Method of paying wages. As regards the method of paying wages we may point out that in large establishments it is almost obligatory that, prior to drawing the amount from the bank, the totals of each page of the Wages Book should be analysed, so that such proportions of gold, silver, and copper may be obtained as will prevent the necessity for further change. This is done by means of a cash sheet (Specimen No. 19), which also serves as a check upon the addition of each page in the Wages Book, and is further useful, in localising mistakes in the process of counting out the money to be paid to each employé, by assigning to each page of the Wages Book the exact proportion of cash required to pay all the wages entered on that page. The process of distributing wages is generally by means of small tin boxes bearing the numbers by which the workpeople are known, and which of course agree with the numbers of their checks (see p. 16). CASH SHEET.-SPECIMEN No. 19. No. of Page. Notes. Sovereigns. Half- Silver. Copper. These tin boxes are placed in trays constructed to hold 100 each, and arranged in ten squares (Specimen No. 20). Money trays. The employés are called to the pay-table by their numbers and in consecutive order, the cashier, or some official who has not been engaged in the process of counting the money, handing to each employé his or her particular tin against the presentation of the receipt form (explained on page 35). Where, owing to the large number of hands, the pay would otherwise take up much time, it may be found expedient to have two or more pay-tables, or there may be variation, one set of workpeople being paid first one week, second another week, and so forth; but on the whole it is advisable that the process of paying wages should be completed in as few minutes as possible. From the Time Allocation Book (Specimen No. 6) the time clerk should make an abstract weekly, fortnightly, or Wages ab- monthly as required, stract for prime cost. showing the various working or stock orders on which time has been spent. This summary or abstract should show against the various orders the cost of labour during that period in the respective departments or trades (Specimen No. 21). The totals so compiled should agree with that in the Wages Book for the same period. This abstract of wages will form the basis of the debit to the Prime Cost Ledger (see Chapter IV.) for labour expended upon the various operations carried on. It is evident that the totals so entered on the Abstract of Wages Sheet may easily be traced back to the Time Allocation Book, and that any more detailed information that may be required can thus be easily and promptly obtained. The diagram opposite page 42 will serve to show Diagram of the relation of the various forms and books referred to in this chapter. Adhesion to factory rules by employés. DUTIES OF TIMEKEEPERS. 41 It remains to be observed that when a person who has been engaged presents himself or herself for work, the timekeeper should obtain his or her signature to a book or form declaratory that the rules of the factory have been duly read and noted. The timekeeper should also obtain the name and address of the last employer, and fill in and forward to the counting-house a charac Character book. Address book. ter form for transmission to the latter. This form when returned duly filled in should be pasted and duly indexed in a guard book called a Character Book. The address of every employé should be taken when engaged, and should be entered in an Address Book. It is very desirable that periodically the whole of the employés should be asked for their addresses, and these when obtained compared with the existing entries. In cases in which workpeople may be required on urgent or pressing work it is especially desirable to know their correct addresses, and it may therefore be necessary to impose a fine for not notifying change of address. The timekeeper should furthermore keep Registers, in accordance with the Factory Acts, of the children, Register of young persons, and women employed in the women and factory, as well as a record of the cleansing children. and whitewashing, &c., of the shops as required by those Acts. He should also inform some responsible person when any children are engaged, and should see that the necessary certificates as to education are produced, and that the certifying surgeon after making the examination required by the Act duly attests the Register. We have not dealt with the appropriation of fines longing to firms occupied by imposed, or the deductions on account of superannuaHouses be- tion, sick, or other funds, or with the occupation by employés of houses belonging to the firm, as these more correctly appertain to the work-people. books of the system of commercial accounts, with which it is not our province here to deal. In the last case, should an arrangement be made by which the work-people, in consideration of not paying rent for the houses they occupy, receive less wages than they otherwise would, then the interest on the capital invested in the buildings forms an element in the cost of production, and should be debited to the Prime Cost Ledger as a percentage upon the wages paid or in common with the indirect expenses to be referred to later. In practice, however, it is found that it is preferable to pay full wages, and to collect the amount of the rent from the work-people who occupy the houses, such amount being dealt with as revenue. |