On a recent piece of work, the steam drills, of which there were 14, were averaging 4 feet of hole drilled per drill hour, the drillers were getting 30 cents per drill hour, and helpers 18¾ cents. For a period of ten days the drills were kept under the personal supervision and instruction of the expert in charge; and at the end of that time a bonus of 2 cents per foot for everything above 70 feet in 8 hours was offered to the men. On this basis no one could get a bonus unless he did 100 per cent better than the average previously attained. Exceedingly cold weather intervened, preventing a good deal of drilling; but within two weeks of the return to normal weather conditions, the average drill output rose to over 6 feet per drill hour, and one man obtained the remarkable record of 142 feet in 9 hours, or over 15.7 feet per drill hour. On this work a careful record was kept day by day, of the performance of each man; and the men who had a consistently low average were gradually discharged, thereby helping out the bonus system. The men were also under more or less constant instruction, and therefore the improvement was not entirely due to the bonus system.
A further modification of the bonus system is advisable in some cases, where an extra bonus is given for exceedingly high performance, such, for example, as paying the men an extra cent bonus, making 3 cents above, say, 90 or 100 feet per 8 hours. It is well, however, to apply this modified arrangement only after there has been an elimination of the poorest men. When possible, the payment of bonuses should be made at very short intervals, and not left to a monthly settlement.
A CORNER IN THE LAUNCH BUILDING SHOP OF THE GAS ENGINE & POWER CO. AND CHARLES L. SEABURY & CO., CONSOLIDATED]
4. Bulletin Board Posting. Posting upon a bulletin board in the storehouse or office, of the records of performance accomplished in different parts of the work day by day or week by week, is a very valuable adjunct to the other methods of stimulation. The methods above indicated will keep the men on the qui vive during the day. A very valuable improvement can be instituted if the more intelligent among them can be led to think about their work after working hours. This must necessarily be done in rather a subtle way. Posting records at the end of the day's work so that the men see them on their way home, will do a great deal toward keeping the subject alive until the next morning. When the men have been led to a state where they discuss with each other the methods of improved efficiency, for the following day amazing results can be counted upon.
5. Gang and Team Work. If a certain number of men have been working together under one foreman on one particular piece of work, they come to know each other's methods and their foreman's methods intimately; and they necessarily will become very much more efficient than when they are shifted from gang to gang or when they have to work under different foremen. If the record of the performance of each individual gang can be obtained, and the men, as well as the foreman, are acquainted with the record, a spirit of rivalry between the gangs can be developed which will add greatly to efficiency. In making such a record, inasmuch as the gangs are likely to vary in size, it is necessary to have a unit of performance that will be independent of the number of men in the gang. It will be found that, shortly after the application of this principle, the men are themselves making suggestions as to improvements in method; and frequently their suggestions are immensely valuable.
6. High Pay. Some contractors have found it economical to pay a little more than the prevailing rate of wages, thereby attracting to their organization the best of the labor available. As a general thing, a man is perfectly willing to do 10 per cent more work for 5 per cent more pay per hour; and the difference in men is so great as to make it more than well worth while to secure the very best of the labor obtainable.
7. Prompt Pay. Men will work very much more contentedly when they can count upon their pay with promptness and regularity. There is nothing that demoralizes a piece of construction work more than the postponement of a pay-day. Special care should be taken that each man's pay is accurate. A man will seldom be over-paid unless there is "graft" on the job, but it sometimes happens that through errors on the part of the time-keeper or bookkeeper a man's pay is short, much to the agony of the man himself.
8. Early Hours. A good deal of money is lost by the men not starting to work promptly at the commencing hour, and by quitting before the final hour. On a recent piece of work that had to be drastically reorganized, an entire blasting gang rested on their shovels for over one hour, because their foreman had decided to quit without notice, and the man who was supposed to be in charge of the work arrived late himself, and was detained at the other end of the job. On this particular piece of work, it was not the habit to blow a whistle at the commencing or the quitting hour, and the men started work in the morning and quit work in the evening according to their own timepieces. It was noted that nobody on the whole job quit a minute after he should have quit, or started a moment earlier than he was paid to start.