National productivity / output lowest of the G7 nations

[TJC1]

what solutions does the forum propose we take to bridge the productivity gap?

mmmm:confused:

 

osborne thinks skills:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/13/skills-crisis-is-key-flaw-in-george-osbornes-productivity-plan-says-cbi

 

i reckon introduce a 30 hour week. if people have less hours to work, they will be less stressed, and start to behave more efficiently.

 

[El Cid]

Decent transport would help, both the roads, and public transport.

[L00b]

The CBI has a point regarding the general shortage of skills in this country. It's harder to get dumb people working smarter and output more per unit of time, than to get smarter people to do that. So, fix the education first. No small task, and not a short fix either.

 

Education point aside, more UK businesses need to invest more (-frequently) in their production tools (that applies to services just the same) rather than make-do-and-mend until investing is forced on them by their market as a matter of survivability. Many (most) UK businesses are far too reactive.

 

I've been and worked 20-odd years in this country, worked (as a service provider interacting at board level) for hundreds of local and non-local SMEs in a very wide variety of sectors, and this is -regretfully- an enduring facet of UK business life that just doesn't seem to change (I usually short-call it 'short-termism').

 

Oh, and apprenticeship works. But apprentice pay levels need to change, they are exploitative at the young end, and do not incentivise employers to invest properly in the apprentice's training and professional tasks.

Edited July 14, 2015 by L00b

[TJC1]

The CBI has a point regarding the general shortage of skills in this country. It's harder to get dumb people working smarter and output more per unit of time, than to get smarter people to do that. So, fix the education first. No small task, and not a short fix either.

 

Education point aside, more UK businesses need to invest more (-frequently) in their production tools (that applies to services just the same) rather than make-do-and-mend until investing is forced on them by their market as a matter of survivability. Many (most) UK businesses are far too reactive.

 

I've been and worked 20-odd years in this country, worked (as a service provider interacting at board level) for hundreds of local and non-local SMEs in a very wide variety of sectors, and this is -regretfully- an enduring facet of UK business life that just doesn't seem to change (I usually short-call it 'short-termism').

 

Oh, and apprenticeship works. But apprentice pay levels need to change, they are exploitative at the young end, and do not incentivise employers to invest properly in the apprentice's training and professional tasks.

 

its not workers where directives come from. its from the top. if we get firms thinking in an efficient way, people are generally smart enough to take it on board....spesh if incentives for them, like shorter work weeks:cool:

 

---------- Post added 14-07-2015 at 13:58 ----------

 

Decent transport would help, both the roads, and public transport.

 

yes. we have worse roads than puerto rice apparently

[tzijlstra]

Decent transport would help, both the roads, and public transport.

 

This is a key-factor, I would like to call it infrastructure.

 

Making a very long story short: I was in the Netherlands last week - EVERYTHING has been invested in whilst I was away for three years roads/rail/waterways/nature-preserves/housing/industrial development/universities and schools.

 

I can make a list of projects just on the route I took from Eindhoven to the North that will make the UK look like a desolate pit. Part of these investments are due to the government stimulating growth through infrastructure projects, but another big part is the different mentality in the Netherlands: You need to invest to progress.

 

In the UK people seem to invest to not regress. Massive difference.

 

Another key-factor is education. The Brits have been so obsessed with league-tables since the Maggy years that they have forgotten what education actually is about. I work with bright students, but at times I seriously doubt the quality of their education, their English might be flawless but their thought processes are frequently way behind the curve of what I would expect.

[L00b]

its not workers where directives come from. its from the top. if we get firms thinking in an efficient way, people are generally smart enough to take it on board....spesh if incentives for them, like shorter work weeks

Not sure I understand your 'directives' point/logic, sorry.

 

You asked for suggested solutions, not socio-economic warfare (your workers-'top' distinction ), so them be mine...

 

...and by-and-large they happen to read on tzijlstra's points, so maybe, just maybe, there's a grain of truth to them

[TJC1]

Not sure I understand your 'directives' point/logic, sorry.

 

You asked for suggested solutions, not socio-economic warfare (your workers-'top' distinction ), so them be mine...

 

...and by-and-large they happen to read on tzijlstra's points, so maybe, just maybe, there's a grain of truth to them

 

no no, you misunderstand.

i was simply saying culture comes from the top. the culture in many uk firms is all wrong and prizes a 'longer hours' culture not a 'productivity' culture....when its been proved diminishing returns after a certain amount of hours and that comes from the top. i dont think the brits are any more lazy than any other country.

 

---------- Post added 14-07-2015 at 14:31 ----------

 

This is a key-factor, I would like to call it infrastructure.

 

Making a very long story short: I was in the Netherlands last week - EVERYTHING has been invested in whilst I was away for three years roads/rail/waterways/nature-preserves/housing/industrial development/universities and schools.

 

I can make a list of projects just on the route I took from Eindhoven to the North that will make the UK look like a desolate pit. Part of these investments are due to the government stimulating growth through infrastructure projects, but another big part is the different mentality in the Netherlands: You need to invest to progress.

 

In the UK people seem to invest to not regress. Massive difference.

 

Another key-factor is education. The Brits have been so obsessed with league-tables since the Maggy years that they have forgotten what education actually is about. I work with bright students, but at times I seriously doubt the quality of their education, their English might be flawless but their thought processes are frequently way behind the curve of what I would expect.

 

education is flawed. our universities are not as prized as once was. we put too much emphasis on formal education too.

[JFKvsNixon]

education is flawed. our universities are not as prized as once was. we put too much emphasis on formal education too.

 

Maybe we've found the answer to the problem? The idea that education is flawed.

[TJC1]

Maybe we've found the answer to the problem? The idea that education is flawed.

 

its one answer. just like taylorism with respects to business organisation, times have changed.

[chem1st]

Citizens income and reduce the amount of people employed counting public beans in the private sector using public money. Too many are employed doing nothing productive, particularly in the private sector on public money.