The study of labor processes has many goals. One of the methods is photographing the working day (FRD), which is the observation and fixing of the time spent by an employee or a group of such during a shift. RDF is needed to identify and eliminate shortcomings in the organization of labor that are the cause of the useless use of working time.
The photograph of the working day objectively determines the preparatory-final time costs, the periods of servicing the workplace. It makes it possible to calculate the time required for personal needs and rest, to obtain source material for the analysis of operational time, to develop labor standards. A photograph of a working day should be distinguished from timekeeping, during which only operational time is recorded.
This method is applicable to any category of workers; its effectiveness has been proved by the scientific
organization of labor. A photo of
the manager’s working
day will allow him to objectively evaluate his workload and draw appropriate conclusions. For employees, unlike workers for whom there is a
standard of production, service or number, this is often the only method that allows you to get an objective picture of the work process.
The photograph of the working day is made according to the standard algorithm in three stages. First, this is preparation for the observation process. To do this, we study the documentation that describes the process under study (technological, working, labor protection instructions, job descriptions). In addition, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the organizational and technical working conditions, equipment used, equipment, tools, work clothing and PPE. If, for example, a photograph of the secretary’s working day is taken , then you need to study the instructions for working with documents. Preparation for observations is necessary in order to correctly identify the actions of the observed and as a result to understand whether they really relate to working time.
The second stage is the observations themselves. They can be carried out both continuously throughout the shift, and discretely. The second technique for photographing a working day is used, as a rule, for observing workers who do not have a stationary workplace. In the process of observation, a tablet, a photo card, a stopwatch (clock) are used. To cover a large number of jobs , a photograph of the working day can be taken in the form of self-photography, in which workers independently take into account their work time and record losses. The accuracy and detail of the entries in the photo map depends on the purpose of its implementation.
The final stage of the study is the processing of photo maps. As a result, indexing of the periods of working time, calculation of the duration of all elements, their summation is performed. A compilation of results obtained from several observations (to reduce the error), and data analysis based on the objectives of the observation. In particular, organizational and technical measures can be developed to reduce the useless expenditure of working time, and aggregated norms of time, maintenance or output can be calculated.