Launch of Workplace Productivity Toolkit
3 April 2006
Speech Notes
Rau rangatira maa,
tenei te mihi ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te ra.
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.
[Distinguished guests, greetings to you gathered here for this purpose today. Greetings once, twice, three times to you all.]
Welcome to this significant milestone in the Workplace Productivity project. Tonight we are here to celebrate the progress that has been made to date and to launch a new productivity tool.
This user-friendly ‘starter’ resource has been developed for the owners, employers and team leaders of small-to-medium businesses. It is designed to get managers thinking about all the ways they can make improvements to their business. The ‘starter’ kit will shortly be distributed at seminars throughout the country.
This new productivity tool and the other toolbox resources are part of the Government’s Workplace Productivity project, which has been underway since 2004. Since that time, the Government’s key objective has been to raise New Zealanders’ standard of living to the top half of the OECD. This is what puts money in people’s pockets and delivers the social services we all value.
OECD research tells us that if we want New Zealanders to enjoy a higher standard of living, we must achieve higher workplace productivity.
By higher workplace productivity I mean working in smarter ways, not working longer hours. While our economy has flourished in recent years – with economic growth averaging almost 4 percent per annum – a lot of our success has been built on more hours being worked, instead of achieving higher productivity.
In the long run, however, economic growth has to come from lifting productivity. Our level of productivity has risen but it is still lower than the OECD average.
This is something which must be addressed. We need to focus on the many factors that influence how well people work – factors such as their skills and training, their pay, the amount of investment in the tools and technology they have to work with, and how a business itself is organised. All of these factors impact directly on workplace productivity.
Lifting productivity is now the central challenge for generating long-term sustainable economic growth, and returning New Zealand ’s economic output to the top half of the OECD. This objective has very strong support from employers, unions and industries.
We need to lift the value and productivity of work right across the economy – in export sectors and throughout the domestic economy including service areas such as health, education and the operation of government.
Productivity is an issue for every workplace. There was a time when the word ‘productivity’ was seen by workers as code for cost-cutting. But workplace productivity is not about cost-cutting.
For businesses, it’s about increasing value, competitiveness and profitability; for workers, it’s about the viability and quality of their workplaces and the chance for better wages and career prospects.
As a country we must create the sort of workplaces where more New Zealanders can participate and feel encouraged to make their contribution. We need to create workplaces where people want to work and can see a future for themselves. There are some major challenges for all of us in achieving this.
For example, we urgently need to address the low levels of literacy and numeracy skills in our workforce. International research indicates that around 300,0000 New Zealanders in the workforce have very low numeracy and literacy skills. A further 600,000 have literacy and numeracy skills that are inadequate for a knowledge society. Lifting these skills is a critical foundation for building a more highly skilled and productive workforce. It’s important that employers take ownership of this issue and work with government to address it.
There is another trend that will be important in creating the productive workplaces of the future. Many Kiwis are now looking at ways of achieving a better balance between work and the rest of their lives. So creating workplace cultures where people can achieve this balance will be an important factor in recruitment and retention.
Today is a chance to recognise some businesses that have shown fresh thinking and introduced a range of innovative ideas. They are putting the theory and research about workplace productivity into practice.
The bottom line is that these workplaces have become more productive. They have created greater wealth, success and opportunities that are now benefiting everyone associated with the business – employees, managers and customers. Workplace productivity is a win-win situation.
This fundamental insight is leading to new levels of collaboration and cooperation across the business sector. At a national level we have the Workplace Productivity Reference Group comprising representatives from Business New Zealand, New Zealand Chambers of Commerce, other business representatives and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. I want to commend these groups for the strong partnerships they have forged and the results they have achieved to date.
At an enterprise level, increased productivity has been characterised by a shared vision between management and workers and high levels of staff engagement and consultation. I have no doubt that effective collaboration lies at the heart of the success stories you will hear about today.
Meaningful business transformation requires a genuine sense of partnership between business, employer and union groups. Collaboration isn’t just a hallmark of change. It’s the key to change. In a productive workplace, everyone’s role is valued and all staff are encouraged to contribute. Little is possible without tapping the talent and enthusiasm of employees. It’s about creating a culture that doesn’t depend on the boss being around.
On a practical, day-to-day level, workplace productivity involves exploring all the ways that a business can do things better and smarter. This means being open to new ideas and working out how new products, services, technologies and work practices can move a business forward. There’s also a willingness at all levels of the business to keep learning and investing in people’s skills.
Of course the answers are not always straightforward. Every business is different. There is no simple one-size-fits-all solution, or set of rules for succeeding in business. Improving the productivity of a business requires a pooling of ideas within that business. It requires careful analysis and discussion.
So how does a business get started on this road? As we all know the first step of any journey is often the hardest.
That’s why I am delighted to launch today the Workplace Productivity Snapshot Tool which will encourage many New Zealand businesses to take a much closer look at their business.
This self-assessment tool has been designed and tested with small and medium-sized businesses in mind. They are the powerhouse or our economy. They make up 95 percent of all businesses in New Zealand and contribute about 40 percent of our total output. They have also created about 60 percent of the new jobs since 2000.
So helping small and medium-sized businesses to become more productive means helping New Zealand to become more productive.
