Workday photography definition. Analysis of photographs of a working day. How to determine labor standards

Working time photo- this is a type of observation with the help of which the time spent by one worker or group associated with the implementation of a particular process throughout the entire working day (shift) or part of it is studied and analyzed, regardless of what this time was spent on. The FRF does not disclose the technology and methods for carrying out the process, but only records its progress.

The purpose of the FRF is to identify reserves for increasing productivity and improving the use of equipment. This is achieved by identifying the feasibility, sequence of certain time expenditures, their measurement, establishing the degree of possible compaction of the workday of performers, eliminating losses of working time and equipment downtime.

The purpose of working time photography is to identify shortcomings in the organization of labor and production that cause losses or irrational use working time, designing a more rational time allocation work shift by categories of time spent, in determining the actual production of products, the rate of its production and the uniformity of work during the shift.

With skillful, widespread and systematic application of the FRF, the head of the enterprise will always have a clear understanding of the work and downtime of workers and equipment, and the causes of lost working time.

By the number of objects of observation, forms of labor organization, etc. FRF is divided into individual, group, brigade, mass, route, multi-machine, target, photograph of the production process and photograph of equipment use(see diagram 2). There is also a distinction between duplicated and picket photography of the working day.

Dubbed Two workers take photos of the working day at the same time. This method is used when visibility of the observed object is limited. Observers work independently of each other and, when finished, compare the results to get the overall picture.

Picket photography of the working day is carried out by several observers who are located at certain points and record the moment of passage of the observed object through this point. This method is most often used when studying the operation of transport, because According to safety rules, the observer cannot travel with the vehicle all the time. During an individual PDF, the observer studies the working time expenditure of one performer working at one workplace or the time of use of equipment during a work shift or part thereof.

The progress of the study of working hours is recorded in a special document - an observation sheet of the individual FW.

The first page indicates the name of the enterprise and the unit being studied, the date of the study, beginning and end, total duration, last name of the worker, length of service, tariff category etc.

On the second and third pages, observation data is recorded, on the fourth, the results are analyzed and the time spent is projected.

To simplify the recording and processing of the results of the PDF, the cost of working time is indexed:

PZ – preparatory and final time;

OP – operational time;

OS - main time;

B – auxiliary time;

OBS – workplace service time;

OTL – time for rest and natural needs;

ND – time of extraneous conversations;

LT - lack of electricity;

Time reporting is carried out with an accuracy of 1 minute.

Let's consider an example: PDF of a sales manager of a commercial company.

Date of observation: 03/20/1999

Beginning of observation: 8 hours 30 minutes.

End of observation: 17:30

Work: customer service, work with suppliers, analysis of sales volume Working conditions: normal Sales Manager: Novgorodtsev A. A.

Age: 28 years old.

Work experience: 4 years Experience in this job: 2 years.

Attitude to work: conscientious Observer Kuznetsova S. A.

Name of working time costs	Current time in hours and minutes	Duration (min)
Arrival at workplace
Preparation of the workplace
Customer Service
Receiving and viewing email
Receiving a list of paid invoices from the accounting department and familiarizing yourself with it
Checking the availability of paid goods in the warehouse
Customer Service
Personal care
Preparation of orders to suppliers
Customer service
Discussing orders with suppliers by phone
Customer service

Customer service
Personal care

Conversation with a co-worker on a personal topic
Customer service
Making a plan for the next day
Turning off the computer, putting things in order in the workplace
Leaving work

PZ=5+15+3+2=25

OP=20+30+20+10+25+75+5+85+120+18+10=418

OTL=5+60+5+5=75

Processing the observation record is reduced to: determining the duration of each type of work and downtime; putting down letter indices; drawing up the actual time balance.

The duration of each work is determined by subtracting the current time of the phenomenon under consideration from the current time of the subsequent one. The duration of the entire observation is equal to the duration of the shift (at 8 hours - 480 minutes)

Using working time cost indices, the total cost for each type of work and downtime is calculated. This data is recorded in the working time balance.

Time consumption index	Type of working time costs	planned	actual
	Preparatory and final time
	Operating time
	Time for rest and natural needs
	Loss of working time due to the fault of the worker

Based on the planned and actual balance of working time, indicators of the use and loss of working time are calculated, conclusions are drawn about possible increase labor productivity by eliminating identified losses.

Thus, based on the balance, the coefficient for improving the use of working time is determined. For calculation use the formula:

Purchase=Tek./T emb.

where is purchase – working time utilization factor;

Tek. – possible reduction of wasted time, min.

Tnab. - duration of observation when taking photographs, min.

To seal = (25 – 10) + (418 – 405) + (75-25) + 22 / 480 = 0.20

The increase in labor productivity (LPT) is determined as follows:

Insert formula

Lost time due to reasons depending on the worker (ND) is equal to:

Insert formula

Lost time due to reasons beyond the control of the worker is equal to:

Insert formula

Possible increase in labor productivity by eliminating

organizational and technical problems

losses depending on the worker:

Consequently, by improving discipline, labor productivity will increase by 4%.

by eliminating unproductive work and all lost working time.

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In the process of working with personnel, a manager often has to resort to using various methods and tools. One of them is “working day photography”.

What is it and the purpose of it?

"Photography of a working day"(or "work time photograph", « timing of working hours") is the study of how rationally one spends work time a specific employee, department or team as a whole. This happens through continuous observation, measurement and detailed recording of all time spent on any action, operation, smoke break, etc. within one working day (shift).

The main purpose of using the “working day photograph” tool is to identify reserves for increasing labor productivity.

Problems solved using “working day photography”:

Identification of temporary losses during a work shift, analysis of their causes
Determination of volumes and rates of task completion (manufactured products, etc.)
Obtaining data for calculating standards (workplace maintenance time, rest break, etc.)

Ways to take a “working day photograph”:

Using pre-installed video equipment

The “advantages” of this method: people who are not informed about the ongoing shooting will behave naturally.

“Disadvantages”: for subsequent analysis of the results, it is necessary to transcribe the video recording on paper (time, human action).

Personal observation by a staff member

“Disadvantages”: employees, not understanding why a “working day photograph” is needed, suspecting that the employer is simply “digging” under them, and fearing sanctions (especially reduction wages), behave inappropriately. Either extremely aggressively, or too diligently, or even refuse to start working under the watchful eye of the “photographer”. As a result, the data obtained becomes biased.

Therefore, before starting the research, we advise you to carry out explanatory work among the company’s personnel.

“Self-photographing” - the employee independently describes each of his actions

Stages of taking a “working day photograph”:

Preparation
Conducting research during a selected period of time + sequential recording of all actions of the object of observation
Analysis of results
Development of measures aimed at improving the situation and eliminating lost working time

"Photography of a working day." Sample and work procedure

Decor

To conduct the research, prepare a form in advance where you will enter the information received. What does it include?

Background information:

Date of the “working day photograph”
Full name of the employee
Name of position and department (place of work)

Table with four columns:

What was observed (any employee action, event, etc.)
Current time (hours, minutes)
Duration (minutes)
Cost index

Be sure to indicate the start time of observation in the first line of the table, and the end time in the last line.

How to record information?

A specially trained employee of the personnel management service monitors the employee and writes down the action and time on the form (the first and second columns are filled out). For example,

Employee Ivanov Oleg Mikhailovich

Account Manager corporate clients, sales department

Observation start time: 9.00

Arrival at the workplace - 9.00

Meeting with the head of the department - 9.05

Call to client - 9.15

Analysis Email – 9.22

Reading and editing the contract - 9.33

Leaving the office for personal matters – 9.45

Telephone conversation with a delivery service employee – 9.52

Assisting a new client in preparing an application – 9.58

Client call – 10.15

Smoke break – 10.23

Compilation commercial offer – 10.29

Completion of observation – 18.00

Further work procedure

Then the third column of the form is filled in, that is, the time spent on each action is calculated (in minutes). And fourth - a cost index is entered according to unified system classification of time costs (table “Indexation of working time costs”).

