The UK’s productivity gap: is technology the answer?

When I started work in the 1990s the fax machine was relatively novel, the arrival of the post was still a big deal and we had not even heard of emails.The most messages staff tended to receive was an occasional company memo in an internal envelope. Looking back I’ll never forget the stress of waiting anxiously for a lead new story photo to arrive in the second post in time for a press deadline.

Today messages and images fly around the world in nano seconds. Working life has been transformed.

Simple technologies make a major difference

New technologies have made us more productive and given us better lives in so many ways. For example, the bicycle has been shown to reduce poverty in poor families by as much as 35% during pilot experiments in Africa and Asia. With those two wheels people can travel further to get to jobs, or to sell produce in markets for example.

While in 2009 the Vatican declared the washing machine as doing more to emancipate women than anything else in the 20^th century. Though the comment sparked controversy, the point remains that when people aren’t tied to spending a full day a week doing the laundry they can do other things that can be more life enhancing.

Has benefits technology made a big difference?

We have seen employee benefits offerings transformed because of the use of technology – especially in how many employees now have access to benefits. In the early 1980s when flexible benefits were first seen in the UK, they were cutting edge and novel. Now the variety of platforms available allows even the smallest of employers to offer flexibility in benefits choices – be they employer- or employee-paid. Often the term ‘flexible benefits’ is not even relevant anymore; it is simply the way benefits are accessed by staff.

But has this change made reward and benefits managers any more productive at their organisations? In fact, does technology necessarily make employees more productive?

Is it life enhancing?

If I think back to how my working life has changed with the advent of email, it is mostly hugely positive. But the biggest downside is that we no longer have time to stop and think while we wait for the post. When do we get the headspace technology promised us to be creative or think strategically?

So overall, while technology can be good, it is only truly productive if we fully master it to enhance our lives. Not the other way around.

I think we can lose sight of that.

The topic of enhanced technology and improved productivity will be addressed during the REBA Innovation Day programme on 22 November. Take a look at the programme and book yourself a place

Debi O'Donovan is a director of the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA)