Measuring and benchmarking human resources practices can help businesses improve their performance by up to 42 per cent, says a report which looks into the management habits of high performing businesses.

The report, published by The Work Foundation, has major implications for the 1,500 small businesses in Swindon, and corroborates the advice given by Human Resource Business Advisers at Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire (BLBW).

Benchmarking, investing in and measuring the performance of staff, is one of the five core areas which distinguishes high performers from low performers, with high performers doing on average 42 per cent better than their low performing counterparts.

The other four areas are customers and markets; shareholders and governance systems; stakeholders and creativity and innovation management.

"The report concludes that enabling people to work smarter will pay far more dividends than increasing capital investment," said Crispin Hills, HR Business Adviser at BLBW.