Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsLearning & developmentLeadershipLeadership trainingOrganisation development

Invest in leadership and learning to tackle productivity puzzle

by Jo Faragher 15 Nov 2021
by Jo Faragher 15 Nov 2021 Focusing on the 'long tail' of unproductive companies will not make enough difference, according to the think tank
Shutterstock
Focusing on the 'long tail' of unproductive companies will not make enough difference, according to the think tank
Shutterstock

The UK needs to invest in its economy, promote better leadership and improve learning if it is to tackle its productivity issues, according to researchers.

The Business Time report by the Resolution Foundation in conjunction with the Centre for Economic Performance accuses policymakers of focusing on output at low productivity organisations, rather than economy-wide strategies.

A worker in the top 10% of companies is 16 times more productive than one in the least productive tenth, but raising output among those in low-productivity businesses would only raise overall productivity by 1.2%, according to the think tank.

The country’s levels of productivity, measured in terms of output per hour worked, have remained lower than G7 peers for some years – yet total investment in the UK economy only rose by 1% in the past five years, according to the Resolution Foundation.

This was in comparison to an average increase in investment of 16% in France, Germany and the US.

Skills development

Developing successful leaders in the workplace 

Building skills the top priority for HR leaders in 2021

The report said one of the key areas of underinvestment was in human capital.

“Despite rising tertiary education attainment, there are gaps in basic and technical skills that hold back productivity of workers and firms in the UK.

Moreover, research has shown that skilled workers and managers are more likely to successfully adopt productivity-enhancing technologies and management practices.”

Ensuring workers are adequately equipped for technological changes could help address these challenges, it added.

Other factors include the quality of leadership, with the Resolution Foundation pointing out that just 11% of UK companies are as well managed as the best 25% of US employers.

Levels of literacy and numeracy would urgently need to be addressed too, it recommended. Literacy among 16 to 24-year olds is no higher than among older cohorts (55 to 65), despite impressive generational improvements in France, Germany and the US.

Greg Thwaites, research director at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Britain is facing a decade of huge economic change from the triple impacts of Brexit, Covid and net zero. “It will be UK firms that ultimately determine whether we navigate these changes in a way that leaves our businesses, pay packets and household incomes in a much better place by 2030.

“The UK entered the 2020s with an abysmal productivity record, and a misdiagnosis of why this is happening.

Rather than focus on the UK’s long-tail of unproductive firms, we need to see economy-wide improvements to how firms invest and innovate, as well as how staff are managed and trained.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“These are not quick productivity fixes, and they are likely to cost money in the short-term. But they need to be pursued as part of a new economic strategy that will deliver stronger growth and higher living standards in the years to come.”

Organisational Development opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more Organisational development jobs

Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Catherine Mann view of remote working dismissed as ‘categorically wrong’
next post
Self-isolation could be scrapped in March, reports suggest

You may also like

Public sector needs 92,000 more workers to remain...

19 May 2025

Half of workers waste two hours a day...

6 May 2025

Hey HR, don’t blame it on the sunshine

2 May 2025

Google concerned by slow AI take-up in UK

25 Apr 2025

Four ways HR can maintain trust in uncertain...

23 Apr 2025

How to build a commercially-minded workforce

3 Apr 2025

Civil servants say three days in office reduces...

25 Feb 2025

How HR can help to rebuild routine

24 Feb 2025

How to find the perfect balance of accountability

31 Jan 2025

Government to ease DB pension surplus release restrictions

28 Jan 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+