Australia\u2019s productivity decline is the result of \u201centrepreneurial complacency\u201d, according to a new report, which highlights the need for government to support innovation among businesses.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The report, titled Understanding Australia\u2019s Productivity Choice<\/i>, was compiled by the McKell Institute in conjunction with the University of Technology, Sydney.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The report examines the slowdown in Australia\u2019s productivity, and provides a number of recommendations aimed at boosting productivity growth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the reasons for the decline in productivity, the report suggests, is \u201centrepreneurial complacency\u201d, partly due to rising terms of trade.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, innovative businesses are twice as likely to report increased productivity compared with businesses that don\u2019t innovate, highlighting the need to boost innovation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGovernment has an important role in providing a policy framework for innovation,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe policy environment should encourage new business models and new firm entry without the \u2018excessive competition\u2019 that can lead to fragmentation of industry sectors and supply chains.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGlobal competitive advantage will be enhanced by innovation clusters and precincts.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The report comes on the back of the latest Ernst & Young Australian Productivity Pulse, which found the level of productivity in workplaces has lifted the \u201cnational productivity range\u201d from 7.25 to 7.58 in the past six months.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Productivity Pulse is based on a survey of more than 2,100 employees spanning seven industries, and from all levels within organisations across both the private and public sectors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nearly two in five (38%) of the workers surveyed reported an increase in their productivity compared to six months ago.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re producing more from the same amount of hours worked,\u201d Ernst & Young Oceania advisory leader Neil Plumridge said in a statement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhile it mightn\u2019t sound like a lot, this is indeed a significant change in a short period given we\u2019ve been operating in a declining productivity environment for the past decade or so.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAn extra 15 minutes of productive time day every day at work can mean a great deal to individuals as well as the organisations they work for.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The report identifies the key characteristics of four types of workers:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Workers in this \u201chighly productive\u201d group are most likely to be satisfied with their jobs and are highly motivated. They believe their skills are well utilised.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Personal productivity is extremely important to them. Only 9% of their day is wasted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While productive, this group wastes 15% of their day and more time than average on IT issues, social media, and sending and replying to emails.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They are also almost twice as likely as super achievers to spend time doing manually what could have been <\/b>automated.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This \u201cless than productive\u201d group is characterised by inertia and is responsible for most of Australia\u2019s workplace wastage, wasting 16% of their day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite consisting of Australia\u2019s least satisfied or motivated workers, patchy participants are also the least likely to be planning to leave their organisation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This group wastes 21% of the working day. They are also the least likely to have flexible working conditions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While 42% have not taken sick leave, 3% of this group has taken three months <\/b>or more off due to sick leave. One in four is planning to leave their <\/b>organisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Australia\u2019s productivity decline is the result of \u201centrepreneurial complacency\u201d, according to a new report, which highlights the need for government<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Super achievers (32% of workforce)<\/h3>\n
2. Solid contributors (49% of the workforce)<\/h3>\n
3. Patchy participants (14% of the workforce)<\/h3>\n
4. Lost souls (5% of the workforce)<\/h3>\n