24 March 2016 | Martin Read
It is incredible to see a report from research firm Qualtrics in which UK workers say that more than a third of their time at work is ‘unproductive’.
The Global Attitudes to Work study, of 6,250 employees worldwide, also paints a picture of UK workers being less productive than their American, Australian and Canadian cousins.
These same UK workers were seen as “relatively unhappy in their work” when compared with employees in other countries, according to the Global Attitudes to Work study.
On the face of it, all this flies in the face of the general buzz of campaigns, initiatives and themes in recent years, all aimed at improving productivity. From flexible working to worker wellbeing, corporate rhetoric at least seems switched on to the need to give employees both the tools and facilities they need to optimise performance.
We know that the UK has a particular productivity issues and it’s something the government has identified as a core issues. BIFM, too, is on the case with the theme of the coming ThinkFM conference in May.
So this week, when Easter sees a 20% reduction in working days over two weeks (and might thus focus more than a few minds on the topic), our ThinkTank question is this:
Is productivity one of the themes driving workplace strategy in your organisation? How are you having to adapt your workplace to meet corporate productivity targets? Is productivity? Has productivity become an explicit theme driving the change projects you’re addressing in your organisation? Can the drive to improve productivity positively influence perceptions of FM? Here are your choices:
A) Yes, productivity is a key theme
B) it’s not described as such, but it is driving how we operate
C) Productivity is not something explicitly mentioned in our organisation
As ever, any further thoughts you have on this topic are gratefully received. We’re being more productive ourselves this week, so the deadline for replying is the end of next Wednesday, 30th March. You can email us at editorial@fm-world.co.uk
