Latest / Best of Business / Kerre Woodham: Productivity and the great Christmas shutdown

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Kerre Woodham: Productivity and the great Christmas shutdown · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News talkst be follow
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  Speaker 2: This morning, I'm going to pretty much let Toss Grumley
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  Speaker 2: do the opener for me. Who's Toss Grumley? Well. Toss
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  Speaker 2: is a New Zealand business advisor and investor, and this
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  Speaker 2: morning The Post has run an editorial he wrote bemoaning
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  Speaker 2: the Christmas shutdown. In it, he said New Zealand's Christmas
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  Speaker 2: break has started to become way too extreme and it's
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  Speaker 2: impacting our productivity on an individual business level and at
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  Speaker 2: the level of the economy. The summer break, he says,
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  Speaker 2: seems to be extending, leaving less room for leave later
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  Speaker 2: in the year. But the most concerning part is the
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  Speaker 2: circle back mid February mentality, which means that while many
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  Speaker 2: are at work, they aren't doing much productive work. And
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  Speaker 2: the mentality of circle backfab seems to start late November
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  Speaker 2: or really decend. He says. Having ten weeks of no
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  Speaker 2: productive conversation simply isn't good for business. He points out
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  Speaker 2: our productivity it has grown at around one point two
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  Speaker 2: percent per year since nineteen ninety six, while Australia's has
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  Speaker 2: grown at around one point eight percent, and we're getting
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  Speaker 2: left behind. We need to work longer as we're producing less.
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  Speaker 2: We are thirty to forty percent below top performers like
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  Speaker 2: the US, Norway and Ireland. He also points out that
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  Speaker 2: March and April other peak months for business areas. This,
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  Speaker 2: he says, is not by chance. It's driven by business
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  Speaker 2: habits over December and January. Additionally, our GDP quarterlyvotility volatility
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  Speaker 2: is in the top third of the OECD. Again, he says,
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  Speaker 2: this is the Christmas season for retail. We have a
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  Speaker 2: huge October to December quarter, then everyone stops spending all
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  Speaker 2: of January, creating cash flow problems for our businesses. He says,
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  Speaker 2: while we all need to recuperate at times in a
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  Speaker 2: country where our recovery is so fragile, we need to
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  Speaker 2: work hard up to the break, take some well deserved
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  Speaker 2: time off, then get back into it and get our
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  Speaker 2: lives and businesses moving again swiftly. Thank you very much
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  Speaker 2: TOAs and the Post for doing the heavy lifting on
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  Speaker 2: the editorial for me this morning. He does have a point, though,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't he, Because we have our very own Mike Cosking,
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  Speaker 2: who's even as I speak roaring down the motorway in
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  Speaker 2: his fine European vehicle, heading off in his holes before
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  Speaker 2: December has been here for a week. The crissy decks
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  Speaker 2: have barely been put up around the office, and he's gone.
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  Speaker 2: And it's unsettling for people when the routine is disrupted.
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  Speaker 2: I myself will be heading on. I don't go until
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  Speaker 2: the nineteenth. I'm heading off on the nineteenth, but I
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  Speaker 2: won't be back for a while. Most of January I'll
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  Speaker 2: be gone. It's a long time. They're the sort of
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  Speaker 2: holidays I could only dream of when I was a junior.
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  Speaker 2: Would chuck reporter Penny and Rob at our favorite coffee
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  Speaker 2: shop downstairs. They're paying rent on their space. They don't
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  Speaker 2: stop paying rent over Christmas in New Year, so they'll
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  Speaker 2: be back, but heaven knows he'll be around to buy
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  Speaker 2: the coffees and the excellent muffins that Helen barely ever touches.
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  Speaker 2: Because our people are clearing off, apart from a skeleton staff,
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  Speaker 2: the council officers over the road will be deserted to
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  Speaker 2: I imagine, apart from the skeleton staff. I'd be really
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: interested to hear from you as to what you want.
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  Speaker 2: If you are one of the many many small business owners,
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  Speaker 2: small to medium business owners, do you work like a
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  Speaker 2: navy right up until Christmas Eve and then think, thank heavens,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: put the clothes, sign up on the shop and head
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  Speaker 2: off for three weeks, four weeks and things. No, I'm
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  Speaker 2: not doing anything over January. I'm done. Do do you
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  Speaker 2: wish that you could take two weeks off, recover and
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  Speaker 2: then come back and everybody else came back to and
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  Speaker 2: business is as usual like Toossa is saying he got
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  Speaker 2: a fair bit of flack for this when he posted
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  Speaker 2: this initially on LinkedIn, people you know were really grumpy,
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  Speaker 2: saying he begrudged people holidays and he doesn't. He says
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  Speaker 2: he just wishes they were spaced out throughout the year
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  Speaker 2: rather than having the great Christmas shutdown. You know, you
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  Speaker 2: can't you can't just switch off. I mean we can't
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  Speaker 2: just play, you know, put music on and say oh
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  Speaker 2: stuff that people aren't interested in talking. You might have
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  Speaker 2: to work a bit harder because people are busy at
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  Speaker 2: this time of year. People are distracted, People are out
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  Speaker 2: and about, they haven't got time to phone in giving
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  Speaker 2: their thoughts, So you might have to work a bit harder.
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  Speaker 2: To try and get you to interact. You're always very
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  Speaker 2: good on the texts. I grant you, but you can't
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  Speaker 2: just stop, and yet a lot of people do. Do
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  Speaker 2: people order their bathroom or kitchen renaults in December and January?
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  Speaker 2: Or do you wait until February? Is it a case
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  Speaker 2: of oh, well, might as well take the time off
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  Speaker 2: because my supply is taken the time off and customers
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  Speaker 2: aren't responding to calls. And then it becomes a domino effect.
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  Speaker 2: One topples and the next thing you know, we all
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  Speaker 2: fall over and lie in the sand with a cool
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  Speaker 2: drink by our side, thinking, well, circle back February. How
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  Speaker 2: many weeks for you as optimum for a holiday? You know,
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  Speaker 2: how many would you like other people to take when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to the schools and the teacher, when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to radio stations and the hosts, when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to businesses, when it comes to suppliers. Is it six weeks,
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  Speaker 2: four weeks, three weeks? What to you would be the optimum?
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