INTHEBLACK February 2025 - Magazine - Page 21
“There will always be challenges and limitations around
the measurement of productivity, which the ABS addresses
through improvements in data and methods. It continues
to be important as a key long-term measure of change in
the economy.”
BJORN JARVIS, ABS
accounting system, of which GDP is
a central part, was developed in the 1930s
to measure the workings of the industrial
economy when agriculture, mining and
manufacturing dominated.
“The important point is that such a
[traditional] economy now accounts for
maybe half of economic activity,” he says.
Today, Quiggin adds, the growth in the
production and dissemination of information
and ICT has been so fast that it defies
traditional methods of measurement.
“If you’re looking at multifactor productivity,
most of it’s been driven by technological
progress, but most of the technological
progress appears as computers from overseas
LESS FRICTION = MORE PRODUCTIVITY
In the quest for better employee productivity, the focus of many organisations
is on training and upskilling. Neal Woolrich, director of Human Resources Advisory
at Gartner, says that is not sufficient.
“There’s an untapped opportunity
to drive productivity,” Woolrich says.
“Most organisations think it’s a skill
issue and that they need to upskill
their people. Or they may think it’s
an employee motivation issue and that
they just need to encourage their people
to work harder or smarter. The thing
they miss is these work frictions.”
Gartner research identifies four
such frictions:
1. Misaligned work design — employees
may not know how they should be
getting their work done.
2. Overwhelmed teams — they are
uncertain about task priorities.
3. Trapped resources — budgets and
resources are set in stone even if
circumstances change.
4. Rigid processes — employees’ work
slows while they wait for leaders
to make decisions.
Woolrich is confident that, done
properly, the work-from-home
trend can enhance the productivity
of workers.
Defining and measuring employee
productivity can be difficult, but one
common way is to simply divide the
company’s total revenue by its number
of employees. Typical ways that
businesses can improve their
productivity include increasing technical
efficiency, embracing technological
progress and organisational change,
and using technology to maximise
returns from scale.
Regardless of the measures,
Woolrich advises business leaders
to be “absolutely ruthless” about
regularly monitoring and refining the
organisational design of their operations.
“Organisational design should be an
ongoing discipline,” he says.
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