Work measurement provides vital inputs for manpower planning, reducing labor costs, scheduling, budgeting, and designing incentive systems. The most commonly used methods of work measurement are time study, historical times, predetermined data, and work sampling. Time study is the most widely used method, which involves timing workers performing short, repetitive tasks and computing a standard time. Standard elemental times can be derived from a firm's historical time study data or published predetermined time standards. Work sampling is used to estimate the proportion of time workers spend on various activities and idle time, especially for long, non-repetitive tasks. Standard time includes normal time adjusted for performance plus an allowance time for delays.

1. Work Measurement
Vital inputs for:
• Manpower planning
• Reducing labour costs
• Scheduling
• Budgeting
• Designing incentive systems
Standard Time
Amount of time a qualified worker should spend to complete a
specified task, working at sustainable rate, using given methods,
tools and equipment, raw material and workplace
Most commonly used methods of work measurement:
• Time study
• Historical times
• Predetermined data
• Work sampling

2. Work Measurement
Time Study
• Most widely used method of work measurement
• Especially appropriate for short, repetitive tasks
Average of a few properly trained workers’
performed time are taken as the standard
Basic steps:
• Define the task to be studied, and inform the worker(s) who will be studied
• Determine the number of cycles to be observed
• Time the job and rate the performance
• Compute the standard time
Breakdown of work into elements

3. Standard Elemental Time (SET)
Work Measurement
derived from a firm’s own historical time study data
• A time study department accumulates a file of elemental times that
are common to many jobs
• After a certain point, many elemental times can be retrieved from the
file
• Eliminate need for analysts to go through a complete time study to
obtain those
Predetermined Time Standards (PDTS)
published data on standard elemental times
• Commonly used system is Method-Time Measurement (MTM)
• MTM tables are based on extensive research of basic elemental times

4. Work Sampling
Two primary uses:
• Ratio-delay studies: concern the percentage of
worker’s time that involves unavoidable delays
appropriate for long, non-repetitive tasks
Work Measurement
is a technique for estimating the proportion of time that a
worker or machine spends on various activities and the idle
time.
• Analysis of non-repetitive jobs: percentage of
time an employee spends doing various jobs

5. Work Measurement
Observed Time (OT): simply the average of the recorded times
n
x
OT
i∑=
Normal Time (NT): observed time adjusted for worker performance
PR*OTNT =
Standard Time (ST): normal time required for a job plus
an allowance time for different delays
FA*NTST =
For job time
For time worked
AAFjob +=1
A
AFday
−
=
1
1

6. Work Measurement
Observed Time (OT): simply the average of the recorded times
n
x
OT
i∑=
Normal Time (NT): observed time adjusted for worker performance
PR*OTNT =
Standard Time (ST): normal time required for a job plus
an allowance time for different delays
FA*NTST =
For job time
For time worked
AAFjob +=1
A
AFday
−
=
1
1