A Rational Wages System

em, an individual case was taken and one particular relation bet

ng, shipbuilding, etc., would have served just as well,

as he gets paid for all the time he saves. If reward begins earlier and the worker gets a proportion of the time he saves instead of the whole, reward at standard time should be jus

at the present time, some of them being used in the same factory for different classes of work. A complete diag

st be never less than 25 per cent. of the job ra

pencil along the line corresponding to this efficiency until it touches the graph, then run the pencil alon

means that no reward is earned, but that there is no reduction of d

one. The first column shows wages plus

ages plus reward on a wag

e reward to the day wage for any efficiency

the bottom line, and the 100 pe

is diagram, the full line being Reward System

D, and the Taylor and Gantt diagrams consist of the rectangle EFGH. The Rowan diagram is to the same scale as the Taylor an

rd Syste

time saved is paid for until standard time is reached. At th

ime is reached. Then there is a considerable jump, and after t

best of all reward payments, and carries out the

hat point. If he gets nothing, then he either feels ashamed of his laziness, or, what is more likely, he inquires into the reason why he has received no

ther penalises the worker too much on the one

his day rate even though his effic

itable for both em

rd Syste

alf the time saved, and reaches 30 per cent. incr

d neither worker nor employer suffer too mu

. line as in the case of System No. 1. Usually there is an extra bonus given, say 5 per cent., to those reaching sta

rd Syste

80 per cent. efficiency and

t reward, but once reward begins it increases rapidly. An inaccurate time study means either little or no reward if the ina

bonus of 10 per cent. when

be a great variation in efficiency, and where the operation

gham after conference with trade-union officials,

rd Syste

e example given in the foregoing

ion of reward to job rate is 33? per cent. At this point a bonus of 5 per cent. is given, and

and from this point of view it i

al difference being that Halsey bases his standard time on the average time

Taylor

ylor, the originator of scientific man

p to another higher rate, say from 10d. to 14d., a jump of 40 per cent. The worker gets t

nt. efficiency because of the great increase, and also

ers can reach it, but the reward is also high. A good man can e

efore limited as most men will not work under it. Its greatest fault is that it penalises the worker too much for inefficiency. A man who regularly attains 90 per cent. ef

iency, otherwise the method is not so advantageous as some of t

Gantt

stem, except that the worker is not penalise

gets three-quarters of his wage rate instead of the whole of it. As an example, suppose the standard time of a job be 10 hours and the w

s at 10

s at 7

1

to 9?d. per hour. The efficiency

y rate line shows the hourly

is reached, the reward is just

iciency is not heavy, yet it is enough to make the worker endeavour to reach s

Emerso

iciency line at 20 per cent. bonus. The bonuses between these two efficiencies were then arranged so that for each 1 per cent. increase in efficiency the bonus incre

r cent., and at 80 per cent. is about 3? per cent. of the wage rate. Then it increases more quickly, and at 90 per cent. efficiency it i

ime. This means that the worker gets a bonus of 20 per cent. on the time worked, and in addition to that the full r

se

ob done i

ncy 91

diagram)

. of 22 hou

hours at 1

ours at 10d

t for 22 hou

job (wages + r

se

ob done i

cy 111 p

. on 18 hou

d (20-18)

hours at 1

ours at 10d

t for 18 hou

job (wages + rew

ot much to begin with, but it is enough to induce the worker to try and get a higher efficiency

Rowan

m all others in the var

every 10 per cent. of time saved. He cannot save more than, say, 99 per cent. of the time on

cent. increase of wages for the 5 hours he has worked. If the job be done in over 10 hours, day wage, say 10d. per hour, is paid for

aken. If a line be plotted of efficiencies and rates-paid, the line is n

ess and less as efficiency increases, which

mend it except the simplicity

cannot possibly overpay the work

ency being the point where bonus begins. This point

orker under the Rowan System will usually earn 20 per cent. in excess of his day wages, this has

Day

inducement whatever for a worker to increase his efficiency. Under such conditions the average worker will only do enough

iece

for each piece produced no matter how long it takes to produce i

an hour, then the payment for the work done ought to equal 10d. when working at the normal rate-namely, 100 per cent. effici

the earnings per hour a

ob, and there is great inequality in the prices of different jobs, some bei

e Ford

reason the firm adopting this system has a far greater choice of workers than other firms, all the best labour gravitating to the firm. The worker is, of course, expected to submit to the conditions prevailing in

f extremely limited application, and the second that it necessitates an

the workers and holds the men to their positions. It is obvious that only one or two firms in each trade can do this. If the system became general, it would mean that wages would be increased all round and that men need no longe

at of dismissal that is absent from the Reward System. The firm must have a standard product if the system is to be economically successful, and each man must do one job only and do it in the manner indicated. Team work is the essence of the system. It is quite impossible to obtain any beneficial result from the Ford System if applied to an average factory. M

em is to be succ

s keen as, or even keener tha

have a highly spe

be maintained under

dopted by only one or t

prevail the system shou

PE

TING W

ge rate would prove a perpetual automatic

every class of worker, the lowest wages in the class being the trade-

onths for a minimum number of reward hours worked, say 500, will receive automatically an increase of 1s. per week in his

ncy of, say, 85 per cent. during the previous three months will

fficiency means a direct loss to the worker, and the worker would probably complain of the conditions of his work. If other workers can keep up their efficiencies on the s

being automatic, no one c

and would not be content with a good week one week and a medium week the next. And, again, a good man who dropped down owing to unforeseen circumstances would only be

ost nothing. A foreman could not prevent a man getting the increase when his efficiency proved

d induce men to keep their situations. Should a man be discharged, the same thing would happen. But a high wage man is of

n take them on again at a lower wage, that firm would immediately lose caste, and no

ion of reward, and the job rates for reward work would be t

LTD., PRINTERS,

TNO

etc., in order to keep an average family in reasonable comfort can easily be determ

o him lecturing, I made a rough calculation that the citizens of his commonwealth, in order to produce by the methods he advocated the quantity of beautiful and delicious things which they were to enjoy, would have to work about two hundred hours a week. It was only the same fact looked at from another point of view which made it impossible for any of Morris's workmen, or, indee

riber'

rors were

word(s) they represent for tables

ved page (ha

moved page

ordng change

iassed chang

dution changed

iences changed