'Thingy' is a word used in the UK by many people to represent something whose name they cannot recall - a 'whatdyacallit', a 'thingymajig'.  All cultures and languages have such words. I use it here

Has the open plan office had its day? When they were first introduced, they were seen as being facilitators of communication, interaction and cooperation - bringing disparate groups together. Now when I see them I

Fairly recently, the UK government issued a draft Industrial Strategy.  Any discussion on this seems to have been drowned out by the Brexit rhetoric.  Yet it is too important to ignore. UK productivity is low

Last week we talked about productivity levels - and the conundrum about unemployment and wage levels. I suggested, as I have done several times lately, that we might need to reconsider how we measure productivity

Most of the old economic certainties have gone. For many years, the 'rule' was the as unemployment levels dropped, wages would rise (to entice workers away from others to your organisation).  Since the great 2008

The UK government recently established the Productivity Leadership Group (PLG)  to try and boost the nation's productivity. The PLG says that if all except our most competitive businesses were able to improve their productivity to

The US has created lots of jobs since President Tump was elected.  I am sure he will take the credit - and bask in the reflected glory. President Trump should be careful, though.  America's productivity

France takes the summer off.  many factories close down for a month while workers holiday en masse. Other European countries also take longer holidays than the UK. Yet the productivity of these countries is higher.

A few of my recent posts have related to U K productivity and challenges.  This is not because the UK faces more challenges than anyone else (though Brexit is  causing some fears). The UK is

f your employees were fighting in factions, arguing among themselves and failing to do what you expect them to do, would you continue to pay them?  You might - but presumably you would also initiate

UK productivity in the first quarter of 2017 was the same as it was in 2007.  This  after relentless if sometimes slow growth over many years.So, not only have we not had the bounce i

The Office for National Statistics says that, had productivity in the UK returned to its pre-recession trend, it would be 20% higher than its current level. Britain would be one fifth better off. The normal pattern is

Canada's labour productivity rose 1.4% in Q1 2017. This is not a spectacular result but a solid performance. Sometimes, slow and steady progress is preferable to high gain, fall-back performance.  (Think 'tortoise and hare'.) This

We have been told a few times that what creates success is sheer hard work... the perspiration not the inspiration, and the 10,000 hours.  But many great men (and women) have achieved their greatness by

I try to keep up to date with productivity trends and productivity news. In scanning the airwaves and the twittersphere, I often see governments urging their citizens to be more productive. At least in religions

In the UK, we have been through a rather exciting General Election - though as I write this, we have the same government and the same Prime Minister. In their campaigns, all parties made us

Many nations have realised that the only true long-term key to economic growth is productivity improvement. The problem is that this realisation is often the end, rather than the start, of the matter.  Governments and

I've referred to the subject (threat?) of robots several times in the last year. Clearly they (robots) are going to have a big impact on many companies and on many people's jobs - but exactly

Global rating agency Moody's Investors Service sees a persistent decline in labour productivity growth, stemming from an ageing population and slow investments, as posing a key threat to global economic recovery. The agency's report, titled

The last 2 decades have sen the inexorable rise of the robot - especially in motor manufacture.  We have all sen the robotic arms lifting and fitting panels, spray painting, and so on.  Some workers

In the developing world, education standards have been rising for decades.  More and more of the population go to university and the number of degrees, and even higher degrees, rises relentlessly. Yet, still employers maintain

Japan has a highly automated industrial sector which has fuelled productivity growth over several years. However this efficient sector is only a pat of the Japanese economy (though an important part) and the rest of

Donald Trump is hailing his tax cutting plans as 'radical' and likely to stimulate US growth.How will they affect US productivity? Well, the way in which productivity responds to trade measures is not clear ...

Is laziness helpful in making people more productive? does it encourage them to seek less arduous ways of achieving the same output? Well, certainly the opposite is not true  Busyness is not a sign of