A summary of the same costs and working time balances (both actual and normal) is compiled. The obtained data is calculated and analyzed. Conclusions are drawn.

“Working day photography” is a necessary tool for any enterprise!

Taking a “working day photograph” allows you to solve many problems and optimize the work process as much as possible. With its help, outdated or erroneous standards and the level of workload of an employee, department or team as a whole are identified. And based on its results, it is possible to redistribute responsibilities, increase labor productivity, improve standards, and maybe pay a bonus.

“Photography of a working day”, in addition to timing work, allows you to analyze the relationships between the organization’s services and optimize business flows.

It happens that an employee at the workplace does not have time to complete the tasks assigned to him. The reasons for this may be different - low qualifications, too much workload, or he is simply doing the wrong thing at work. Actually, this can be verified by conducting a special study. Working day photo: example of filling, and assignment cases should be considered in detail.

Workday Photography (WPD) is a tool that helps increase the productivity of any company, although at the first stage it helps to know where exactly the employee/employees spend their working hours.

Working time photography is a method that helps to study the time spent by a particular employee on certain actions during work. All observations and measurements obtained during the process are documented; a sample and example of filling out a photograph of a working day will be presented below.

If you successfully master the method, it will help you obtain unique data regarding the organization of the work process of any employee, and find out the productivity of each person. That is, in the future, adjust the workload and ensure that everything is done so that work tasks are completed.

An extremely detailed study and notation of the results will help find the answer to the following questions:

How much time does the employee (researched) spend on each type of work he encounters daily?
How long does it take different workers to perform the same tasks?
Are there opportunities to improve labor efficiency and what is needed for this?
Is it possible to simplify or eliminate any stages or transfer them to other structural units?
Options for setting labor productivity standards.
Reasons for non-compliance with existing work standards.
How effectively does a particular employee use his or her working time?
Are there technical problems that prevent you from completing your tasks?

Important! A photograph of working hours provides information that can be used in the future by economists and managers to draw up company plans and budgets, and adjust them.

Some features

Among the features of this process are the following:

FRD may occur after the introduction of new equipment that relieves some workers of their duties.
This type of work is often performed by an authorized HR employee.
Photographs can be taken throughout the day, as well as certain operations, stages, a team or one specialist.
Before you begin FRA, you should define your goals job responsibilities researched.
Sometimes self-photography is allowed, that is, for the photograph of working hours to be taken by the employee whose activities need to be tracked. In this case, it is understood that he himself makes all the entries in the report and records the time periods spent on certain actions. This technique will help the employee determine in what periods his working time is wasted irrationally.

Types of FRD

There is a division into types depending on the number of objects that will be monitored. More specifically:

Individual – concerns the study of the working time of a specific employee, while the detail of the effort expended will be as much as possible.
Group photography – this photograph of a working day involves observing the activities of a group of employees who are connected by certain work processes. The main task of this study is to check how effective the interaction is, whether their actions are coordinated, how busy each of them is, and check other processes.
Comprehensive – reveals the interrelationships of work processes. It turns out to study the rhythm of work, the rationality of using equipment. This method will be useful if you need to develop actions aimed at increasing labor efficiency.

Note! In order to obtain an extremely accurate picture and true data, photography is carried out over several days, weeks and even months.

Who benefits from FRD data?

A photograph of working hours will provide a lot of useful data for the manager and owner of the company. They get a picture of employee performance. Also, this data will be useful for the HR manager, the HR department for the formation of job descriptions, staff, etc.

