Validity of estimates by clerical personnel of job time proportions

Abstract

Compares the estimated time allocations of 16 clerical workers with their actual time allocations as determined by work sampling procedures carried out surreptitiously over a 2-wk period. The average correlation between estimated and actual time allocations for individual workers was .88. Only 2 of the 16 correlations were under .8. The biggest difference between an estimated and actual time allocation for a particular work activity was 6% for the group of workers as a whole. It was indicated that time estimates from rank and file workers can be accurate enough to be useful in employee recruitment, selection, evaluation, training, and compensation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)