16, 2018
Poor management blamed for low levels of productivity amongst UK workforce
A third of workers (32 percent) regularly struggle to be productive in their job, and one in six (16 percent) blame their manager – claims a new survey from ADP. This puts bad management ahead of inefficient systems and processes (15 percent) and staff shortages (13 percent) as the biggest drain on productivity in the UK workplace. The UK has been grappling with low productivity levels for a number of years, consistently placed behind other leading economies, such as Germany and the US in official productivity tables. While recent ONS figures suggested a recovery is underway, reporting the biggest jump in productivity levels for six years, the ADP findings suggests that UK PLC isn’t out of the woods just yet. Barriers to productivity also vary significantly based on age, with over 55s the most affected by bad management (20 percent), while 16 to 24-year olds are more affected by social media (22 percent) distractions from colleagues (21 percent) and stress (18 percent).
February 5, 2018
Developing a cultured nose for what makes workplace design great
by Steve Brewer • Comment, Workplace design
Workplace people are at risk of obsessing about productivity. The idea of what is or is not effective and even the notion of wellbeing, has almost been done to death. We overthink stuff. As Neil Usher might say, there are a few bandwagons people are leaping on a little too eagerly. So, let’s keep it simple. Yes, we need a ‘space’ to work in (or just do stuff), but mostly we need a reason for using it in the first place. One thing most people agree on – even the media and flinty-eyed consultants – is that we need a motivation, a reason to do the things asked of us and a belief or intrinsic connection to do those ‘things’ well.
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