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Article
Author(s)
Josefa Angelie D. Revilla, Iris Ann G. Martinez
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DOI:10.17265/1537-1506/2014.05.002
Affiliation(s)
Josefa Angelie D. Revilla, assistant professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of the Philippines Los Baňos, Laguna, Philippines.
Iris Ann G. Martinez, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
ABSTRACT
In situations where discontinuity in operation occurs, specifically in a country where coontractualization has an increasing trend, the performance level of operators after the work break is of great interest. Existing studies have found that the performance of an operator declines after her operation is completely stopped. However, when the operator performed other tasks (may it be similar or not from her previous task) during the work break, the performance after the work break seems to be affected at different level. Contractual and regular operators from a semiconductor and textile company were considered to replicate a discontinuous and continuous operation. The processing times of contractual workers before and after several months of work break were compared. Two types of work break were seen to have significant effect on an operator’s performance after the work break, Type 1: 0% to 40% similarity from previous task and Type 2: 40% to 97% similarity from previous task. One can find that when 21% of tasks performed during the work break are similar to the operator’s previous task, there would be no change in her performance upon returning. On the other hand, a 5% decline in performance was observed after work break type 1 and an 8.54% improvement after work break type 2. Also, a remission rate of 18% from end of stint 1 to start of stint 2 under work break type 1 was seen, while 8% for work break type 2. This may also be true to other industries. Thus, further study is suggested.
KEYWORDS
performance of contractual operators, effects of work break, remission rate
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