Covid ‘warped attitudes to work’ as Britain’s productivity crisis is even worse than feared

COVID has warped attitudes to work, a top boss says — as figures reveal Britain’s productivity crisis is even worse than feared.

Former Waitrose chief exec Lord Price, once a trade minister, said furlough schemes during the pandemic had “undoubtedly played a part”.

He added: “Those Covid years found people being paid to be at home. As a consequence, I think there is a mindset switch about —

‘Well, the state will pay for us to be at home or not to work’.”

Lord Price was speaking as a study by his WorkL think tank found sick pay levels were now considered a top issue by employees.

Meanwhile the Office for National Statistics yesterday admitted its figures on the jobs market had been skewed by missing out an influx of migrant workers.

It had reported productivity had dipped by 0.3 per cent between April and June last year.

But the fact there were actually 484,000 more people in work meant output per employee was even more dire, plunging 0.9 per cent.

The ONS said it will take until 2027 to have truly reliable figures.

It also found there are 6,000 more “economically inactive” people than it had expected.

Long-term sickness has soared since the lockdowns.