No, workes dont give better production. Workers are used for transporting stuff if you cant afford to build transport units. Workers also die when you attack for plunder, its something that transports does not do. Allthough workers are fast units but they can carry very little, for example: you need around 3000 workers to carry 1 milion of a resource while only 120 transports can carry the same amount.
"Best" ratio for units when attacking is 25% warriors and 75% archers + transports for carrying plunder. For defense its best to use swordsmen instead of warriors together with archers. Note: Swordsmen are crap for attacking.
