A rational wages system

by Henry Atkinson

So that this principle must be accepted by the employer whether he likes it or not, if the system is to be a success.

It is not to the interest of the employer to treat the worker badly. Firms with brains and foresight enough to adopt time study methods are not going to spoil the whole business by getting the workers up against them. It is more to the firm's interest than to the worker's to get a continuously high efficiency; that is why time study and reward methods were introduced by the employers, and not by the workers.

(g) Attention to Service Details.

It must be clearly understood that the Reward System does not pretend to be by any means a solution of all the difficulties between employer and worker.

Without mutual good-will no system will work satisfactorily. What is claimed for the Reward System is that it provides a basis upon which a good understanding and a mutual interest in increased production can be built up and maintained.

The time study shows beyond argument the very quickest time in which a job can be done by an average man with the means at his disposal. If this is followed up by a rational organisation, the Reward System will be entirely successful. But if an employer endeavours to foist the time study and Reward System on an existing rule-of-thumb organisation, it will undoubtedly fail, and will cause deep suspicion in the mind of the worker as well as being wholly unsatisfactory to the employer. It will be looked upon as an endeavour to get more out of the worker without an adequate return, and this, as a matter of fact, is just what it will be.

One thing is certain: No employer will adopt the Reward System unless he sees clearly that it is to his direct financial benefit, and there is no reason why he should. He, on his part, would be foolish to take on an increased responsibility without adequate return.

It follows, therefore, that the system is part of the rational organisation of production, and it cannot be properly carried on without such organisation.

Even when such a system is adopted, there are ample opportunities for letting things slide and for unfair conditions to creep in. This is why the worker should understand the system, because then only will he be able to assert his position and see that conditions are fair.