The solutions put forward to raise workforce productivity typically involve expensive capital investment. But the typical workforce’s accessible, untapped productivity reserve is between 15% (according to our sources below) and 40% (according to Proudfoot). The quickest and most obvious way to raise output per person is to improve operational management.

Regulations such as the Working Time Directive and the recent Employment Act  may give the impression that HR policies reduce management discretion and operational flexibility. Good HR policies are the reverse of this. Human resourcing strategies can provide structured, flexible working contracts that match resources to demand, virtually eliminate overtime and the long hours culture, enhance work-life balance and reduce turnover and absenteeism.

This paper contains two distinct case studies that show how this can be done.

The first case study describes how accounting services were transformed in both efficiency and quality in the BBC. We are grateful to Keith Cannon, General Manager of Media Accounting Services, and Richard Jeffery, a Partner in the Organisation Consulting Partnership, for the story of how this was achieved. 

The second case study looks at the introduction of flexible working at Arla Foods (recently given MMC permission to take-over Express Dairies). Richard Felton, HR Manager at Arla Foods (previously their Operations Manager) and Ken Beaumont, Principal Consultant, Smart Human Logistics plc’s Consulting Division, provided fascinating insights into the changes of working time culture that brought remarkable benefits to both employees and the business.

Both cases reveal that very impressive improvements in productivity, profitability, and customer and employee satisfaction can be released through better operational management at very little cost. They also reveal the benefits of focusing HR Strategy directly on operational business requirements.