THE MEASURE OF COMPARATIVE PRODUCTIVENESS 3I3
breakdown or hold-up in production processes. Among
the latter is all time lost through tardiness, all time lost
through illness or any other involuntary cause and all
absences due to voluntary causes. To the second part
of this provision many objections are sure to be raised.
What if the cars are snowed in or a train wrecked?
What if a relative dies or a friend is married? How can
a worker be held responsible for time lost through illness ?
As a matter of fact, a certain allowance ought to be made
to every worker for absences due to reasons similar to
the above. Nevertheless, all absences, whether voluntary
or involuntary, detract from a worker’s productiveness
and must therefore be charged to his account. Of two
workers, one of whom lives near by and is always regular
in attendance, and another who lives far away and is
therefore frequently delayed by transportation tie-ups or
is frequently out because of illness, the former should
unquestionably have preference. Another advantage of
charging all absences in class two to the worker is that it
relieves the foreman or superior of the unpleasant and
undesirable task of deciding which absences should be
excused and which not.
The formula for computing attendance percentage on
the basis outlined above is: Hours actually worked plus
the number of hours lost through the company’s fault,
divided by the number of hours scheduled. For instance,
if the working schedule is forty-eight hours a
week and the worker is out a half day or four hours on
account of illness or personal business, and loses in addition
a half day or four hours through lack of materials,
his attendance percentage for the week is: forty-four (that
is, forty hours plus only the four hours lost by the individual
on the company’s responsibility) divided by forty-
