LONGER WEEK-END

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22740, 28 May 1937, Page 14

LONGER WEEK-END

WORK MORE IRKSOME DECREASE IN EFFICIENCY SOME FACTORY EXPERIENCES The irksoinoness of work on Monday mornings lms increased with the replacement of the dav-and-a-half weekend by the two-day week-end, in the experience of some Wellington factory executives among whom inquiries were made this'week, states the Dominion. The malady takes forms and has causes unexpected to those not in touch with manufacturing industries. The forewoman of a softgoods factory said she had found there were more absentees on Mondays since the introduction of the five-day week than previously. The extent to which girls in factories absented themselves from work, either from choice or because of illness, was surprising. Last Monday, for example, in this establishment, which employs between 135 and 140 women and jrii']s, eight went home from work and live did not attend at all. Serious hindrance in the work of the factory had been caused through substitutes less experienced in a particular task having to take an absent worker's place. Girls More Independent

A lot of absence was due, she said, to the independence of girls, wlm took time oil, losing pay, of course, but not thinking of tho inconvenience they caused in the factory. The two-day week-end seemed to tempt girls into taking an extra day more often than the shorter week-end had done. Sunburn received at week-ends, in the line weather, had been a serious cause of girls being absent.

An executive in a factory which had been working the short week before it became compulsory in the trade, but which had had to raise wages when it was introduced, said he was certain that the increase in wages had decreased the efficiency of the workers on Monday mornings, inducing a tendency to minor accidents. Young men and women were inclined to overdo sport and recreation, which higher wages facilitated, and they felt the effects after their holiday. More Married Women

"The majority of girls need comparatively little to keep them," he said, "and when they, get higher pay they require more time in which to spend it. Of course, they are not all the same. There is the homely girl and the dancing girl."

A statement that the short week had certainly caused a return of married women to work was made by the manager of a clothing factory. He said, however, that he had noticed no decrease in efficiency on Monday mornings. The improvement in business conditions at first allowed girls to marry and allowed married women to leave •work, but the introduction of the fiveday week bad made work more attractive, allowing sufficient time to be spent at home while money was being earned. Without the married women the factory would have been suffering a very severe labour shortage.