I think productivity is very hard to increase with economic tools. But I also think productivity is very easy to increase. My productivity increased massively by changes precipitated by covid.
Not only did I save 3 hours travelling each week. Not only did I get an environment for uninterrupted work for significant periods during the week. I also got vastly better tools to work with colleagues in other geographies.
There have been many other massive increases in my productivity over the last decade, none of which were about technology, or capital investment, and all or which were about breaking down institutional barriers to productive work.
Now managers are trying to decrease productivity again with back to the office mandates etc., even where objective measure of output have increased massively. The discussion is not about how to leverage the potential increased productivity made possible by saving transport time etc. The discussion is about how to make workers do what managers want, whether it makes sense or not.
It is sometimes discussed how teachers spend many hours, beyond face to face time, satisfying the demands of managers trying to control them. This is about reducing productivity, so that managers can have more power over workers.
One don't want to claim there is only one way to increase productivity. I think there are vast numbers of effective and simple ways to increase productivity. But giving agency and control to workers is one theme here.
I think productivity is very hard to increase with economic tools. But I also think productivity is very easy to increase. My productivity increased massively by changes precipitated by covid.
Not only did I save 3 hours travelling each week. Not only did I get an environment for uninterrupted work for significant periods during the week. I also got vastly better tools to work with colleagues in other geographies.
There have been many other massive increases in my productivity over the last decade, none of which were about technology, or capital investment, and all or which were about breaking down institutional barriers to productive work.
Now managers are trying to decrease productivity again with back to the office mandates etc., even where objective measure of output have increased massively. The discussion is not about how to leverage the potential increased productivity made possible by saving transport time etc. The discussion is about how to make workers do what managers want, whether it makes sense or not.
It is sometimes discussed how teachers spend many hours, beyond face to face time, satisfying the demands of managers trying to control them. This is about reducing productivity, so that managers can have more power over workers.
One don't want to claim there is only one way to increase productivity. I think there are vast numbers of effective and simple ways to increase productivity. But giving agency and control to workers is one theme here.