An Industrial Experiment in Organized Rest Pauses

Abstract

It was discovered during recent explorations in various industries that many hours were wasted in irregularly recurring pauses. This paper outlines an experiment which attempted to regularize these unofficial pauses and to test whether fixed rest pauses could be introduced to reduce fatigue and improve quality and operatives' job satisfaction, without loss of production and earnings. This openly acknowledged the operatives' social need for communication. “Compensatory relaxation allowances” were therefore given as actual rest of 10 minutes at the end of each hour. Four 15-minute breaks at longer intervals were also tried. Interviews were held at three different stages to assess the effect of the experiment on the operatives' attitudes toward the job, colleagues, supervisors, etc. Improvement in production and its quality and in earnings was found at the end of the experiment, and the more frequent and shorter break of 10 minutes was unanimously preferred.