A rational wages system

by Henry Atkinson

The following are some of the things to watch out for:

Time study must not be used for speeding up day workers. There is a tendency to do this when it is found that a job can be done in half the time, but it must be remembered that conditions are quite different and the incentive is lacking. The remedy is to put all workers on reward as far as possible, and to adopt a profit-sharing or other scheme to stimulate day workers.

Overstrain and fatigue must be carefully guarded against. This means, as a rule, guarding the worker against himself. He wishes to earn as much reward as he can, but if he feels tired out at the end of the day he is doing too much, and he will wonder why his efficiency drops. One part of the system is to consider fatigue, and to make an allowance on the base time to cover necessary rests during the day.

Cutting the rates need hardly be mentioned, because it is very bad policy on the part of the employer, and always means loss of efficiency and hence loss of profit.

The question of keeping machinery in order and bringing up supplies is one that the worker must watch. It is no use trying to reach a standard time when one gets let down by lack of attention on the part of other people. It is true that a day time allowance may be given, but this is not altogether satisfactory. It means that reward cannot be earned for the day time period, and, besides that, there is a possibility of not receiving the allowance. It is possible, also, that the superintendent may refuse allowances, and so dissatisfaction results. Day time allowances and allowances for exceptional conditions (such as bad metal), which increase the machine time, are open to abuse. If a worker reach 99·5 per cent. efficiency or thereabouts, it is quite possible that an unfair allowance of an hour, or even half an hour, on the job will put him over the 100 per cent. efficiency mark, and his reward rate would be considerably increased. With regard to bringing up supplies and attending to slight machine breakdowns—broken belts, for instance—the labourer or other person responsible should be put on reward, his reward being in proportion to the average reward of the workers he serves.

The worker must see that proper allowances are made for bad work which he is not responsible for. For instance, if he is on small parts on an automatic machine, and the inspector throws out several pieces as spoiled, it may be the fault of a bad adjustment which the worker cannot help. It is the worker's duty to stop his machine and draw attention to the fault; but if it can only be found on close inspection in the inspection room, and if it consists of, say, a capstan becoming loose, it may be impossible for the worker to detect the fault while the work is in process, and it is no fault of his.

The proper counting of the quantity of work done is a point that must be insisted on. On large work it is simple enough, but on small parts that are counted by weighing it is easy to make serious mistakes.

Proper check must be kept on the gears used for a particular job. On automatic machinery a change of gear is frequently necessary, and if the change is not properly recorded it may mean that cycle time—the time of all the elements done by the machine on that part—is quite wrong, and an efficiency much too high or too low is the result.

Reward is reckoned either on each job taken by itself or on the net result of the week's work. The former is better for the worker, but it is not always fair to the employer, because there is a tendency for the worker to take it easy on difficult jobs where there is little chance of earning reward. With an exact time study and close attention to instructions, such cases, theoretically, should never occur; but they do, because it is impossible to get every job on exactly the same basis, and the worker after a little experience knows what jobs are easy and what are difficult. In some shops the experiment of deducting inefficiency from efficiency has been tried. That is, suppose a worker was 10 per cent. below reward efficiency one week, then that 10 per cent. has been deducted from his efficiency the following week before reward has been allowed. Result: Disaster! The fairest way is to take the balance of efficiency on the week's work, and if a particular job is a bad one from the worker's point of view, he can always draw attention to it.

Another important matter is that of determining the class of work which is to go to the worker. Automatic work will go to comparatively unskilled workers, but the dividing line between classes of work is sometimes a very fine one. Skilled handwork must be given to the skilled worker, of course; but it is impossible to lay down any rules in this connection, and the worker must keep his eyes open, and either draw attention to doubtful cases or consult his trade-union.