Workforce Productivity Insights

❓What if higher wages are not a “cost” at all… but one of the smartest productivity investments a company can make? 🚀📈🧠 The science is more interesting than most boardrooms admit. Research across labor economics has long shown an efficiency wage effect: when people are paid better, firms often gain through stronger effort, lower shirking, better retention, and a higher-quality talent pool. The International Labour Organization also notes that better wages and benefits can reinforce productivity by improving motivation and work performance. (International Labour Organization) One of the most cited real-world studies found that shifting to stronger performance-linked pay increased productivity by roughly 20% to 36% in the firm studied. That is a powerful reminder that compensation is not only about fairness — it can directly shape output. (NBER) Here’s the strategic lesson for HR, leadership, AI-driven workforce analytics, and digital transformation teams: 🔍 Problem: underpaying people may save money on paper, while quietly reducing energy, ownership, and retention. ✅ Solution: build smarter compensation systems that reward contribution, signal trust, and align pay with performance. 🌟 Benefit: better motivation, better talent attraction, better productivity, and stronger long-term business resilience. (NBER) The future of work will not be won by companies that squeeze people the hardest. It will be won by companies that understand the science of motivation, incentives, and human value. 💼✨ What’s your perspective — are higher wages an expense, or a growth strategy? 🤔📊 Credits: 🌟 All write-up is done by me (P.S. Mahesh) after in-depth research. All rights for visuals belong to respective owners. 📚  

It’s a sobering picture for today’s manufacturing COOs...... Unfilled orders have surged to record levels..... job openings are declining...... and productivity remains stalled. All the while there's a real crisis unfolding as experience departs. ⚠️ 84 % of manufacturers say the loss of experienced personnel is hurting quality, efficiency, and productivity. Even worse - serious injuries and fatalities are soaring - hitting numbers we haven't seen in 20 years. Inflationary pressures and supply disruptions are squeezing margins, but the widening skills gap may be your biggest risk. 📈 As experienced workers retire or leave, your knowledge walks out the door. 📉 New, less experienced personnel struggle to keep pace, leading to increased safety incidents, stalled productivity, and missed orders. What can you do? ➡️ Capture critical expertise now— digitize work instructions, SOPs, and capture best practices at the corporate level with tools that make them all accessible at the point of work. ➡️ Upskill and reskill your frontline workforce rapidly with interactive training and AI‑driven guidance. ➡️ Empower your teams with real‑time data, collaboration tools, and decision support to improve safety and prevent errors. Finally, true productivity pathfinders look beyond the factory walls. They orchestrate supply networks to flexibly deliver a product portfolio that uniquely creates value for their customers. They invest in their people not just as labor but as the stewards of quality and innovation. LNS Research helps executives benchmark against peers, provides the latest insights to closing the skills gap, and develops a strategy that goes beyond resilient to sustainable. To Scale Connected Frontline Workforce Applications for continuous learning and decision intelligence, adopt Virtual Operations Center approach to break down silos, and embed an operating model so that local improvements cascade through the entire value chain to enhance safety, quality, competency, and productivity at all levels of the organization. 🔔 Follow Matthew Littlefield, Niels Erik Andersen, James Wells, Vivek Murugesan, and Michael Carroll for the latest to help you protect quality, productivity, and, most importantly, your people. #CFW #Manufacturing #Transformation #TheGreatGoodbye

Remote. Hybrid. RTO. Async. The headlines change, but the challenge remains: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? At Included, we’ve analyzed over two years of workforce data—spanning industries and operating models. The findings are clear: workplace strategies have deep, measurable impact on: → Leave of absence trends → Attrition risk and burnout signals → Productivity fluctuations → Performance by role and cohort → Overall organizational health One client’s hybrid model was unraveling mid-year—engagement dropped, burnout spiked. But because they were tracking 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬, they caught the signals early. Within weeks, they pivoted: ✔ Restructured teams ✔ Up-skilled managers with targeted coaching ✔ Recalibrated KPIs based on workflow insights By Q3, attrition was down 19%. Productivity rebounded. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲. It was AI-fueled visibility—and the willingness to act on it. In a world where the “future of work” changes monthly, static dashboards won’t cut it. Dynamic, adaptive insight is the only way forward. #chro #hr #datainsights #dataanalytics

C-suite leaders say people are their greatest asset. But if you’re not measuring the right people metrics, you’re flying blind on: What it’s costing you to lose top performers How long it takes new hires to add value Whether you’re building true inclusivity or just checking boxes If your talent strategy is evolving to match business needs HR must connect workforce data to enterprise outcomes. Not vanity metrics. Not siloed dashboards. The right metrics drive real decisions: ✅ Regrettable attrition signals where you're bleeding critical talent ✅ Time-to-productivity reveals whether onboarding is building capacity ✅ DEI depth uncovers whether your workforce reflects the world you're trying to serve ✅ Internal mobility rates show if you're developing or replacing your future leaders Let’s stop reporting for compliance—and start delivering insights that shape the business plan. HR data is not just HR’s job. It’s an executive asset. 👉 Follow Donovan Parish for more strategic HR and people analytics insights. #PeopleMetrics #HRLeadership #WorkforceStrategy #CLevelImpact #PeopleAnalytics #StrategicHR #CHRO #ExecutiveHR #BusinessOutcomes #TalentStrategy #DataDrivenHR

What is the impact of AI on productivity and jobs? I get this question everywhere I go, from people at every title and tenure: from early career professionals through the most senior executives. Today, we take a great leap forward in answering the question with the launch of PwC's 2025 AI Jobs Barometer: The Fearless Future. What a story it tells!   We looked at nearly one billion job ads and thousands of company financial reports across 24 countries on six continents. Since the explosion of Gen AI, industries most "exposed" to AI (i.e., they have the greatest potential to use it), have three times (3x) higher growth in revenue per employee. In contrast, productivity growth in industries where deploying AI is more difficult ... it has flatlined. Every day, I hear insights and experiences about how AI is changing the way we work. The AI Jobs Barometer builds on these observations, providing the evidence in support of those experiences: it doesn't just feel like AI is revolutionizing the workplace, it actually is. In every one of the 80+ sectors we studied, the use of AI was increasing. And while there is reorganization and disruption, the data tells us that jobs are not disappearing, they're growing, with job growth happening across all sectors including those with the most exposure to AI. And upskilling in the Age of AI may feel more challenging given the pace, but it's paying off. Workers with AI skills are more sought after than ever, and they command significant wage premiums across sectors and geographies. Enterprises are working to move as quickly as the tech is advancing, with AI as a value play: not just powerful use cases, but true enterprise level integration and transformation. Remarkably, this is just the beginning, as agents have emerged as our transformative workforce of the future, combining the insights of AI with the action of agents. As they say, "this is a developing story," but our AI Jobs Barometer tells a story of growth and opportunity. This is the second year for the AI Jobs Barometer, and it's a privilege and pleasure to sponsor it with our Global Workforce Leader, Peter Brown MBE. Unlocking the value of AI is, of course, about driving the technology agenda. But it's also about how we as leaders rise to the challenge: How to drive the changes in working practices and culture that will multiply AI's value - not just for organizations, but for our people too. A huge thanks to Sarah Brown and the entire team for doing the hard work to bring this perspective to our clients and the market.   Take a look at the findings, and let me know what you think: https://pwc.to/3YTkyPa  Matt Wood | Scott Likens | Umang Paw | Rusbeh Hashemian | Bivek Sharma | Dan Priest | Matt Labovich | Bret Greenstein | Vishy Narayanan | Jennifer Kosar | Ilana Golbin Blumenfeld | Shivani Tailor | Carolina Saludes | Lauren Doherty | Luke Warwick | Paloma Lee | Dr. Charley Sehyo Choe | Daghan Or | Marc Borggreven | Keisha Roderick

Today we released the fifth annual Microsoft #WorkTrendIndex, which includes insights drawn from a survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries, labor and hiring trends on LinkedIn, and trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals.   It also includes an apparent paradox: One the one hand, 53% of business leaders say productivity must increase for their organizations to meet their goals. On the other, 80% of employees say they don’t have enough time or energy to get their work done. And you just can’t squeeze more out of an already maxed-out workforce.   To resolve this paradox, the trend is to “buy intelligence on tap.” The WTI shows 82% of leaders expect to use AI “digital labor” to augment their workforce in the next year. The trick to doing this right will be redesigning workflows so that digital labor amplifies what people can accomplish. The paradox is that everyone feels they have to work harder to keep up, but working harder has human limits. Working smarter with AI – that scales almost infinitely. https://lnkd.in/gfnZThii

Hot off the press. In a soft labor market - do internal talent marketplaces still matter? Sharing the findings of a recent study featured by Harvard Business Review Jan 2026: 💡 When managers assigned work based on business needs, productivity was 33% higher than random placement. 💡 When employees chose their own roles, productivity barely increased (~5%), but people valued those roles 38% more. 💡 About 90% of the skills employees pursued in internal marketplaces weren’t company-specific, making them more marketable elsewhere. Conclusion? ✅ Happier doesn’t always mean more productive (at least short term). Giving employees full choice boosts engagement, but often leads to weaker skill-to-role fit. ✅ Better information changes outcomes. Clear expectations, honest feedback on strengths, and smart incentives help employees make choices that work for them and the business. ✅ The sweet spot is a hybrid approach. Let employees express preferences, but keep managers in the loop to protect productivity and spread top talent where it’s needed most. Bottom line: it's about autonomy and direction. An employee-led talent-matching system made sense during the Great Resignation of 2021–2023, because companies wanted to maximize employee happiness to retain workers. But today, with a weaker labor market and a greater focus on efficiency, companies should consider giving managers more say in assignments in order to optimize productivity. With my clients, I emphasize the marketplace gives insight to leaders and HR which skills are available in the current workforce (insights) and where to best leverage those skills (enhanced mobility and productivity), and how to close the identified skills gaps. Let 2026 be the year we better leverage our internal capabilities! Article in comments below ⬇️ #skills #HRB #marketplace

Employee discontent is rising. Recent data shows people are feeling high levels of stress, disconnected, and less engaged, yet they're staying in their roles because leaving feels risky. As we start the year, it’s a timely reminder to prioritize re-engaging your workforce to drive purpose, collaboration, and most importantly, productivity. Leaders can make a difference by: • Identifying and removing everyday obstacles that make work harder than it should be (bottlenecks, slow approvals, excessive meetings, etc.) • Cultivating strong teams (one of the biggest drivers of job satisfaction) by discussing career goals, enabling collaboration, creating connection and camaraderie, and volunteering to drive shared purpose. • Normalizing and encouraging utilization of mental health and wellness resources so employees feel supported.  •Recognizing contributions whenever the moment presents itself (a team member steps up to help a colleague/ take the lead on a challenging project). • Creating low-cost or no-cost development opportunities like mentoring, stretch assignments or job shadowing, even in an uncertain economy •Ensuring employees understand the value of their total compensation package, including benefits they might be undervaluing. https://lnkd.in/g2Hz6gMM

Think like a CPO - and know your insights. The difference between a good HR practitioner and a Strategic HR Leader is a knowledge of HR metrics and their impact on the business. Here are the ones you should know: Employee Turnover Rate 🏃 - Keeping track of how many employees leave and why provides a traffic light for your organisational health. Reduce the rate by fostering positive work environments and addressing underlying issues. Time to Fill ⏳ - The longer your vacancies are open, the more it impacts the productivity of the organisation, as well as providing a clear indicator on the strength of your employee value proposition. If people don't want to work for you, that's a problem. Employee Engagement 📊 - Seems simple, and that's because it is. It's a direct reflection of your culture and ability to listen to feedback. Higher engagement = higher productivity and retention. Training and Development 📚 - Measure the effectiveness of your training programs, are your employees gaining the skills they need to grow? Diversity and Inclusion Metrics 🌍 - for this to work, you need to first understand the value of D&I. A diverse workforce drives innovation and productivity. It's proven that the more diversity in a team, the better the outcomes. Measuring your D&I metrics should provide insight into the strength of your opportunity. Absenteeism Rate 🏥 - Sick leave is not just sick leave. Employees have differing thresholds for their leave utilisation, and it will fluctuate throughout the year. Of course, your absenteeism carries a hidden message - how are your team feeling at work? Are they feeling resilient? Performance and Productivity 💪 - Robust performance and productivity metrics are more than your 1-5 rating scales. Dig deeper, have real coaching metrics and discussions, and watch the performance escalate across the organisation. Think like a CPO - know what's happening with your employees and use your data to show it. What are your most important metrics? #HRMetrics #EmployeeEngagement #Leadership #HRInnovation #WorkplaceCulture #TalentManagement