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“NO OFFICE COSTS, NO WAST ED COM M U T I NG T I M E = SA M E OU T PU T. GO FIGU R E” Many economists believe the pandemic will inevitably raise productivity time to widen the lens a bit. The creation of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine has demonstrated that it is possible to design, test, manufacture and roll out an innovative and complex product on a global scale, deploying people from across the world, at speed and scale – all under pandemic conditions. So is it possible that the past 12 months may prove to be a catalyst for an improvement in UK and international corporate performance and productivity? The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane thinks so. He has gone public with his view that the effects of the pandemic may hold the key to reviving productivity growth, creating a positive productivity shock. In a recent Bloomberg conversation with Stephanie Flanders, Haldane observed that businesses and their employees have had to become “digitally match-fit” and that huge amounts of “unpaid, unproductive time” (aka commuting) has been redeployed. “If we are canny, it could be a positive,” he said. survey of global firms by the World Economic Forum last Haldane is not the only economist to think year found that more than 80 per cent of employers intended like this. The shift to remote working “has to accelerate plans to digitise their processes and provide got to improve productivity because we’re more opportunities for remote work, while half planned to getting the same amount of output without accelerate the automation of production tasks. commuting, without office buildings and Another survey of 500 global firms by Capgemini found that employee productivity grew at nearly two-thirds of without all the goods and services associated organisations during the third quarter of 2020. This was with that,” says the US economist Robert attributed to “less commuting time, flexible work schedules Gordon of Northwestern University. and the adoption of effective virtual collaboration tools”. Meanwhile, Lord O’Neill, vice-chair of the In the UK, many businesses start from a position nearer Northern Powerhouse Partnership, has noted the back than the front of the class. The lack of so-called that, now companies have been forced to think “diffusion” of best practice has been cited as one reason for and act outside of the box, the UK “might get the UK’s lower productivity rates than competitor nations. a productivity boost as a result”. Companies around the world are waking up Companies don’t have the ability to assimilate and take on to the opportunity of a productivity uplift. One board the lessons and knowhow of the best, and then to incorporate this knowledge into their own practices. That requires time, training and commitment. The Help to Grow programme unveiled by Rishi Sunak in his Budget is one response to this, and CMI is on the advisory committee. 24 — SPR ING 202 1
