Work conditions main factor in drastic employee productivity fall
American workers are not producing as much in the hours between clocking in and clocking out each day.
As the pandemic hit, it only took a few weeks for nearly twenty million people to be laid off. Regardless of whether they had strong work ethics, good performance or long withstanding loyalty to a company, many companies simply could not afford to employ them.
The economic tides turned just months later, when all of the sudden companies became desperate to hire. Layoffs suddenly reached historic lows. Unfortunately, this came at the expense of the workforce itself. Existing employees were oftentimes worked to the point of burnout, newcomers with less experience were onboarded at higher wages and employers often overlooked mistakes that may have cost workers their jobs in the past. This year, productivity has seen the largest drop on record.
“NPR published an article last fall saying that yes, Americans are less productive – but not because of fewer working hours,” said Erin Lazarus, SHL’s Head of Solution Architects in the Americas.
“There are a myriad of factors, including quiet quitting, the great resignation, and continuous change and economic uncertainty causing fatigue and discouragement,” Lazarus said. The message – workers are “less productive within the time they are working.”
Productivity is a whopping 4.1% on an annualized basis, the biggest decline since the government began tracking the stat back in 1948. Since then, U.S. productivity had been on a steady upward slope. Until now.
Many workers are just starting out in a new role, and some are not fully up to speed. On the other side, organizations lacking their core institutional knowledge are trying to put the pieces back together. Both of these factors contribute directly to productivity.
Productivity is the fuel of our economy. If it continues to decline, the U.S. economy shrinks, quality of life goes down, opportunities dry up, and innovation and ideas go elsewhere.
Related: Work-from-anywhere arrangements impact productivity, burnout and trust
Data reveals the U.S. workforce is not as productive as it was a year ago. American workers are not producing as much in the hours between clocking in and clocking out each day, leading many economists to speculate this could have drastic effects on the financial wellbeing of our nation.