We know it’s often difficult for workplaces to take time out to address productivity issues. They are focused on their core business and their time is precious. The Government is mindful of this reality and that’s why it is developing a range of resources that are easy to use and well-suited to the demands of small business.
The pack you will receive today contains a wealth of information about how businesses can work in smarter ways, not harder.
The Workplace Productivity Snapshot is a tool to get managers thinking about the issues that really matter to the growth of their business.
The questionnaire takes just 15 to 20 minutes to complete and yet the information it delivers has the potential to transform a business. It will help people identify their firm’s strengths and weaknesses in seven key areas and define the areas that need attention.
If no two businesses are the same, it follows that the answers must come from within the business itself. There is no substitute for a business taking an honest look at itself so it can come up with solutions that are uniquely tailored to its own circumstances.
Local and international research has found that there are seven key drivers that can improve the productivity of any business. They are:
- Building leadership and management. Research shows leadership needs to be developed at every level of an organisation, not just amongst managers.
- Creating a productive work culture. Positive relationships between staff, teams and managers are the foundation of improving workplace productivity.
- Encouraging innovation and the use of technology. Productive workplaces are innovative in the way they use technology. They are open to new ideas and ways of doing things.
- Investing in people and skills. The skills and knowledge of people are a company’s biggest asset. To put it simply what people know and can do is the difference between success and failure. Our workplaces therefore need to be places of learning, not just working.
- Organising work. Productive workplaces have structures, systems and processes that are well-organised and adaptable.
- Networking and collaboration . Productive workplaces keep abreast of new ideas and technologies and network regularly with others.
- Measuring what matters . Productive workplaces understand and measure the things that make the biggest difference to their business, whether it’s customer satisfaction, employee morale or feedback from suppliers. These indicators make it easy for everyone to share goals and work towards them.
I believe this productivity tool is a great starting point to get businesses thinking about these issues.
The Workplace Productivity team has also developed a range of case studies – in print and CD form – which show how some New Zealand businesses are dramatically raising their productivity. These stories are impressive examples of what is possible.
Meanwhile in Hastings, furniture manufacturer, Furnware, invested in extensive research to come up with a radically new take on school furniture. This is a story of wonderful innovation and a firm that went to great lengths to really understand its market and produce high quality ergonomic goods. Productivity at Furnware has increased tenfold and they are world leaders in school furniture research.
Electrical engineering company, Coll Electrical, faced a challenge common to many New Zealand businesses. It was expanding rapidly and needed to develop a highly skilled workforce to cope. To attract and retain the right staff, it created a positive and inclusive work culture, where leadership was encouraged at all levels and staff were given more responsibility, training and rewards.
The result has been substantial growth for the business in terms of profit, turnover and staff numbers.
Meanwhile in Kawerau, a National Centre of Maintenance Excellence, MaintainNZ, has been established to lift manufacturing productivity levels across New Zealand ’s major industries. This highly successful initiative is providing best-practice training in maintenance and reliability engineering. It is backed by Norske Skog, Fonterra, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, NZ Trade and Enterprise and the Auckland University of Technology.
Finally there is the remarkable turn-around achieved by Outward Bound, the adventure-based learning and development provider located in the Marlborough Sounds. A more inclusive workplace culture, a flatter management structure and a big emphasis on training has empowered staff at all levels of the organisation. This new approach has re-energised the organisation with a fresh sense of unity and purpose. The lessons they have learnt are applicable to all small to medium businesses. You will hear more about this award-winning organisation from CEO, Trevor Taylor, a little later on.
But first let’s have a brief look at some of these forward-looking companies in action and the ideas and energy that drive them. These are New Zealand stories, New Zealand companies with distinctively Kiwi work cultures. They are each applying the principles of workplace productivity in their own unique environments, and they are succeeding.
Video presentation featuring people from business case studies.
I would like to applaud the efforts of companies such as these and thank them for sharing their stories with us and the wider business community. Their stories are told in much greater detail in the pack you are receiving tonight.
Our challenge now is to raise awareness about the importance of workplace productivity initiatives. Sharing stories like those I’ve just described is a great place to start. It’s time to mobilise New Zealand business so these ideas and practices spread as widely as possible and as quickly as possible.
The good news is we are well on the way. Since September last year 2 thousand companies have attended workplace productivity seminars run by Business NZ, the Chambers of Commerce, CTU and EPMU. An intensive programme of seminars is planned over the next 3 months to demonstrate the productivity toolbox.
We have also established a website with lots of useful information about workplace productivity here and overseas. Since it went live it has received nearly 40 thousand hits and 14 thousand pieces of information have been downloaded. If you visit the site you’ll also find links to the Reference Group partners’ websites and to other organisations that can help.
We have also been collecting information and developing a knowledge base about employer and employee awareness of workplace productivity issues. This survey will be repeated in future to measure changing levels of awareness. The first survey results are due shortly. Researching and evaluating what works and what doesn’t is an ongoing challenge for all those involved in this project.
I would now like to hand you over to Trevor Taylor, the Chief Executive at Outward Bound. Outward Bound adopted a number of workplace productivity practices to overcome financial difficulties, improve its organisational culture and invest in staff skill development.
It gained recognition in February when, out of 200 companies, it won the Best Place to Work and Best Small Workplace in the ‘Unlimited Best Places to Work’ awards 2005.
Ladies and gentlemen: Trevor Taylor.
Thank you.