MEMORANDUM

Memorandum on Productivity, Innovation, Quality of Working Life and Employment

The Memorandum on Productivity, Innovation, Quality of Working Life and Employment was published in February 1999. It is the outcome of discussions among EANPC members initiated by the then President, Dr. Klaus Dieckhoff of the German RKW, on the meaning of the concept of productivity in relationship to three other key issues facing society - innovation, quality of working life and employment. For too often 'productivity' has been associated in the public debate with cost-cutting, job loss and increased stress, whereas it is only in societies which have taken a positive stance towards its improvement that overall socio-economic well-being has advanced.

The members of the Association understand 'productivity' to mean making continuously better use of all scarce resources with a view to enhancing, in the long run, the lot of all members of society. To this end, productivity is not the 'be all and end all' of society, but must be considered in association with a range of factors contributing to, and benefiting from, this improvement process: economic growth; competition and quality; innovation and technology; employment; work organisation and learning organisations; safety and health and working conditions; skills and qualifications; environmental protection; and social partnership.

In the Memorandum, examples are pointed to of how productivity development has been addressed with good or bad results for society as a whole. And for each contributing factor indications are provided on what the EANPC members, singly and together, can do.

But balanced productivity enhancement is not achieved through exhortation. For this reason, the members of the Association are now producing a set of documents to help those wishing to implement the ideas outlined. These documents cover the logical phases through which an organisation should proceed, outline useful tools and briefly give examples of what can be achieved.

In publishing the Memorandum, Association members wish to stimulate as objective and broad a debate as possible on the meaning of striving for productivity improvements and how these improvements can (and sometimes cannot) contribute to meaningful socio-economic advance. One indication that the Memorandum has helped stimulate the debate is the fact that centres in a range of countries have translated it into their national language: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Copies of the English version of the Memorandum can be obtained without cost on request from the EANPC secretariat.

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