Of course, the data obtained as a result of the FRD will help the employees themselves if they are interested in increasing the efficiency of their work and fulfilling their job responsibilities.

Procedure for conducting FRD

Photographing working time is a process that requires the utmost scrupulousness and attentiveness from the performer. He literally needs to record everything, including telephone conversations on personal topics.

It all starts with preparation, defining a goal. So, if the purpose of observation is to determine whether employees are following the rules, then photographing groups of employees can be carried out at once. If labor discipline is violated - it will be noticeable immediately. For example, they often go on smoke breaks or drink tea outside the designated periods, instead of doing work.

In situations where it is necessary to optimize the working day of one employee, a photograph of the working day is taken individually for each. Not only what he does is recorded, but also the processes of interaction with other employees and their effectiveness.

Important! FRD can be carried out either explicitly or covertly, that is, without informing the employee about it. As practice shows, it is the second option that helps to identify where most of the working time is actually spent. If the second method is chosen, then at the preparation stage you should come up with a legend regarding the implementation of the observer.

It is worth noting that the final results depend on the instruction and training of those who will conduct the FRD. Also at this stage, you should agree on the forms on which the information will be entered.

Rules for entering data into the FRD

In order for the form to meet the requirements, you must enter the following information:

Company name, its structural unit.
Name of observation, number and date of its implementation.
The form itself contains data regarding the employee being monitored - full name, profession, position, work performed.
Brief description of his job responsibilities.

This is followed by a tabular part in which specific time costs and a description of the actions that took this time are entered. For example:

Turning on the computer – 5 minutes.
Smoke break – 10 minutes.
Communication with clients – 45 minutes.

And such a chronology records all the actions performed by the employee during the working day. All observations are carried out in real time. At the end, a summary is made where the following important time costs are calculated:

Preparatory and final actions.
Time for workplace maintenance.
Operational time.
Time for breaks.

Important! The document must be signed by the head of the structural unit where the subject works.

Conclusion

Working time photography is an effective tool for checking what employees are doing and why they are not able to complete the tasks assigned to them. Such observation will help, among other things, identify applicants for dismissal or find out how many people need to be added to the staff.

Efficiency makes people successful and competitive. An excellent tool for studying how effectively you use your working time is working time photography, in other words it is also called timekeeping. What kind of tool is this, how to use it and what results it brings - read the article.

What is a working time photograph?

This is a research method in which a whole working day or a certain period of time is subjected to continuous measurement. Thanks to such observation, it is possible to obtain information about what an employee, group of employees or team is doing during the working day. The observation is carried out by a specialist, but such a study can also be carried out independently. Totally all actions are subject to recording, both related to work and distractions, smoking breaks, and so on.

This is a popular tool among employees who are passionate about time management and understand the importance of time management. Moreover, if you are interested in the question of how to optimize your working time, working time photography is the first step. You can only manage what is measured. Often, just observation, even without making changes to the working day, already leads to increased efficiency.

Goals

This method serves a number of purposes. One of the most important is identifying lost time during the working day. The next step is to identify the causes of time loss and develop a system of measures that will allow you to work more efficiently. Working time photography allows you to develop time standards for work processes, adopt organizational experience from the most successful employees and teach it to other people to achieve high results.

This kind of research becomes especially valuable when the issue of expanding or reducing staff or redistributing responsibilities is being decided.

If you want to discuss with your manager about increasing your pay or finding an assistant, a self-composed individual photograph of working hours will be an excellent evidence base. You will have weighty arguments, and the manager will take your proposals more seriously if you prepare in this way.

Taking working time photography

Despite the fact that the name of the procedure contains the word “photography”, nothing from photographic equipment is required. All you need is paper and a pen. To simplify the task, ready-made forms with filling samples have been developed. They can be found in Consultant type legal systems. You can develop the form yourself or get by with an ordinary table.

One day is not always enough, so observation can be carried out for several days.

