Cox Crow

The Efficiency Expert: Simple Math

The act of measuring a thing has a cost, whether it's reflected in your phone bill or in your annual report. What if the cost of measurement is more than the losses generated by what it is that you trying to measure? Are those costs inconsiderable, or just hidden? Take worker productivity for an example.

Suppose you are a large company of 200,000 employees. You suspect that some 10,000 of those 200,000 are slackers, not performing up to par, and, based on reports from lower management, absent more often than not. In order to identify these slackers and other sub-par employees, you require salaried and hourly employees to track how they spend their time. Is this effort worthwhile?

Let's assume that the average hourly rate is $30. Let's assume further that it takes approximately two hours per day per employee to make note of the time spent, and to complete and file the appropriate forms.

Where's the savings?

5:18:26 PM # Google It!