Londoners among the least productive employees in the UK

Despite accounting for 21.9% of the UK’s economic output, London is home to some of the least productive employees in the UK, with employees in this region achieving only 22 out of a possible 50 in the Canada Life Group Insurance Productivity Index.London ranked a shared third from the bottom with Scotland. Only the North West and North East ranked lower and the South West ranked the highest with a score of 42 (out of 50).

One in seven Londoners (14%) admit to spending between 1 and 2 hours per day on non-work related websites during working hours, compared to 11% nationally.

Meanwhile, one in ten (10%) workers in London can only concentrate on a task for less than 30 minutes before getting bored or distracted.

Online distractions are also a huge drain on Londoners’ productivity. Almost two thirds (62%) of workers in London say that online distractions have negatively affected their concentration, versus 47% nationally. One in seven respondents in London (14%) say online distractions damage their concentration all the time (vs. 8% – UK).

Emails are similarly counterproductive, with 78% of respondents in London saying this has had a negative effect on their output at work compared to 64% nationally. As a result, a quarter of workers in London are unsatisfied with the amount of work they achieve each day and 4% admit they hardly get anything done and wish they were more motivated.

And what would be the main motivation to nurture more productive employees? Across the nation, 65% say higher salaries would be the biggest motivator. Flexible working hours (47% in London, 36% nationally) and working from home (33% in London, 28% nationally) are also high on the list.

Another significant barrier to productivity in London is workplace stress. Three quarters (75%) of workers in London say stress caused directly by their job has prevented them from being able to concentrate.

If you’re looking for ways to engage your employees to achieve greater productivity, get in touch with us to find out how we can help. One easy way to get started is by tracking your absence using a purpose-built software, like Engage, which allows you to analyse and spot trends. You’ll quickly see if stress is as widespread in your organisation as it is among London employees. It works the other way around, too,  so that if you implement an employee engagement programme, you’ll be able to watch your short term absence levels drop giving you real evidence of how just effective the initiative was.