The whole process can be divided into three stages: preparatory, observation process, processing of results. At the preparatory stage, forms are drawn up and filled out, at the observation stage, records are kept, at the stage of processing the results, they calculate how long a particular type of work takes, analyze the effectiveness, and draw conclusions.

Calculation of results

Preparation and completion work (starting up equipment, preparing the necessary tools, turning off equipment, cleaning the workplace).
Organizational matters.
Time spent on direct performance of duties.
Rest breaks and lunch.

Smaller groups may be identified if appropriate for a particular study. Then a coefficient is calculated showing the efficiency or ineffectiveness of the employee’s working day.

Timekeeping form

The form must have a “header” where information about the full name and specialty of the employee, the enterprise where the research is being conducted, and the date and time of the analysis is entered.

Then there should be a table. The first column is a serial number, then a column for the name of the work being performed. The third column indicates the time period from when and until when the work was performed. The fourth column calculates the amount of time spent on work. You can add a column for notes.

Main types of research

They can observe one employee, then it will be an individual photograph. They can observe a group or brigade, then it will be a group or brigade photograph.

If observation is carried out throughout the working day, then such a photograph is called classic. You can not fixate the whole day, but only its individual moments.

Another division has already been mentioned above. A specialist can observe, or you can photograph the working day yourself. When using an outside observer, you may encounter negative reactions from employees. They may refuse to work under supervision or, conversely, begin to work faster and more than usual, which will lead to incorrect data on time costs.

Research can also be carried out using video equipment. On the one hand, this allows you to obtain objective information, on the other hand, not every action can be clearly delineated by observing it only from the outside, without comments from the person performing the work.

Psychological preparation

A study of how employees use working time - photography of working time, a technically simple, but psychologically complex method. Employees perceive such studies as an attempt to monitor them, worsen working conditions, identify shortcomings and punish them.

Therefore, it is important to pay attention to preliminary explanations of the importance of such study. Has a serious impact If people work in an atmosphere of trust and goodwill, they will willingly go along with anything that will help make the organization more efficient and competitive. If, on the contrary, the team is characterized by distrust and constant punishment, then it will be extremely difficult to obtain reliable information that will actually produce results.

It is important to build a motivation system in which it would be beneficial for employees to work most efficiently.

Let's look at an example

It is not possible for every employee to create an accurate timeline of the working day. It is most difficult to conduct it with employees employed in managerial positions; photographing an accountant’s working hours is especially difficult. It’s easier with those specialists whose operations have clear boundaries and distinctive features. As a rule, these are blue-collar jobs.

Let's look at an example. The employee holds the position of manager in the corporate department. Here is a photograph of working hours (sample):

The start of the working day is 9-00.
Preparation (booting the computer, preparing documents) - 9-10.
Planning meeting - 9-15.
Telephone conversation with key client - 9-30.
Checking email - 9-42.
Preparing a contract for a client - 9-53.
Smoke break - 10-37.
Preparing a presentation of a new product for a client - 10-57.
Lunch - 14-05.
Internship for a new employee - 14-58.
Smoke break - 16-15.
Calling clients - 16-30.
End of the day (cleaning the desktop, turning off the computer) - 17-55.
Going home - 18-00.

Who needs this information?

First of all, interested parties are the managers and owners of the company, who want to understand how optimally the staff is loaded, whether the labor resources companies.

HR department employees personnel services also need similar studies in order to draw up feasible job descriptions, select exactly the number of employees needed in the organization, and conduct research work.

Responsible employees themselves are interested in ensuring that the working day is used efficiently, without downtime and emergency work, and that situations with overtime or work taken home are not created.

You are now familiar with a technique that allows you to evaluate whether working time is being used effectively (working time photography). Try to apply the method in practice, you will find a large number of reserves, you will see how to work optimally. Thanks to this approach, you can turn into one of the most productive employees of the company, and this will definitely be seen and appreciated.

