The Debate: Has Britain lost its work ethic?
Chris Philp has told Brits to pull up their bootstraps, but have we really lost our work ethic? We let two writers hash it out in this week’s Debate
Yes: British workers turn out less per hour than counterparts in the US, Germany and France
Britain has a productivity challenge, levels are below 2013 and we desperately need growth. Many say that Brits have lost their work ethic, and there’s stats to back that up. The ONS found that British workers turn out less for every hour they work than their counterparts in other advanced economies such as the US, Germany and France. Even so, we must be careful before we blame this on the character of workers themselves. Instead, we must provide people with the right environment and workplace tools to boost their output. Productivity is not all about working harder, but smarter.
Tools are humankind’s best inventions, and we must capitalise on them—and digitalisation in particular—to overcome the barriers to productivity and hard work. Digitalisation and automation can help lift heavy administrative burdens, but many workplaces have yet to reap this benefit. We must embrace a work culture in which technology is used as a tool to unlock efficiency. By doing so, people can work on things that make them happier and more productive and feel like they’re actually contributing to something meaningful.
The UK has a history and track record that demonstrates innovation and many great ideas come from these shores. We can’t let this fall by the wayside. We need to fix our social contract, turn the ship in the right direction and propel the UK forward to reclaim our position as a fierce competitor on the global stage. Doing so will mean British work ethic is no longer called into question and our workforce will build a better tomorrow.
Rich Davies is the UK country manager of Netcompany
No: Brits are no less diligent than their global counterparts, but they are disengaged
No, Britain hasn’t lost its work ethic. However, many UK workers are not reaching their full potential due to a lack of motivation and commitment to their employers. Work ethic is an individual’s intrinsic drive to work hard, rooted in personal beliefs about the value and importance of work. British workers are just as dedicated and diligent as their global counterparts. However, employee engagement – a key indicator of how well employers nurture and promote this work ethic – has remained persistently low.
According to Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace report, only 10 per cent of UK employees are engaged at work, compared with 23 per cent globally. While global engagement has increased from 12 per cent in 2009 to 23 per cent in 2023, UK employee engagement has dropped in half from 20 per cent to 10 per cent during the same period. This chronic disengagement has doubtless contributed to the UK’s sluggish productivity growth.
Blaming this on poor work ethic doesn’t align with the science or Gallup’s findings. Instead, it comes down to poor employee engagement and company culture. And the driving force behind this is the manager. The problem for employers is that their philosophy of management isn’t leading to thriving workplaces. They are selecting technical experts for a job that requires human experts who know how to develop and coach their people.
Gallup research shows that managers play a pivotal role, accounting for 70 per cent of the variance in team engagement. Companies that invest in hiring, developing and supporting managers with the right talent to motivate and engage their teams see higher levels of engagement and productivity. The key to unlocking the British work ethic? It comes down to one thing: the manager.
Jeremie Brecheisen is the managing partner of the Gallup EMEA division
The Verdict: Brits have work ethic, they’ve just lost the incentive to use it
From Brewdog CEO James Watt (who called Britain the “least work-oriented” country in the world) to shadow minister Chris Philp (who last week denounced the UK’s lost work ethic), the British worker has had somewhat of a beating this year. But with a productivity crisis that fails to solve itself, it’s perhaps no surprise that some are reaching for the pull-your-bootstraps-up solution.
Mr Davies rightly points out that the UK is in dire need of growth, and unproductive workers aren’t helping. Additionally, if we are talking of a lost work ethic, it certainly isn’t hard to prove that we work less than our predecessors (it was only in the 1930s that we got a two-day weekend). But Mr Brecheisen is right to bring nuance to the debate: have Brits lost their work ethic or have they lost their motivation? Gen Z have seen all too plainly from watching millennials that hard work no longer pays off. If work ethic means an intrinsic and unfaltering belief in the virtue of hard work, perhaps young Brits have lost it. But, really, who can blame them?