Research studies* on the UK’s poor productivity make for sobering reading.

Indications are that productivity has stagnated over the last 8-9 years with the GB workforce making only limited gains in its attempt to close the productivity gap with its European competitors.

But what is the true measure of productivity – in real terms and for real businesses – and how can it be improved?

In simple terms productivity is the amount produced for a given input (an hour’s worth of staff time for example).

Productivity increases when staff are happy, motivated, challenged and are working at a level that is suitable for their skill set.

Productivity falls when they are unhappy in their work, perhaps when dealing with copious amounts of irrelevant emails or attending meetings which do not result in clear actions and timescales, for example.

A key and the easiest driver for improving productivity is enhancing skills – giving staff the chance to be better at doing things but also doing this in enterprising ways, with minimum time/cost and maximum impact.

Short “byte-sized” courses delivered in an interactive, virtual environment are irresistible.

The popularity of the 70:20:10 model for successful learning and development also points to the need to provide skills training in a way which can be shared, is challenging and easily assimilated.

Training and Development programmes which ignore this do so at their peril. Staff should be given the tools and techniques to not only improve their skills in a less formal framework but also to collaborate with colleagues – which in turn drives performance within teams.

Training and support programmes should always include other resources such as short videos, podcasts or fact and tip sheets to encourage individual learning which is aligned to the core objectives of the business.

In today’s competitive global marketplace Managers who have responsibility for buying and implementing training need to be aware of these factors – they need to ensure that L and D budgets are directed to providers who can cater for this need.

Emailogic’s email productivity webinars, seminars, e-learning and licensing programme are supported by additional learning resources including videos, quizzes, manager’s cascade briefing, induction materials, articles and guidelines – all focused on email productivity.

These have been designed to support 70:20:10 principles for learning and development and allow good email practice to be cascaded throughout the organisation easily, consistently and ongoingly using multiple methods/channels.

* UK Parliament briefing May 2016 “Productivity in the UK”