As you know, proper distribution of time to perform assigned duties is one of the main ways to increase labor productivity and work efficiency. Specialists who know how to use working time correctly are able to work as usual, without rush jobs or overtime. But... this is often not enough. If the manager cannot objectively assess the role of each employee in the common cause and distribute the load in accordance with his skills and abilities, the employee himself will not be able to cope. And chaos settles in the company.

What is a working day photograph and why is it needed?

A familiar picture for many office workers. Everyone is busy with something. Negotiations and meetings, reports and presentations, graphs and diagrams. Endless bustle and a heap of tasks pouring in as if from a cornucopia. Are we opening the store today? No, a cafe? Are we going to conclude a supply agreement?

As a result. Everyone is on edge, dissatisfaction is growing in the team, productivity drops to zero. This is where working day photography can come in handy. Namely, a thorough study of the use of working time, recording the time spent on certain actions. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s drawing up an important report or taking a smoke break.

Contrary to the prevailing opinion that the timing of working hours is a procedure that does not foreshadow anything good things to the employees, today this is far from the case.

Goals and objectives

Of course, most companies aim to find inefficiently used minutes or hours and reduce labor costs. As an option, fire one employee and shift his responsibilities to the remaining specialists without additional pay, or increase production standards using a piece-rate wage system.

However, time photography has many other purposes.

As for workers, economic department or accounting department, then a photograph of working time will help to correctly assess the use of working time, distribution of responsibilities and workload. Draw conclusions about the need to carry out certain activities.
On its basis, norms and piece rates are calculated.
With its help, it is easy to identify the reasons for non-compliance with standard indicators or low sales performance. And this may not only be the fault of the employee. Among the reasons are errors in calculations, irrational use of equipment, uneven capacity utilization, and untimely receipt of tasks.

It is likely that the economist draws up graphs that no one needs, and makes important reports after work. Or in the sales department, several people bring results, and the rest only create the appearance of vigorous activity, conducting negotiations and meetings. And not everyone has the ability to quickly sell a product to a large number of buyers. But this does not mean that the specialist is superfluous in the sales department. Perhaps he knows how to quickly and efficiently collect information and analyze it. In this case, a review of his responsibilities will help the employee realize himself, and the manager will delegate to him some of the responsibilities of managers, allowing them to work more time, for example, with the client base.

The main objective of such an event as working time photography is to increase the efficiency of the company by reducing costs and using the full potential of each employee.

Features of taking photographs of working hours

The specifics of taking work time photography will depend on several factors.

Goals. To calculate norms and prices, you will need to fill out 4-5 observation sheets with photographs of the working day in order to avoid errors in calculations later.
Identifying inefficiently used working time. The most difficult and responsible moment. Since it requires an objective approach, understanding the functions and tasks of each employee. It is carried out several times with a fairly large time interval. They try to take into account seasonality, uneven load by day of the week and time of day. For sales managers, such control must be constant. Supply and demand change, buyers change, and therefore time costs change. Fortunately, modern technologies make it possible to monitor working hours without involving a large number of specialists.
Worker professions. For each profession, there are some features of the timing of the working day.

If an employee is engaged in production, where he carries out the same operation every day, then for analysis it will be enough to take 1-2 measurements to fully assess the effectiveness of his work.
There will be completely different requirements for a chef in a restaurant. Its load depends entirely on the number of visitors. And if the cook drinks tea in the back room, then it may not be his fault, but the management’s, which was unable to attract visitors. I wonder who should be fired or deprived of bonuses? Cooks? Administrator? Marketer? Someone who can't handle their responsibilities. And this is a reason for further, deeper analysis.
When should you come and take a photo of your working hours with an accountant, economist, or sales department specialist? During the period of filing reports, preparing a transaction or auction events, they will spin like a squirrel in a wheel. But there are times when every effort will be made to create at least some semblance of work. The correct answer is in different periods, having previously studied the existing distribution of responsibilities and workload. Only in this case can one objectively study the use of working time and make the necessary adjustments in their work.

