A third of British workers admit to having problems increasing productivity with many blaming management inadequacies, according to a new study.

Barriers to productivity in the workplace

Global management services ADP undertook a survey of 1,300 workers and one in six of those encountering productivity problems said bad management was responsible. Many respondents also cited inefficient systems and staff shortages as productivity barriers in a country that ranks as one of the least productive in the G7.The study identified financial services as the sector where employees complained most about poor productivity, with a fifth blaming management failings.

The affect of management on productivity

Jeff Phipps, managing director of ADP UK, said, “Ineffective management is a major drain on employee output, not to mention motivation and engagement, which is why investment in management training is critical.“Processes, systems and technology must also be updated regularly, with the input of frontline staff, to ensure they are consistently helping them to work in the best – and most productive – way possible.”

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Productivity in Scotland

Publication of the study coincided with the release of official figures showing productivity in Scotland had dropped to its lowest level in more than eight years.Official labour statistics for the quarter ending in September 2017 showed trend-based productivity fell to a level last seen in the fourth quarter of 2009 with the annual rate, based on output per hour worked, declining by 3.2 per cent on 2016.The SNP-run Scottish government accepted there had been a decline last year but maintained overall productivity levels had increased in Scotland by 5.4 per cent since 2007.However, opposition parties described the productivity levels as “grim”. Dean Lockhart, Scottish Conservative economy spokesman, told the Scotsman newspaper, “Improving productivity is the key driver to overall economic success in the long-term and has a direct impact on real wages and living standards.“Productivity under the SNP has now declined to its lowest level in Scotland for eight years and is well-below levels in the rest of the UK.“The SNP has control over the enterprise and economic development powers that can positively change productivity in Scotland. Instead of improving productivity, however, the SNP has decided to make Scotland the highest-taxed part of the UK and to increase the tax burden on business.”Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour economy spokeswoman, added, “These grim statistics for productivity should be jolting the SNP government into action, instead of the same tired old lines about the economy being on solid foundations.”

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Read more about productivity and UK business in the Winter issue of our magazine 

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