{"id":6609,"date":"2015-11-03T16:56:50","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T16:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=6609"},"modified":"2015-11-03T16:56:50","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T16:56:50","slug":"the-productivity-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=6609","title":{"rendered":"The productivity challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Earlier this week I participated in an ACAS seminar on building productivity in the UK. I have written previously<\/a> on the so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098productivity puzzle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and the critical importance of investment, skills and an active industrial strategy.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut I have also highlighted the importance of better work organisation and a strong worker voice. So it is particularly welcome to see ACAS put a focus on what goes on in workplaces and that one of the seven levers it identifies in its framework for building productivity<\/a> is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098strong employee voice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 
\nOf course there are different interpretations of what is meant by \u00e2\u20ac\u0098employee voice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Indeed, the BBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Evan Davis, who chaired the event, put it to me that it could take a million different forms.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot quite a million,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 I replied.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Strong employee voice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 has to be collective and independent. This means, where possible, trade unions.
\nBut I am concerned that, despite ACAS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 efforts, the importance of strong employee voice might get lost.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trade union Bill<\/a> demonstrates no willingness to engage with unions but actually serves to weaken employee voice and damage good employment relations.<\/p>\n

 
\nAnd it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just the unions saying this. At the ACAS seminar a representative from the manufacturers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 organisation EEF raised concerns about the detrimental effects that the Bill will have on good management and positive industrial relations.<\/p>\n

 
\nFurthermore, research published by professors at Warwick and Cass Business Schools<\/a> finds that restricting facility time for union representatives in the public sector would be counterproductive and may damage levels of trust between employers and employees and ultimately lower productivity.<\/p>\n

 
\nA central theme in the seminar discussion was that how we go manage change is important and that this requires meaningful engagement with the workforce and their representatives. As Paul Nowak of the TUC commented, there are good ways and bad ways to improve productivity and it can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be done at the price of rising job insecurity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sustainable improvements in productivity growth will not be achieved by trying to squeeze \u00e2\u20ac\u0098more for less\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 out of workers, extending the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098flexible\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 labour market or making work more insecure. It requires well-paid, good quality secure jobs.<\/p>\n

 
\nFinally, efforts to improve productivity growth should not detract from the important issue of how we share the proceeds of growth. Productivity growth needs to be sustainable and fair, yet there is a ‘wedge’ between productivity growth and median pay growth. <\/a><\/p>\n

 
\nThis \u00e2\u20ac\u0098de-coupling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and pay inequality <\/a>are not only matters of social justice, but in themselves have implications for productivity, not least in respect of another two of ACAS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 levers: \u00e2\u20ac\u0098fairness\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098high trust\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 
\nTrade unions and collective bargaining have a role to play here, too<\/a>, by reducing inequality and raising wages. As others, such as the Equality Trust and the Guardian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Larry Elliott, have noted, reducing the influence of unions would be an “extremely damaging development”<\/a> and “weakening collective bargaining will depress aggregate demand and end up doing more harm than good.”<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\nJohn Earls is Head of Research at Unite<\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nThis post was originally published on the TUC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Touchstone blog <\/a>and is reposted here with permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week I participated in an ACAS seminar on building productivity in the UK. I have written previously on the so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098productivity puzzle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and the critical importance of investment, skills and an active industrial strategy.   But I have also highlighted the importance of better work organisation and a strong worker voice. So it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[326],"wps_subtitle":"Strong employee voice key to growth","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6613,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609\/revisions\/6613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}