Drivers and forwarders are a separate line. Taking photographs of a working day in this category is a rather labor-intensive process, which most companies try to rely on modern technology. However, analysis of downtime will help to better understand their cause and possibly refuse the services of some suppliers who regularly miss loading deadlines. After all, these are your direct losses.

Who benefits from the data?

The results of working time photography, first of all, reach the desks of economists, middle and senior managers. And if economists need them for further calculations, deducing standards and prices for remuneration, then management has its own goals.

Careful analysis and development of measures, identification of facts of ineffective use of working time and development of measures aimed at correcting the situation. With an objective approach, you can significantly increase the productivity of the department and the margin of the entire company. Just don’t act like “close the smoking room” and “turn off the Internet for everyone.” The latter is not an option at all these days. It’s better to organize a championship in the game of “Klondike” and deprive all the winners.

If you approach the matter with a purpose, competently, then in the sales department you can evaluate:

time spent on direct sales and data collection, paperwork and reporting preparation. It’s not uncommon for cumbersome reports to take up a lot of managers’ time. At the same time, they are difficult to read and uninformative;
degree of processes. One good program, and a lot of them have now been created for sales, will allow specialists to reduce the time for collecting information and analytics and direct it to actively promoting goods;
meetings and trainings. This is an integral part of the work of the sales department. But are they effective and are there many of them? If they have lost their relevance today and take up too much time, then it’s time to change approaches;
load. This is especially true for retail. It's no secret that product groups take different times. This means that managers have different time costs. Perhaps someone needs to relieve some of their workload, and someone else needs to add more work.

Types of working time photography

Some features of working time photography depend on its type. They are divided into individual, group and team.

Individual

One of the easiest ways to obtain accurate information about the time spent on performing a particular operation, as well as on preparing the workplace, receiving tasks and materials. This type of photograph of a specialist’s working day contains the least amount of errors.

Most often, an individual photograph of working time is used to derive standards and prices when applying individual piecework wages. And also to determine the effectiveness of the work of specialists who work not in a team, but in their own field. This type is used infrequently because it requires a lot of labor. After all, it turns out that for several days one standardization engineer will be busy with one employee. Ideal for sales managers.

Group

The most common type of work time photography. Suitable for individual analysis use of working hours, but at the same time there can be up to 15 people in the observation area. Helps evaluate the work of a small department production workshop, shopping center or cafe. Having the overall picture before your eyes, it is easy to identify the “weak link” in the team and the manager’s mistakes. The method is not very accurate and is not suitable for justifying norms and prices.

A working time photograph is taken as follows. The observer approaches each worker at equal intervals and notes on the card that this moment he does.

Brigade

In principle, it is similar to an individual one, only the object is a team of workers engaged in the production of one product or production stage, in which the beginning of the process and its end can be accurately determined. Most often used to justify norms and prices for all types of piecework collective wages. If, during the course of the study, doubts arise about the effectiveness of the team, or regular failure to comply with standards, a group photograph of the working day is taken.

Almost never used for office workers, including the sales department.

Order of conduct

The decision to take a working day photograph is made by the manager.

Setting goals

The initiators of such events can be managers of all ranks who want to evaluate the performance of their subordinates, standards engineers when launching a new type of product, economists who doubt standards or prices. A photograph of a working day, a summary of results and their analysis is not a matter of one day.

Preparation

After determining the goals and objectives that are planned to be accomplished during the upcoming events, direct preparation begins. In accordance with them, the form of photographing working hours is chosen, the number of studies and their dates are determined, working day cards are prepared, performers and responsible persons are appointed. All dates are agreed upon with the immediate managers of the departments in which the timing will take place. They will be the ones who will be able to correctly assess the load and choose the most appropriate time. Standardizers first become familiar with the main stages of work at the site under study.

