Shop Management

SHOP MANAGEMENT 39 difference between the wages earned and the wages originally paid when the job was done in standard time. Mr. Halsey recommends the payment of one- third of the difference as the best premium for most cases. The difference between this system and ordi- nary piece work is that the workman on piece work gets the whole of the difference between the actual time of a job and the standard time, while under the Towne-Halsey plan he gets only a fraction of this difference. It is not unusual to hear the Towne-Halsey plan referred to as practically the same as piece work. This is far from the truth, for while the difference between the two does not appear to a casual observer to be great, and the general principles of the two seem to be the same, still we all know that success or failure in many cases hinges upon small differences. In the writer’s judgment, the Towne-Halsey plan is a great invention, and, like many other great inventions, its value lies in its simplicity. This plan has already been successfully adopted by a large number of establishments, and has resulted in giving higher wages to many workmen, accom- panied by a lower labor cost to the employer, and at the same time materially improving their relations by lessening the feeling of antagonism between the two. This system is successful because it diminishes soldiering, and this rests entirely upon the fact that since the workman only receives say one-third of the increase in pay that he would get under corresponding conditions on piece work, there is not the same temp- tation for the employer to cut prices.