Productivity

A worker’s average day**

58% work that added real value to my organization

18% work that wasted time and effort

3% other activities that added value to my organization

9% time networking with colleagues that added value to me and my work

12% activities that added to my personal development

Four key areas to boost productivity**

Organisational structure, design and operating model - removing all wasteful, bureaucratic, and non-value work and outputs. 23% believe organisational structure, design and operating model have the biggest impact on productivity

Technology - being more ambitious and effective in process automation and technological change. 8% believe additional, new or improved technology would improve performance

People management issues - developing and utilising the full talents and capabilities of human capital. 54% believe people management issues have the biggest impact on productivity

Innovation - being deliberate and audacious with an innovation agenda. 15% believe further innovation would increase productivity

GDP & Productivity – Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all officially recognised final goods and services produced within a country in a given period.

In 2011, the world’s largest GDP (based on purchasing power parity) was the EU. The US was ranked second. China, with the world’s largest workforce, was third, followed by India in fourth place (world’s second largest workforce). Australia ranked 18th. *

Norway is currently classed as the most productive nation in the world, based on its hourly contribution to GDP.^

The US is ranked second in the world on this basis; however, it comes out on top against 27 nations in the EU, Japan and Switzerland in the amount of wealth created per hour of work.^

US employees put in an average 1,804 hours of work in 2006; while Asia – South Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Thailand – surpassed 2,200 average hours per worker. However, those countries had lower productivity rates.^

Sources: *International Monetary Fund ^ International Labor Organization

workforce stats

 - China has the world’s largest labour force as of 2011, with 795,500,000 workers

 - India ranks second, with 487,600,000 workers (2011 figures)

 - Australia currently has the world’s 43rd largest workforce, with 12,050,000 workers (2011 figures)

 - The smallest labour force in the world is that of the Pitcairn Islands (2004), with only 15 workers

Sources:

** Wastage adds up despite motivated workers: The Ernst & Young Australian Productivity Pulse

*** Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM), 2007, International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland