CMI response to new ONS figures on Management

Niamh Mulholland, Executive Director of External Affairs at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), comments on the ONS figures around management practices and productivity and management practices and home working findings during said:

The latest figures out from ONS today highlight how better managed firms are critical to building a stronger, more resilient economy as the UK emerges from lockdown. The data shows that during the pandemic, we have seen how better-managed businesses show greater versatility and adaptability. They have been more likely to adopt home working and shift to online sales faster than their poorly managed counterparts and also retain their productivity advantage.

The latest data has also shown that poorly performing firms can improve their productivity by applying better management practice. Positively, since 2016, we have seen that businesses have adopted continuous improvement and targets, however more businesses need to look at making use of KPIs to improve their management practice and to help boost their productivity. This latest research highlights that management and leadership skills are key to tackling the twin challenges of low productivity and reorganising the economy. We believe that the Government’s ‘Help to Grow: Management’ scheme and the ‘Lifetime Skills Guarantee’ represent positive steps towards addressing this under-investment.