Poor productivity costs UK economy £340bn a year

The lack of motivation and productivity among UK employees is costing £340bn every year, according to research.

Only 15% of UK workers consider themselves to be ‘highly motivated’ and a quarter (24%) admit to just ‘coasting’ at work, according to the What’s My Motivation survey by the Hay Group consultancy.

Just one in five (21%) of the 500 UK employees surveyed thought they were ‘very effective’ in their current job role and less than half (48%) rated themselves as ambitious.

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Emmanuel Gobillot, director of leadership services at Hay and author of the report, said: “Companies are failing to engage their employees – and paying a heavy price in terms of productivity. British business leaders must focus on gaining the buy-in of workers if the UK is to be competitive in an increasingly global economy.”

Some 45% of respondents said they would be more productive if they were doing a job they loved and 28% said they could be more productive with better training and management.