Citation
(2002), "Simple but effective?", Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2002.07951gaa.004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited
Simple but effective?
Simple but effective?
On the subject of measurement, I came across a "proxy" for productivity in an office environment based on "downtime" – of a worker, or a piece of equipment. This defined "downtime" as unproductive periods waiting for another process to complete. Downtime was measured as a percentage of available time and was converted into a monetary measure using an "average" hourly pay rate. This is a fairly simple measure and therefore has some merit. It does, though, suggest that work (as opposed to downtime) is always productive. In my experience, an organisation can be fully occupied, yet have low productivity.