Now, this time has been obtained under exceptional circumstances. When a man is working on a time study job—that is, with the knowledge that he is on trial, so to speak, and with the time study engineer timing and observing every detail and motion—he works faster than usual. There is no opportunity for little breaks, or rests, or breathing spaces; it is hard slogging all the time. The time study engineer does not intend it to be so, but by the nature of the circumstances that is what happens, and no man can keep this up for long.
It is quite evident, therefore, that this time cannot be reached regularly by every worker, and this is taken into consideration when determining the standard time—i.e., the time in which the job should be done by the average worker.
To obtain the standard time an allowance is made on the base time. This allowance depends on the nature of the work, a higher allowance being made for jobs that need a good deal of handling than for jobs that are nearly all cutting, because cutting is independent of the worker.
The way to arrive at the allowance is to examine the recorded figures, and add together all the cutting times and then all the handling times. An allowance of about 10 per cent. is usually given on the cutting times, and from 15 per cent. to 50 per cent., or even more, on handling times. The cutting times depend on the machinery, and that is why a smaller allowance is given for them.
(c) Fixing Standard Time.
This standard time is the basis of the Reward System, and is therefore the most important time. It is so fixed in relation to base time that every worker put on that work should be able to reach it after a little practice. If he does so, he is said to have reached an efficiency of 100 per cent.
A worker who reaches continuously 100 per cent. is a high efficiency man.
This efficiency should always be reached by a worker who follows the instructions and works diligently.
Reward begins, however, considerably before this point is reached, because it may be necessary for a worker to be on a job some time before he reaches a high efficiency. Again, sometimes one worker is naturally slower than another; and although his work is good, he can reach 100 per cent. efficiency only by special effort. There would be little encouragement if reward did not begin until the worker had reached 100 per cent. efficiency.
For these reasons, and as an incentive to every man to become as highly efficient as possible, reward begins when the worker reaches 75 per cent. efficiency.