A purge on David Brent-style bad bosses is being put at the forefront of a bid to get firms working as well as their European rivals.

The Chancellor revealed that British workers take longer and get less pay to carry out the same job as their German peers – and even those in Italy and France.

In a damning insight into the nation's poor productivity, it was claimed every family could be £9,000 better off if companies were more efficient.

Bad boss: Ricky Gervais in The Office. The Chancellor revealed that British workers take longer and get less pay to carry out the same job as their German peers

It showed how German workers take four days to do the same job that it takes a British worker to do in five.

Matching the productivity of the US would raise GDP by 31 per cent, equating to around £21,000 per annum for every household in the UK.

To end this nationwide go-slow, Hammond unveiled a £23billion fund devoted to jump-start our productivity and is leading a push to improve bad bosses.

Former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield has been appointed to improve the quality of management in the UK and end the David Brent factor. The £13million plan will see bosses receive training to help them get the most from their workforce.

Investors In People reckons inept leadership is costing the UK economy £84billion a year.

It's not clear how they worked that out, but a survey by the Chartered Management Institute rang true, with its finding that larger firms are littered with 'accidental managers' who have been promoted with no training.

As a result, while they were good at their job, they can prove useless at helping companies grow.

Four out of ten bosses are considered useless by their underlings, so the scourge of inept leadership looks like a big problem.

If all British businesses became just one percentage point more productive every year, the UK economy would increase by £240billion in a decade, equivalent to £9,000 for every household.

It's great that instead of just talking about poor productivity they are actually going to do something about it,' said John Neill, the chairman and chief executive of manufacturing and consultancy group Unipart.

'Looking at the scale of the country's debt, the only way out is growth and the only way to get that is better productivity and an improved export performance.'

The new productivity fund, which will deliver the £23billion from the 2017-18 tax year to 2021-22, will provide cash to improve housing, research and development, infrastructure and new 5G broadband.

Engineering companies were delighted by news of the additional £2billion of funding for research and development.