UK-based companies were the only ones to rate the skills available to them as having a negative effect on productivity, according to a survey of companies in the UK, France and Germany.
The EEF’s EU Productivity Survey of 200 engineering companies shows the UK’s results lagged behind those of German firms, which regarded their skills base as particularly positive for workplace productivity levels.
The skills levels of employees were rated as the second most important constraint on innovation in the UK. A fifth of UK companies cited inadequate employee skills as a problem, compared with just 12 per cent in both Germany and France.
