Worker productivity must be boosted

Graham Twaddle talks about economic growth and its relationship to UK workforce agility

It is encouraging to see that the UK economy and labour market are growing, but the bigger picture is more complex. UK labour productivity is believed to have slowed 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2013. Although the economy is producing more jobs, productivity could be lagging behind.

The vibrant IT industry is both creating new UK jobs and developing ways to boost productivity, however. Workforce management software, for example, can help workers make better use of their time, allocating specific tasks to particular staff.

This can facilitate a faster workflow, and improvements in quality. Employees will then be happier and more motivated, and workers can be given more of a chance to focus and excel.

Most process-centric organisations have a large and multi-skilled workforce. However, it is difficult to track what an organisation might be doing at a level of granularity that promotes effective control and management.

It is also often the case that non-value-add activities, such as smoking breaks, comfort breaks, web surfing and social media, are difficult to monitor.

Workforce management software can be used to monitor individuals so that a balance is met.

As teams expand it can become harder to see what is really going on and where resources are allocated. But if issues can be identified as they happen, such as over- or under-capacity across teams, managers can move staff around to fill the gaps.

This is good for competitiveness and productivity, encouraging a gradual change in behaviour that is particularly effective in a well-managed organisation with effective training programmes.

Technology certainly has a role to play in future-proofing workers and businesses for the years to come.

Graham Twaddle is chief executive at Corporate Modelling