The concept of worker productivity emerged with the Industrial Revolution when people moved off the farm to get jobs in factories.  According to L. Dishman in her recent article The dark history of our obsession with productivity, one of the first written mentions of productivity is by Adam Smith in his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations.  Smith contended there were two types of labor: productive and unproductive.  Productive labor produced or added value to something, while unproductive labor merely maintained something.  He concluded that the productive labor of workers made wealth, while the unproductive labor of menial servants added nothing of value.

Are you productive or unproductive?  How about your co-workers?  How about those you supervise?  Details are shown in the lesson on Productivity on the Job.