The government must rethink its approach to workplace efficiency if it is to allow the UK to close the productivity gap with other countries, warns the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

The UK still lags behind France, Germany and the US in terms of productivity, according to figures due to be published this Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Dr John Philpott, Chief Economist at the CIPD, says workplace management is the key to efficiency.

“The underlying problem, mostly overlooked by government policy, is that the vast majority of UK organisations still don’t make a good enough fist of managing the productive resources they do have, especially their people.”

Philpott calls for the government to focus more closely on employment practices and work-related training, as well as putting a “sensible limit” on working hours to improve productivity by the hour.

“Coming after a year when UK productivity growth plummeted to ground zero the latest international comparisons will be disappointing for a Chancellor who for almost a decade has put considerable effort into closing the productivity gap.”

The CIPD expects Gordon Brown to use these figures as part of an initiative to improve productivity in the UK economy.