94 MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY PLANTS 



monthly wages are usually so adjusted that it would be fair to 

 use them as a basis for dividing the earnings belonging to the 

 employees. 



Such work as butter wrapping usually comes under the head 

 of piecework, but in connection therewith the premium system 

 may be adopted to advantage by paying a certain rate for the 

 first thousand pounds, a slight increase for the second thousand, 

 stUl another increase for the third thousand, etc. By this 

 method the employees should produce still greater results than 

 by a regular piecework system. 



Haulers are successfully employed on the percentage system. 

 Any increase in salary may be based on the accuracy of their 

 work regarding weighing and sampling; it may be based on an 

 increase in the amount of butter fat received on a route over 

 the previous year, or it may be paid on butter fat received from 

 new customers, or finally, it may be paid on the quality of 

 cream delivered by the driver, which encourages the hauler to 

 care properly for the cream while on the road and to instruct 

 properly the patrons in the matter of care of cream on the farm. 



The premium and percentage method, if properly managed, 

 should prove a big success. It makes the employee feel as if he 

 had a financial interest in the business and as a rule the com- 

 pany receives from such an employee the best service he is able 

 to render. 



Prompt Pay. — The employees are usually in need of the 

 money as soon as it has been earned and if they are paid 

 promptly it creates a better feeling toward the employer which 

 means better work and a financial gain to the company. If the 

 employees are paid monthly they should receive their wages 

 not later than on the first day of the following month. It is 

 more satisfactory to pay all employees at the close of each week. 

 Some business concerns are paying their employees on the 

 tenth, fifteenth, or twentieth of each month for work done 

 during the previous month. Such a method of withholding the 

 employees' money can scarcely be considered businesslike and 

 there is no good reason therefor, as in a well-managed business 

 estabUshment the employees' pay roll is completed at the close 



