Productivity is overrated, according to work futurist Dom Price

My Wildest Prediction is a podcast series from Euronews Businesswhere we dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries. In this episode, Tom Goodwin talks to Dom Price, a work futurist at Sydney-based software company Atlassian, about his commitment to making companies re-evaluate their approach to success. 

Productivity is one of the most valued qualities by both companies and individuals. In a 2022 survey by EdTech company Headway, over half of the 1 million participants from across Britain, the US and Australia said that they prioritised productivity over health, financial gain, and happiness. 

But in trying to efficiently turn inputs into outputs, is something more significant being overlooked? 

According to Dom Price, a work futurist at Sydney-based software company Atlassian, focusing too much on productivity may cause people to ignore the broader impacts of their decisions. Price joins My Wildest Prediction to share his ideas on how work and its impact on society could be reframed. 

“My wild one is we get rid of the fetish around productivity,” Price told Euronews Business when asked about his wildest prediction. 

“I don't know any leader that has the desire to have on their gravestone ‘Was productive’,” Price remarked. "So if it's not that desire, then what are we doing it for?”

Among the issues Price identified with productivity is that it rarely considers broader goals like creating a sustainable impact, personal fulfilment, or building a more meaningful society.

Price is also sceptical about using productivity as a method to measure efficient work, as, according to him, this metric is difficult to quantify. 

In the pursuit of measuring and boosting productivity, individuals and companies risk adopting