Canadian businesses' productivity is at a disadvantage compared with their global peers, according to a new study of productivity in 12 major industrialized nations.
Proud foot Consulting released its eighth annual Global Productivity Survey on Thursday, after polling more than 1,200 managers from major corporations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Russia, South Africa, Spain, as well as the UK and US.
Jon Wylie, Proud foot Consulting's Managing Director in Canada, said the result shows Canada had stayed stagnant when it comes to productivity gains, while some of its peers have seen major improvements, especially in the emerging markets.
In all, Canadian businesses are believed to leave 42 per cent of potential productivity gains untouched, compared to 30 per cent globally.
The study found that only 11 per cent of Canadian firms could be considered "high performers" when it came to productivity gains, compared to 22 per cent of international businesses.
Additionally, Canadian businesses provide less training to their employees than nearly every one of their peers, ranking second-last among the national markets included in the Global Productivity Survey. Furthermore, Canadian workers receive only eight days of training each year, about 25 per cent below the global average.
Staff shortages, legislation and regulation, information technology problems and low employee motivation and morale were the major barriers to attaining productivity gains in Canada, according to Canadian managers.
The top six barriers to improved productivity worldwide were a shortage of skilled workers, internal communication issues, legislation and regulation, low employee morale, high employee turnover and quality of supervisors, according to Proud foot Consulting.