Low productivity in the digital age

Pennywise

Personally, I think inefficiency has a major role to play. Despite computers, iphones, etc., we, as a whole, seem to be far more inefficient these days. A couple of examples.

I've had no end of trouble with my landline over the past couple of months. We've had no fewer than seven BT/Openreach "engineers" out. All have said different things and done different things and left with an "all clear", "job closed" response. So that's seven different call-outs, costing someone quite a lot, for a problem that the first or second guy should have sorted first time. But instead, whether it's the engineers themselves who couldn't solve it, or whether it's the infrastructure, a lot of time and money has been wasted.

Potholes. Why do the council send two wagons and several men to fill a small single pothole, which takes an hour or two, as they have to put the signs out, get their equipment out, do the work, equipment away, signs away, and go to their next pothole, no doubt miles away. Then they come back a few days or weeks later to do another just a few feet away? Why not fill a few more potholes on the same street at the same time, meaning the signs, equipment don't need to be put away/taken out and saving all that travel time and cost?

These kinds of inefficiency, multiplied by thousands of times over the country and in other industries, must be costing the country billions in lost productivity.

economic

Pennywise wrote: »

Personally, I think inefficiency has a major role to play. Despite computers, iphones, etc., we, as a whole, seem to be far more inefficient these days. A couple of examples.

I've had no end of trouble with my landline over the past couple of months. We've had no fewer than seven BT/Openreach "engineers" out. All have said different things and done different things and left with an "all clear", "job closed" response. So that's seven different call-outs, costing someone quite a lot, for a problem that the first or second guy should have sorted first time. But instead, whether it's the engineers themselves who couldn't solve it, or whether it's the infrastructure, a lot of time and money has been wasted.

Potholes. Why do the council send two wagons and several men to fill a small single pothole, which takes an hour or two, as they have to put the signs out, get their equipment out, do the work, equipment away, signs away, and go to their next pothole, no doubt miles away. Then they come back a few days or weeks later to do another just a few feet away? Why not fill a few more potholes on the same street at the same time, meaning the signs, equipment don't need to be put away/taken out and saving all that travel time and cost?

These kinds of inefficiency, multiplied by thousands of times over the country and in other industries, must be costing the country billions in lost productivity.

Don't forget the countless hours people spend online at work for personal reasons such as fb, amazon, etc. Despite the time spent on this being part of the productive time. So the productivity numbers are probably understated by a fair bit and therefore also the growth numbers. We are seriously making too big an issue with productivity and its growth when in fact it is not nearly as bad as it looks.

What is the problem with having more "leisure" time? Its natural in a wealthier economy.

PasturesNew

economic wrote: »

Don't forget the countless hours people spend online at work for personal reasons such as fb, amazon, etc.

Really? That'd be a sacking offence in most jobs. I'd never do that at work.... there's work to do!

When I started work and we only had "proper telephones" you'd be dragged in front of the boss to explain/get told off if you took one personal phone call at work, during work time.

economic

PasturesNew wrote: »

Really? That'd be a sacking offence in most jobs. I'd never do that at work.... there's work to do!

When I started work and we only had "proper telephones" you'd be dragged in front of the boss to explain/get told off if you took one personal phone call at work, during work time.

Sounds like a horrible place to work. Kind of like modern age slave labour.

I would imagine most places are quite relaxed about it. As long as you do the work that is required i dont see the problem.

westernpromise

economic wrote: »

Sounds like a horrible place to work. Kind of like modern age slave labour.

I would imagine most places are quite relaxed about it. As long as you do the work that is required i dont see the problem.

Yep. Also very hard to sack anyone for it because you'd need to prove you'd sacked every other person who'd done the same, otherwise you're looking at unfair dismissal.

Personally I couldn't care less what way of working works for individuals. The single piece of work I did of which I am proudest was done over a couple of days when I was "working from home". I went to the gym, I played Aliens versus Predator on the PC, I cooked some meals for the freezer, and about 9pm I settled down to start work. I then had a brainwave, worked through till 5am and solved and wrote up the whole problem several of us had been working on.

This is because I'm most productive between 9 and 5, but unfortunately the wrong 9 and 5. I have been like this as long as I can remember - some people just are. It should be about the output not the input.

economic

westernpromise wrote: »

Yep. Also very hard to sack anyone for it because you'd need to prove you'd sacked every other person who'd done the same, otherwise you're looking at unfair dismissal.

Personally I couldn't care less what way of working works for individuals. The single piece of work I did of which I am proudest was done over a couple of days when I was "working from home". I went to the gym, I played Aliens versus Predator on the PC, I cooked some meals for the freezer, and about 9pm I settled down to start work. I then had a brainwave, worked through till 5am and solved and wrote up the whole problem several of us had been working on.

This is because I'm most productive between 9 and 5, but unfortunately the wrong 9 and 5. I have been like this as long as I can remember - some people just are. It should be about the output not the input.

Yeh for some reason i am also more productive in the evenings.

Lornapink

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Jamie Oliver has found this to his personal cost.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jamie-oliver-barbecoa-london-restaurants-shut-down-job-losses-millions-a8224676.html

I cant understand how some customers rate these places full of dishes prepared off-site and being waited on by spotty students. I find most chain experiences pretty poor. I'm kinda glad St Oliver is getting a bloody nose, lets have individual owner-occupant restaurants not these bland celeb cash-cows, well debt-cows these days.

Lornapink

Aren't we British a funny lot. Consider the following statements we habitually applaud;

+ I believe in a society with a better work / life balance
+ Life is so much better here (Spain, France, Italy), it's slower paced, people have proper lunch breaks, they get to see their kids grow-up and that's why I hope Ch4 can help us find a place in the sun

I'm starting to think we're all a bit bonkers. On one hand we go along with the above, in the next we're all bemoaning lazy workers, poor productivity.

Do we know our own minds? I have girlfriends that say 1 thing 1 day, another the next, all totally contradictory.

Lornapink

Ouch
'Jamie Oliver invested £3m of his own money last December to try and keep the chain going, but the latest figures reveal debts of over £71m'.

Thrugelmir

Lornapink wrote: »

+ Life is so much better here (Spain, France, Italy), it's slower paced, people have proper lunch breaks, they get to see their kids grow-up and that's why I hope Ch4 can help us find a place in the sun

The French take only 4 days what the UK does in 5. When at work people work harder. Simply spending time at work doesn't result in productive output. The best employers prefer their employees to have a good work/home balance.

Well Italy is a law unto it's self. The Spanish simply fleece tourists and fail to declare the income. .