present, it is sometimes found advisable to insure the greater punctuality on the part of the smaller number by instituting a system of fines for late, and of premiums for early, attendance. Thus the man who was punctual would get his premium and wages for the time made, whilst the unpunctual man would, besides losing pay for the time he was absent, be fined. The number of times each employé is unpunctual is reported to the office by the timekeeper, and can of course be checked, from the Time Books and record slips, if thought necessary. The amount of premium or fine in each case would then be passed through the Wages Book.

Despite the former strenuous opposition of trade unions, the system of payment by results, generally known as piecework, is extending. Not only do "the ablest and strongest masters generally insist on it as necessary to enable them to carry out their plans freely and to get their men to use their best energies, and such employers naturally beat in the race those who yield to the unions," but the employés are beginning to recognise that the advantages of the system are not confined to the employers, and are withdrawing or modifying their opposition.

Method of

If piece-work is resorted to each employé should, when starting on it, be supplied with a Piecerecording work Return Form (Specimen No. 10), which piece-work. should specify the nature of the work, the extent of the job, and the rate at which it is undertaken. On the completion of the work he should return this sheet, having entered thereon the number of hours spent on that particular job, for which he has been paid "Economics of Industry." By A. and M. P. Marshall. London:

Macmillan.

REGISTRATION OF PIECEWORK.

PIECE-WORK RETURN.-SPECIMEN No. 10.

Workman's Name

27

189 .

189 at

Week ending.

Started on

in ordinary course. The Return having been initialled by the viewer of the work, should be passed on to the time clerk, who will check the time entries made thereon from his Time Allocation Book, will give it monetary form, and enter the difference between the value of the output at piece-rate and the amount already paid at time-rate in his Allocation Book. Any balances favourable to the employé may of course be placed to his or her credit at the next piece-work settlement, whilst adverse balances may either then be deducted from the time pay, or from the next favourable piecerate balance.

In some cases it will probably be found impracticable, owing to the nature or pressure of other work, to keep an employé continuously on the work which he has taken at a piece-rate. Under these circumstances the foreman or leading hand should at once notify the time clerk, in writing, that he has taken the employé off piece-work and put him on time-work. It may perhaps be found desirable for the foreman or leading hand to keep a Log Book, in which such interruptions to pieceworking are noted. In a large establishment this function might be discharged by the piece-work viewer.

In any event it will be found very desirable to have a record as to interruption to piece-working to which reference may, if necessary, be made at the time of settlement.

The time clerk having duly examined and vouched the piece-work returns will forward the same to the office, where they may be re-checked, if thought desirable, in a general or detailed manner.

Considerable advantage accrues from a Piece-work Analysis or Register Book being compiled from these

PIECE-WORK ANALYSIS BOOK.-SPECIMEN No. II.

THE ANALYSIS OF PIECE-WORK COSTS.

29

sheets. Such a book would, as indicated in Specimen No. 11,

Piece-work

Analysis

Book.

show the various

rates at which work was undertaken, as also the percentage in which any kind of piece - work is favourable or unfavourable to either the employer or the employé; and it would serve as a record or check in fixing piece-work rates. From this source also could be obtained comparisons between the percentage of piece-work rates and day-work prices ruling in the various shops or departments. Having been checked, these piece-work balances may be entered in the Wages men engaged Book (Specimen No. 14). It will also

Return of

or left.

be found advantageous, and in large establishments indispensable, for a return or returns to be sent by the foreman at regular intervals, either to the clerk responsible for the Wages Book or to the principal, enumerating the names, trades, and rates of pay of employés who have been engaged since the date of the last return,