If the UK Government’s ambitions for better public services are to be affordable, it will be vital to grow productivity. While plans to do that have so far focused on boosting technology adoption and reducing the size of the civil service, these in isolation may not be enough. Efforts to lift technology adoption and public sector productivity more broadly will be heavily influenced by the motivation, skills and commitment of the workforce.
The analysis in this report outlines how improving leadership and people management can be the key to improving retention, morale, wellbeing, innovation and discretionary effort among the public sector workforce. We set out the evidence for why this should be a priority for policy-makers as well as boards and leadership teams across the public sector.