Currently, you can track the work of a sales manager using software, telephone conversations and a simple system administrator. But if you want to check the effectiveness of completing tasks with a high degree of reliability, then it is better to involve an outsider who can evaluate it both individually and during the work of the entire sales department.

Photographing a working day

The photographing process starts from the start of working hours.

With the individual method, the observer notes the time, the name of the operation or type of work, and the completion time. He has the right to clarify the type of work performed or reports and documents compiled. Especially when it comes to office workers.
In the group form, the observer periodically approaches each worker and writes down the work being performed on the card. The frequency and time of observation depends on the number of people involved in working time photography. When involving experts, it is better to present it to department employees. With the right level of training, he can easily cope with the task of discreet surveillance.
With a brigade uniform, it is most difficult to photograph working hours. It is carried out in the context of professions and for each operation performed in the team. As with the group form, the observer approaches each worker. The most accurate results will be obtained when working with 3–5 observables.

Rules for entering data

Filling out sheets of photographs of the working day is carried out either manually, or, if software is available, is immediately entered into the program.

The observer fills out the front side of the sheet, which indicates the purpose of taking a photo of working hours, its object, date, start and end time, and the observer’s data. When entering data, entries should begin with the preparation of working hours, and end with cleaning, if any. The start of the next operation is considered to be the end time of the previous one. All entries are made in clear handwriting without corrections or erasures. The time for each operation is calculated and entered.

At the end of photographing, the observer fills out the summary part of the sheet, where he summarizes the time for individual operations and time costs. Signs the photo sheet and submits it for processing.

Processing the results

The results are most often processed in automatic mode. This is done by economists or labor standards engineers. They summarize the results in tables that show time spent by operation, employee, profession, team or department.

Analysis of results

During the analysis of photographs of working hours, it is established specific gravity its costs for effective, necessary and ineffective activities. They are compared with the standards for each industry. They evaluate the work of employees, their workload, find reserves of working time and the possibility of reducing costs, redistributing responsibilities, increasing or decreasing standards and prices. And of course, they analyze the reasons for downtime, delays in receiving tasks, materials, tools and other factors affecting work efficiency.

Example of PDF

The workday photograph form consists of three parts. Title page, directly observation sheet and summary table of data processing.

The observation sheet is a table with columns indicating the start and end times of the operation, the type of operation being performed, and the time spent in hours and minutes. The summary part indicates the type of operation and the amount of time spent on it per day of observation. As a sample, individual sheets of photographs of the working day of some professions are presented.

Accountant

As mentioned earlier, the distribution of an accountant’s working time varies significantly across periods. Let's take an ordinary working day as an example.

Engineer

One of the specialties, work time photography can say either a lot or nothing. Depends on the industry. As a rule, if the engineer sits still and the equipment works stably, then this the best option for the employer.

Economist

In analyzing the use of an economist's working time, there are also many subjective factors. Starting from the industry and ending with the direction of work of the economist himself. As an example, a checklist for an economist or sales manager is given.

Nurse

One of the specialties in which the workday schedule depends little on external reasons, seasonality and other objective factors. Of course, if this is not intensive care.

Driver

You can learn a lot from his work time photo sheet. True, today most companies prefer to work with GPRS navigation.

The sheet shows that due to the buyer, the driver’s overtime was 1.5 hours. If this happens constantly, then you should either file a claim with the buyer or shift the costs to the transport company.

Disadvantages of the technique

The method has virtually no disadvantages. The latter are usually associated with human factor. These are errors in measuring the time spent, incorrect completion of FVR sheets and inaccuracies in calculations. The subjective approach of a specialist who will subsequently analyze time costs can also play a negative role.

Working day photography is becoming increasingly accessible today, thanks to modern technologies. And this is good. It allows you not only to calculate standards or prices, but also to take a completely new look at the efficiency of using the most important resource of any company. Personnel. And they decide a lot.