Nick Spencer, Hannah Rich and Nathan Mladin’s report questioning the dominant narrative around productivity. 11/09/2024

About the report

There is a relentless emphasis on improving productivity today – and with good reason. Productivity is, economically speaking, extremely important. But productivity is an unexamined idea, one of those words that ‘think for us’. 

The challenge posed at the heart of this report is: Productivity of what? What are we trying to produce more of, and why?

Productivity at its deepest and most profound level is not a matter of creating more stuff but of forming better ‘persons’. Improving productivity levels can enable that, but it may not. In particular, when it comes to activities in which the human dimension is central, improving productivity can be counterproductive.

As developed economies become ever more service– based, this can become a serious issue. Encouraging people to become productive in such service interactions can undermine the personal, human good inherent in the activity itself. 

And although AI can boost productivity in many sectors, including the service sector, it is not a solution to the problem of productivity outlined in this report and poses risks to essential human goods and values. 

Ultimately, as we seek to solve our ‘productivity problem’, we need to avoid idolising productivity or allowing it to corrode what is most precious to us.

You can read the full report here.

About the authors

Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at Theos. He is the author of a number of books and reports, including Magisteria: the entangled histories of science and religion (Oneworld, 2023), and is the host of the podcast Reading Our Times.

Hannah Rich is a senior researcher at Theos working on theology and economic inequality. She is the author of several reports including, A Torn Safety Net: How the cost of living crisis threatens its own last line of defence (2022).

Nathan Mladin is a senior researcher at Theos. He holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from Queen’s University Belfast and is the author of several publications, including Data and Dignity: Why Privacy Matters in the Digital Age (2023).

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