In many countries, governments are raising the retirement age to contain pension and welfare costs.   Today’s workers are going to have to work to a ripe, old age.  (Since, generally, people are healthier and fitter than they were 30 or 40 years ago, this is not necessarily a bad thing.) It does mean, however, that, increasingly, organisations will have a more diverse workforce - in terms of age.  Millenials and generation X workers will be working with - and perhaps crossing swords with - older colleagues (generation A?). There is a natural difference in the wor ..read more

We have all experienced sensory overload due to the deluge of emails we receive.  This is even more so for those of us whose organisations have provided us with a range of helpful (?) productivity tools like Google Docs, Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, Zoom and so on. These were often introduced during the pandemic to enable remote communication and remote working. Now, however, they just provide constant interruption and distraction. It is made even worse because it gives us so many more logons and passwords to remember and each of them has a different user interface. If this sounds like ..read more

A new trend is emerging of organisations organising review and retrospection meetings - perhaps every 2 weeks or so to allow employees (collectively) to review what they’ve done, what they’ve achieved, what went well and what didn’t.  The meeting is a safe space in which employees can speak freely and honestly, even critically.  It helps managers identify ways in which processes and working methods can be improved. It might not make revolutionary change but it should offer incremental changes - and it lets employees know their feedback is important. The method shares some ..read more

Lots of countries that expanded their productivity through the 1980s and 1990s have slowed to a crawl.  Their 'growth engines' seem to have disappeared or been dismantled.  COVID-19 may have been the final nail in the coffin (or the puncture in the tyre). Many of these companies are still trying to restart their engines - but with little success. Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I think the general belief in flexible working is unfounded - and is part of the problem, not the solution. The extended lines of communication - and particularly, collaboration - r ..read more

Getting people back to the office is proving difficult for many organisations. Employees have got used to the flexibility, and to the lack of commuting, associated with home working. Many organisations have saved money by allowing users to use their own technology and furniture  (saving the organisation the cost and trouble of providing and supporting it.) But this creates more problems.  Firstly, security of company data, more likely to leak from a personal PC than a company one which has been secured.  Secondly, I would bet that few organisations have re ..read more

We all need more food.  The world population continues to grow.  At the same time, however, we devote less land to agriculture as we create mega cities and urban sprawl. The only solution is  increased agricultural productivity. However, an annual report from Virginia Tech University in the US shows agriculture is behind the pace of meeting the productivity needs of 2050.  The report suggests that  human-caused climate change has slowed global agricultural productivity growth by 21 percent since 1961.  As food producers battle to cope wit ..read more

I remember once walking past an office and the staff in there were obviously enjoying themselves.  They were laughing - at what, I know not.  My first thought was ‘How odd. Shouldn’t they be taking their work more seriously?  We pay them to work, not to play. “ But, of course, first thoughts are quite often wrong thoughts.  This is why you should always pause and reflect before firing off angry emails or taking important decisions. Luckily, I had read something fairly recently about the effects that laughter can have on your body- releasing a cocktail o ..read more

In this world where many workers are still workings from home - or hybrid working - some managers find it hard to assess the performance  of their staff.   There has been a sharp increase in the use of employee monitoring software - often seen as intrusive and unfair by the employees themselves. Yet we know that the best way to get good results out of your staff is to train then, empower them, and trust them.  The vast majority respond well to such treatment.  Of course  it is useful to set targets for the employees and verify that they have r ..read more

A very simple way of thinking about productivity is to identify the things that block or slow down throughput and eliminate them.   I know this is an oversimplification because in some case, removing a bottleneck just creates another one further down the process …. but you will almost certainly have made some impact by removing the first one…. and now you have another target. These bottlenecks or productivity blocks may be unnecessary process steps, ineffective meetings, excessive equipment breakdowns or many other things. If you can’t easily identify such blocks, ask your employee ..read more

I get concerned when I see famous people in all sort of fields (‘celebrities’?) give advice to youngsters  saying something like “You can be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do. You just need a goal and to work very hard.” Now positivism is good - and encouraging youngsters to work hard is also good.  But this advice is based on a falsehood. Not everyone can achieve their dream. Think of all the kids who want to be football or basketball stars or ballet dancers or movie or rock stars or …….   There are nowhere near enough ‘vacancies’ to accom ..read more