Productivity Blog

via The Kansas City Star By DIANE STAFFORD Nancy Hart Kline, counselor at Leawood Middle School, sent letters to 63 companies and professional associations, asking them to participate in an educational career fair at the school. She heard back with a “yes” from two. One of them was her own Blue Valley School District. Deborah Goodall, interim president of the Metropolitan Community College-Business & Technology Campus, hoped to have a … Continue reading →

Via Radio New Zealand News New Zealand’s productivity record is showing signs of turning around, but experts say more needs to be done to bridge the gap with other countries. New figures show productivity – a measure of a country’s resource utilisation – improved by 0.9% in the year to last March. The Council of Trade Unions says big improvements are needed to bridge the wage gap with Australia. It … Continue reading →

Via Reuters Reporting by Louise Egan; Editing by Theodore d’Afflisio OTTAWA – The labor productivity of Canadian businesses slid a sharper-than-expected 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, leading to the first annual decline in productivity since 1996, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday. The gross domestic product of the business sector shrank 1.3 percent in the quarter while the number of hours worked dipped just 0.8 percent, Statscan said. … Continue reading →

Via The Economist Growth in global productivity, measured as output per person in work, fell to 2.2% in 2008, according to the Conference Board, a business-research firm. It expects labour-productivity growth to drop to just 1.4% this year. The most dramatic declines are likely to be in rich countries. Labour productivity is expected to stagnate in America, following growth of 1.6% last year. Productivity in Japan is set to decline … Continue reading →

THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson The latest fad in motivation is the Law of Attraction or more popularly The Secret after the motion picture and book by Rhonda Byrne. The idea being that if you use the power of The Secret you will attract health, wealth and friends to you in abundance. The Secret takes an old idea and repackages it for our today’s society. The core idea is … Continue reading →

Via The Wall Street Journal By ANDREA THOMAS BERLIN — German manufacturing orders fell for the fifth straight month in January as demand crumbled, especially in countries outside the euro zone, data released by the economics ministry showed. Orders dropped a seasonally adjusted 8% from December, turning the slump, which began in September, into “the deepest five-month fall since Germany’s reunification,” a ministry spokeswoman said. Compared with a year earlier, … Continue reading →

Via Multichannel Merchant by Kathryn E. Jackson Ph.D. Many people speak of quality measurement and excellence in the contact center. But few attack the topic of productivity measurement. Even fewer people want to discuss how to measure an agent’s productivity. I’ll admit, it can be a dangerous road to travel – a road full of potholes. But maneuvering this road with excellence is simply a matter of balance and optimization. … Continue reading →

Via Industry Week By Gregg Gordon Unprecedented economic challenges are driving manufacturers to find new ways to cut costs and boost productivity. Many have already taken steps to identify inefficiencies and improve supply chain, design and production processes. Unfortunately these changes are not always enough. Because labor often represents a manufacturer’s most significant controllable expense, a big opportunity for reducing operating costs and increasing productivity lies in more effective workforce … Continue reading →

Via FARMONLINE by Matt Cawood It was hard to find a speaker at Outlook 2009 who didn’t mention productivity. Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke opened the batting, observing that productivity improvements will be a crucial factor in agriculture’s response to the three great global crises: the financial meltdown, food shortages and climate change. ABARE director Philip Glyde agreed, arguing for more effective research and development supporting a more efficient farming … Continue reading →

Via The Wall Street Journal by Ilona Billington & Emese Bartha Europe’s three biggest economies started the year with early signs of a steepening slump. Industrial production crumbled during the first month of the year in France and the U.K. But many economists focused on the sharp drop in Germany’s exports as spelling trouble for the region’s biggest economy. With Europe’s big manufacturers and exporters starting the year badly, hopes … Continue reading →