new survey reveals workplace inefficiency

17th Aug 2006

A new study conducted for Sawfish Software by specialist polling company, ICM Research, has revealed that one in three workers in the UK believes that business productivity is undermined by poor-performing workers.

The research, commissioned by York-based customer relationship management (CRM) firm, Sawfish Software, also found employees’ felt their bosses should invest in new technology to identify underperformers in the workplace.

The survey revealed huge regional differences. In Scotland, one in four workers believed that they were sharing an office with a shirker, compared with almost one in three respondents in the North of England.

Females were more critical of their work colleagues, with 58 per cent believing they were not up to scratch. Only 35 per cent of males were critical of colleagues. A small proportion (seven per cent) could not make up their minds whether their colleagues were productive or not.

Sawfish’s survey comes on the back of the recent British Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Economic Forecast, which reviewed its 2007 GDP forecast down from 2.5 per cent to 2.4 per cent. The forecast said that on current form, the Government's aim of achieving a sustained improvement in productivity is unlikely to be realised in the next few years.

Steve Hull, managing director of Sawfish Software, said: "Our survey confirms the Chamber’s fears that workplace productivity is a serious problem. We cannot continue to be a nation of sloths if we are to compete with burgeoning Far East and US economies for global business.

"We need to address the productivity issue by utilising all resources available to us, including the very latest in technology.

"The BCC forecast signals a definite risk to the nation’s workplace productivity as a result of worsening public finances and higher interest rates. If the base rate increases to five per cent or higher, the negative implications for the UK economy would be very serious."

Steve, who founded Sawfish Software in 2004, has more than 25 years’ experience in the software and customer relationship management sectors. Previously he founded Online Group Holdings plc, which provides business operations solutions for the drinks industry, before selling it to Alphameric plc in 2000.

Sawfish’s primary technology, SalesFlow, is a business process management tool that is accessed via the internet. It provides users with real-time visibility across their business to see who is dealing with which customer and exactly what stage they are at.

Managers using SalesFlow can see a complete picture of the businesses activity and that of the employees managing it, allowing them to make informed decisions to ensure all opportunities are managed in the best way.