Although ‘the North’ is often talked about as a single entity, the economic make-up of the regions in the North are widely different and so are the productivity challenges.
A policy focus on supporting sectors, like manufacturing, which matter to both investors and towns would help, while the shift to ‘net zero’ could transform the North’s economy.
Crucially, boosting local capabilities and understanding local characteristics should be the starting point for working up to national policy frameworks.
For Damian, the 18 years in his role at the CBI, has seen it become increasingly politicised, with policymaker engagement now being more significant than ever.
Devolution has brought us City Mayors, and he points to Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham as obvious focus points, “They are connected, and these personal interactions help. Speaking to people across other English regions they look at these two and say, ‘we wish we had someone like that who is a focal point.’”
Working together in the North, recognising our differences as strengths
When the CBI was drawing up its mayoral manifestos, its challenge to candidates was to ask, ‘what is the uniqueness of this region that you can focus on that doesn’t happen anywhere else?’ This is the right approach if regions, cities and towns across the North are to focus their efforts and drive productivity
There are concerns about trying to pick winners, but every city cannot be and is not great at everything – we do need a more mature approach.
When we talk about regional planning it is with an eye on what is new but we should also build on what we already have. The real strength of the Liverpool City Region that is often overlooked is its maritime sector. People think it is an industry of the past, but it has a huge amount of opportunity. And look at manufacturing – we are more productive in the North West than anywhere else. Let’s build on what is already successful.
Long-term, mutually invested schemes – specifically around transport and connectivity – should be agreed at a pan-regional level across the North. Access to the Port of Liverpool is an example of a nationally significant project that continues to be seen within Whitehall as a ‘local issue’. That train from the port of Liverpool to Drax takes eight hours to do that journey. Surely it is of national benefit to have a port connected to transport.
Bricks, bytes, behaviour – the future of work
The pandemic has certainly affected political conversations about transport and the movement of people – and it has brought the much broader question of the “future of work” into the spotlight.
Businesses are talking about reducing their office footprint, with some planning to close offices when the lease is up and have everyone working at home, the challenge is far bigger than broadband connectivity for staff working from home.
Damian also raised that while the first lockdown saw productivity increase, more of the CBI’s members are now seeing that slip back. When working with clients, EY has a focus on delivering tech-enabled transformation for clients with demanding change agendas – helping businesses to embed continuous change into their organisation.
This ‘redefinition’ of work will require employers to tackle multiple difficult questions. How do we use and develop our real estate? How do we enable hybrid working whilst optimising productivity? What technology do we invest in to make this happen? The answers must be delivered as part of an integrated strategy that places changing behaviours and culture at its very centre.
Many businesses are in a race to reduce real estate without understanding what else they need to implement and should consider what is your real estate strategy going forward? To work in a way that is future-safe, you may need more space because of how the space must be configured – even if that is collaboration space and not fixed desks.
Within behaviours, with so many more people working from home, we must now also ask what culture do you need to create within your organisation?
Damian also shared that the CBI’s members are increasingly talking about the mental health of their staff and wellbeing. Addressing behaviours and colleague interactions includes training and mentoring staff and deciding how future career programmes will work when people are not regularly sitting together.
Not having human interaction is huge. People are really missing out on learning leadership skills. It’s hard to do that on a Zoom call. A limitation on the productivity of the region is leadership.
Businesses are changing their approach when recruiting new staff, which if managed properly, is an opportunity for more diverse candidates.
One law firm has stopped graduate recruitment altogether and gone straight to post A Level,” says Waters. “Another firm is recruiting a team from communities that wouldn’t previously have come into Liverpool city centre.
Finally, on Bytes, , businesses need to think about the technology their business needs to invest in so their people can be more productive. To get back to the efficiency and productivity levels that you need to be at, recognising that they have dropped, may require an infrastructure and digital technology roadmap.”
The discussion is set to continue further at the Invest North conference on 24 March 2021 where we will discuss how business leaders can work to embed many of the positive changes the pandemic response has generated into growth for Northern businesses.
Summary
Ahead of the Invest North conference, Stephen Church, UK&I Managing Partner for the North, and Damian Waters from the CBI discuss regional strengths, boosting productivity and stimulating future growth across the North of England.
