March 2020

With ‘teamwork and collaboration’ held as core values in some organisations, workers can feel like it’s expected of them to engage with requests straight away, becoming distracted from high payoff activities that will deliver value to the business. Simple solution With the issue of workplace productivity intensifying, businesses are beginning to take drastic measures to improve the situation. Although investing in state-of-the-art technology can be a positive and necessary move, many organisations are spending a lot of money in a bid to make internal processes more efficient. However, new research suggests that the answer could be much simpler and cheaper by comparison, as businesses fail to capitalise on their existing workforce, underestimating the importance of personal development. Rather than replacing workers with technology or expanding the existing W orkplace productivity has long been a topic of debate within the national media, as many UK businesses within the independent garage sector still struggle to match and exceed the performance levels seen from their competitors. Currently facing a ‘productivity puzzle’, the UK’s growth rates have fallen to a level lower than at any time during the 20th century. Seen as an important factor in determining the productive potential of the economy, countries with strong labour productivity tend to benefit from significant growth and low inflation. Norway, Switzerland and Denmark are among the most productive nations in the world, but interestingly they have much shorter average working weeks than other less productive countries, including the UK. It poses the question whether business productivity can be enhanced through other means, such 48 AFTERMARKET MARCH 2020 BUSINESS www.aftermarketonline.net WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY Getting the most out of staff in the workplace can be tricky. One way of solving the productivity puzzle is through personal development as personal development and staff training. Importance of productivity Measured by the amount of work produced per working hour, productivity is the main driver of long- term economic growth and higher living standards. For this reason, a lot of time and resources are invested into researching workplace productivity levels, assessing the performance of businesses across a range of sectors. In theory, recruiting more workers or increasing working hours could help enhance output, however in practice it is having the opposite effect, as more people seem to be entering unproductive jobs. Counter- productive workplace cultures can be one of the biggest obstacles faced by businesses, as unproductive behaviours are encouraged, such as stopping what you are doing to respond to emails immediately or working through lunch breaks and into the evening. BY Nick Howes, Managing Director at Leadership Management International UK