In order to budget a certain number of personnel, an operator should know the amount of 'backlog' work, the rate at which it increases, and how to apply ______ to determine total

• A. Job standards
• B. Pay scales
• C. Time
• D. Work orders

Answer: (A)

The key idea is translating workload into staffing needs by using the standard time expected to complete each unit of work. Job standards provide the agreed-upon labor time per unit, so you can apply that standard to the backlog and the rate at which backlog grows to calculate the total labor hours required. Once you have the total hours, you convert that into how many personnel are needed based on how many productive hours each worker has available.

Pay scales relate to compensation, not workload. Time by itself doesn’t tell you how many workers are needed without a standard for how long each unit should take. Work orders describe tasks but don’t specify the standard time to complete them, so they don’t directly translate backlog into headcount.