More firms are allowing workers to come to the office in less formal attire.  Does this have an impact on productivity? There is little research on the issue.  The arguments seem to boil down to:

Nations are (quite rightly) urged to improve educational standards and attainments to help boost national productivity.  An educated - and skilled - workforce is a key underpinning of higher productivity. This is actually a vicious

We know that teams that share values tend to knit together better.  A culture in which people 'get on' and work for each other is considered to be productive. Yet, tension can provide creative sparks;

Some countries are much more productive than others. One would assume that this gives the less productive countries lots of scope to learn what works and what doesn't - and boost their own productivity ...

As i write this, Donald Trump has just accepted the nomination as Republican candidate for the US presidency. Now Trump is certainly a controversial figure and i am not going to give my  view on

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI)together with Lloyds Banking Group, the ScaleUp Institute & Aston Business School, has launched a new report, Lifting the Trophy, profiling scale-up insights into raising productivity within firms. In 2013,

Many people are not at their most productive on Friday afternoons. They procrastinate, prolong and prevaricate - picking issues up on Monday when they are (hopefully) refreshed and revitalised. So, why not use this fact

The UK public has voted to leave the EU.  There are numerous reasons given - but they don't matter anymore ... except inso far as the EU learns what the public don't like about the

Over the last 5 years - in fact since the great recession hit - many companies seem to have concentrated on short term gains - and have rewarded their CEOs with generous bonuses  for producing

Does your boss enhance, or detract from, your productivity? If you ask this question of employees, you might expect them to answer 'enhance' - but they rarely do. Too many people see their boss as

I 've written quite a few times in the last year about low productivity figures - across all developed nations.  I've even offered advice on occasions about what might be done to improve the figures

Two recent sets of figures from the USA raise a question of 'connectivity'/  Labour productivity refuses to rise - and investment in plant and equipment has declined over the last 10 years.  These can probably

Most developed countries have experienced lower rates of productivity development since the great recession - and nobody seems to know why. However, it does seem as though these low growth rates might be with us

Most of us want to help our organisations be productive - but we also want to be kind to the environment .  Can these aims be reconciled? Well, yes! - but sometimes it depends on

Work-life balance is important.  If 'work' takes over, you end up stressed and ineffective.  If 'life' rakes over, you fail to achieve, So, how do we achieve 'balance'? Well, here's a simple tip. When you

In the UK, as in quite a few other countries, there is a minimum wage set by government.  In  the UK, this has recently risen fuelled by the introduction of what is called the National

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is making good progress and we have seen computers doing very well at strategy games like Chess and Go. AI is ideal for situations where a large quantity of data has to

The UK Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) suggests the productivity picture might finally be starting to change. The EEF recently unveiled some mixed findings. On the positive front, its report – Productivity: the state of the

How will the Internet of Things (IoT) impact on productivity - of different sectors We know that lots of (mainly technology) companies are betting big on IoT  - but is this investment wise? For consumers,

The USA recently held National Agriculture Day. A key concern expressed by many of those participating this year was the need for greater investments in the very foundation of American agriculture: the research, development and

What are the secrets to productivity development at the national level? Well, after many years experience in a range of countries, I would have to say "Don't ask me". There is no panacea, no golden

A number of agencies, and even countries, have attempted to create measures of 'happiness' - as an alternative to using GDP to value the work undertaken by people. This needs further work - but shows

The UK Office for National Statistics has just issued time series data for labour productivity across a number of years and for a number of sectors.  Quite interesting (for productivity nerds like me) but ultimately

Some of you will now that I have been in Bahrain for the last week helping prepare for the World Productivity Congress which will be held here in November. (see worldproductivitycongress.net for details.) Conversations obviously