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Work Measurement Specialists and Consulting Engineers: Improve Productivity, Reduce Costs, Improve Profit
A “daywork” plan pays the same hourly rate to the worker regardless of output.
A “measured daywork” plan is a control system based on engineered time standards. Work is performed for a set, non-incentive, hourly wage where performance is compared to established production standards.
Measured daywork plans involve the development and use of engineered production standards that employees are expected to attain, but their pay is not directly affected. The motivation to produce with the daywork system occurs because workers are judged by their performance and encouraged to meet or exceed the production rate.
A basic premise of a measured daywork system is simply stated as “a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.”
One of the benefits of the measured daywork approach is that there is not the same focus on the paycheck as with incentive programs. There is not the tendency to develop the adversarial relationship incentive systems can sometimes cultivate.
Also, companies can benefit from developing the engineered standards in other ways as well. These standards can be used in costing the product, and the exercise alone of developing the standards usually leads to many methods improvements.
Measured daywork systems are primarily used in manufacturing facilities as a control device to measure productive output in relation to labor input within a specific time period. The system relies on supervision and management to motivate the workers to produce to the standard.
Advantages of “measured daywork” plans over “daywork” are the fact that workers know what is expected from them by having engineered standards. Workers also receive feedback on their production goals — whether they have met them or not.