Analytics to measure Productivity

To pick up on Ray's point about an engagometer that works, my favourite instrument is the Gallop 12. There are so many on the market that claim to measure engagement but many are not rooted in solid research. Natasha, I agree with the previous comments that you if you measure productivity you aren't necessarily also measuring engagement. Using the Gallop 12 would give you reliable data you can use to focus on activity which will build engagement. Marcus Buckingham's book, First Break All The Rules is, IMO, essential reading for HR professionals.

Back on galley slaves, if you are ever in Barcelona, visit the Maritime Museum. They have a life-size galley and information on the economics of operating a galley. The slaves are your engine and you need them to be working at peak efficiency, which means e.g. carrying enough water to keep them all hydrated. Also, the museum building itself is interesting. It is the medieval building where they built galleys. If you're interested in history or architecture there are plenty of medieval churches surviving and some medieval houses, but not so many examples of medieval industrial buildings.

About measuring productivity, just might be worth adding tthe  point that in engineering design, yes as was mentioned that design hours booked to paying client jobs is a common measure of commercial productivity but design hours booked to bids and proposals etc is ‘productivity’ just the same too. Some non productive hours such as staff absences are clear enough, but the trouble is of course that a lot of other non productive time gets booked out to current jobs by default. For example, a designer will invariably book a full day of their time to their current job whereas in reality they may only have spent a fraction of the time booked actually designing and the rest chatting to their colleagues or on Facebook or whatever.

So time booked out to clients is often a most unreliable measure albeit that it can be the best one you’ve got.

This becomes very apparent when there’s a shortage of work - there may well be an ‘idle time’ category to book against but if they get the chance most people won’t want to admit that they’re sitting around with nothing to do so will book this idle time to any other job they can mange to do so. Therefore  design hours on jobs during slack periods can become hugely inflated and works of fiction essentially.

An experienced person wandering quietly through a design office ideally frequently can usually readily gauge how hard or otherwise the designers are working, but not of course empirically.

PS

On the galley slaves topic, in an engineering design environment, I well recall lighthearted discussions with workplace union reps when they’d start accusing me of being harsh or callous or dictatorial towards their colleagues, when I’d say something like ‘just wait until after Christmas when the Management are going to buy me a bigger and better whip to use on you all......’

But of course we all knew that everything was in reality far far more complicated than that fantasy...........

PS

On the galley slaves topic, in an engineering design environment, I well recall lighthearted discussions with workplace union reps when they’d start accusing me of being harsh or callous or dictatorial towards their colleagues, when I’d say something like ‘just wait until after Christmas when the Management are going to buy me a bigger and better whip to use on you all......’

But of course we all knew that everything was in reality far far more complicated than that fantasy...........