Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Productivity awareness week 2013-What is productivity? |18 March 2013

Productivity awareness week 2013-What is productivity?

Factors have to be combined in order to be able to produce goods and services.
Productivity is defined as the efficient use of resources, labour, capital, land, materials, energy information, in the production of various goods and services. It involves doing more in less time.
Simply put, Productivity is the ratio of output to input used to produce it.
 
Productivity =  outputs
                            inputs

Inputs are the resources used in producing a good or delivering a service and are commonly measured in terms of labour and raw materials.

Outputs are the end product of a process. Outputs will include all goods and services – not only industrial and agricultural products, but also the services of office workers, etc.

Strong and independent employers and employees are central to organisations if they are to increase their productivity, however this will depend on a number of factors such as:
• Work attitudes, e.g. willingness to work extra shift
• Skill levels, e.g. training in supervisory skills
• Labour management cooperation e.g. participation in training activities
• Productivity management e.g. efficient management of resources
• Manpower efficiency and
• Entrepreneurship

National productivity growth
There are a number of factors that can be used to increase the growth of productivity and they include: 
• Encouraging innovation and use of technology
• Organising work which creates productive work cultures
• Investing in people and skills
• Networking and collaborating
• Measuring what matters and
• Introducing incentive schemes
The growth of productivity is crucial to living standards as it means more value is added in terms of production and hence more income is available to be distributed. In other words, productivity growth is important to an organisation because it means that it can meet its obligations to workers, shareholders, and governments, and still remain competitive.
The benefits of productivity growth can be distributed in a number of different ways:
1. To the workforce through better wages and work conditions
2. To shareholders as dividend distributed from increased profits
3. To customers through lower prices
4. To the environment through more stringent environmental protection and
5. To governments through increases in tax payments

Raising productivity is not only the responsibility of the government but the responsibility of everyone. If we want to improve our quality of life, then each one of us, every worker, business industry and government must be committed to the same common goal.
Work is central to a person’s well-being because in addition to providing an income, it can lead the way to broader social advancement, economic growth, greater profitability, greater investment and better jobs – all of which help to strengthen individuals, their families and communities.

Contributed by the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development

» Back to Archive