SMOKING TIME

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1920, Page 4

SMOKING TIME

IS THE' WORKMAN RIGHT?

(By E. A. McKenzie.)

The latest demand of Labour for “smoking time”—that is, ten minutes olf during tlio morning and in the afternoon for relaxation—is regarded by many employers as the last straw. But is there not something to be said for it No one will accuse American employers of not attempting to extract the last ounce of effort from their workers. Yet many of them have adopted the plan of “rest periods”, as .they are called there, believing that they lead to greater output. Tlie National Industrial Confer nee Board, an organisation for the seieitiiic investigation of Labour problems, financed iby the leading firms of America, recently studied this matter.. It found that out of 233 big establishments 104 had tried “rest periods” and only 15 had discontinued them after trial. The opinion of tlie employers was on the whole decidedly favourable. They found that it pays in output and quality of work, lessens fatigue and reduces accidents.

Many firms started the morning rest of ten minutes because they found that nearly every' worker paused for a time to nibble a little lunch or for some other purpose. This was done more or less furtively. By recognising it, regularising it, and doing it all at once, there came less interference with routine and a greater spurt when the rest was over.

In the case of women workers, so fains the effect on the women themselves was concerned, the opinion was practically unanimous. The pauses lead in nearly every c iis e to better work, more work, and fewer mistakes. Whore work is conducted at high strain, work demanding clearness of vision and nimbleness of fingers, or careful listening, as in the case of dictaphone or telephone operators, efficiency lessens after two hours of close work. The ten minutes’ break remedies this. Some houses give elderly employees special time off each day.

The drawback in many businesses is ■that a pause interrupts work for far more than the actual time of the pause. Soldering irons become cold and have to be reheated, which means consuming another ten minutes. In a confectionery factory chocolate cools in the dipping room. “Tho average employee takes plenty' of rest in an eight-hours day as it is,” grumbled the manager of one large epmpany'. “He talks to his neighbour, gets a drinlr, and tlio like. ‘Smoking time’ would simply mean giving agitators a chance to promote 'campaigns of unrest among their fellows.” ... The president of one laundry company reported that all or nearly all quarrels started in the rest room.

Piece-workers make another difficulty. Many piece-workers do not care to lose the time. It is hard to convince them that their output would he greater and not less because of the pause. They block the way for others who are paid by the day. i Tlio endeavour to find out the actual statistical result of the “rest period” on output failed. There are so many variables entering into tho matter of production that it is impossible to detect what effect any parieular one lias on the whole.

“The only conclusion which it has been possible for us to make,” said the industrial engineer, in an establishment where 4,000 people were pi von “rest periods,” “is one based one common sense. We believe that it is .selfevident that a few minutes in the mid. die of the morning and dn the middle of the afternoon devoted to relaxation and to exercises which will straighten out the cramped hones and muscles of workers will have beneficial results in every way. It may be that these periods cause a temporary slowing clown in production. Here again, we believe that'this temporary abatement is compensated in the long run.”

And that seems the last word in tlie matter.