Deputy Mayor Bagreeva spoke about the increase in labor productivity in the SME sector

About 440 companies have completed participation in the pilot phase of the Labor Productivity project, which has been implemented in Moscow since 2022. Two thirds of them are small and medium-sized businesses, said Deputy Mayor of Moscow, Head of the Department of Economic Policy and Development Maria Bagreeva, speaking at the plenary session of the forum "Formula of efficiency: technologies, personnel, processes."

"Over the three and a half years of operation in Moscow, the project has proven its effectiveness: labor productivity at the pilot streams of participating companies has increased by more than one and a half times, business process times and work-in-progress have decreased by a third, and the total economic effect for 439 companies that completed the pilot stage of the project has exceeded 14 billion rubles. An important participant in the project is small and medium—sized businesses - this is the sector of the economy in which we see a large reserve for increasing labor productivity. SMEs account for about two thirds of all project participants who completed the pilot phase," Bagreeva noted.

According to the deputy mayor, labor productivity in the SME sector is a quarter lower than the economic average. This is primarily due to the inaccessibility of economies of scale and modern technologies for increasing labor productivity for small and medium-sized businesses. One of Moscow's tasks is to provide small and medium—sized businesses with tools that will ensure the growth of relevant indicators.

Currently, companies with revenues of 400 million rubles or more per year are allowed to participate in the Labor Productivity project, and from 180 million rubles for the tourism sector. Such conditions narrow the circle of participants from among small and medium-sized businesses. For enterprises that do not meet federal requirements, Moscow offers programs to introduce lean technologies and increase productivity in small and medium-sized businesses. So, in May 2025, the Department of Economic Policy and Development, together with the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development, launched a free online course for SMEs "Your business: a new level". The program, prepared by experts of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Mosstrategy", includes video tutorials, test tasks and practical exercises. As part of the training, participants learn the basics of lean manufacturing, get acquainted with methods for identifying the main types of losses, receive tools for diagnosing processes, as well as algorithms for finding and eliminating the causes of inefficiency.

Also in September of this year, the second stage of the Svo Delo: A New Level of Missile Defense program was launched in Moscow, aimed at entrepreneurs who have already mastered the basics of lean technologies or have completed a basic course. The main focus is on practical tasks aimed at implementing changes in business processes. The training is designed for two months with a workload of about one hour per day. Participants are given the opportunity to receive online consultations, and 50 of the most active entrepreneurs will be able to work out their own cases together with experts from ANO Mosstrategy and receive recommendations on further improving labor productivity.

"City programs are becoming a logical development of federal initiatives. Our goal is to ensure that every Moscow entrepreneur, regardless of the scale of the business, can use the tools of lean technologies. This approach helps companies become more efficient and creates a culture of continuous improvement in the capital's economy," Bagreeva emphasized.

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