The global quest to boost productivity
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2024
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From tackling the long commute to sleeping on the job - we head to Lagos, New York, Tokyo, Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) and Dublin to look at the diverse ways businesses are attempting to boost productivity and therefore also boost profits.
We hear from businesses installing sleep pods in the office and others using technology to boost production on their farms and in their factories but are these techniques really working?
Producer: Hannah Mullane Presenter: Leanne Byrne
(Image: Buildings working on a roof space. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Una Chaplin, and I'm the host of a new podcast called Hollywood Exiles. |
| 0:05.7 | It tells the story of how my grandfather, Charlie Chaplin, and many others, were caught up in a campaign to root out communism in Hollywood. |
| 0:15.3 | Hollywood Exiles from CBC Podcasts and the BBC World Service. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:25.1 | Productivity, the state of being productive. |
| 0:28.1 | What does this actually mean, though? |
| 0:30.5 | It's all about how much value a worker adds to what they make or do, |
| 0:34.9 | essentially. |
| 0:35.7 | How much will people pay for the things you create? |
| 0:39.3 | The thing is, there are concerns that COVID, as well as the current major conflicts in the world, |
| 0:45.1 | could have a long-term negative effect on workforces, which means economies aren't growing as fast as they previously were. |
| 0:53.1 | I'm Leanna Byrne, and today on Business Daily, |
| 0:55.4 | we'll go around the world to take a look at how people are trying to boost productivity |
| 0:59.2 | and whether it's working. |
| 1:05.8 | In order to be productive, you first have to get to work. |
| 1:09.7 | I know what you're thinking. |
| 1:11.9 | Duh, Leanna, that's pretty obvious. But for people living and working in Lagos, Nigeria's most popular city, the commute |
| 1:17.8 | is their first battle. It's 6 a.m. The air is humid. The dark sky is yet to give way to daylight in Ikorudu, a suburb of Lagos, |
| 1:31.3 | Nigeria's commercial city. Yusuf is up making his way to the shower as he strokes the hair |
| 1:39.1 | of his pets, a black rabbit. Okay, I have 30 minutes to get dressed and head out. I am already late, so I better get moving. |
| 1:51.0 | It's a 50-minute commute to his office in Ikoe, where he works as a BBC journalist. |
| 1:59.0 | But like many commuters who live in Africa's most popular city, |
| 2:02.8 | this journey to take up to three hours. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.