A worker is a person engaged in carrying out work. In cost estimating, the hands-on workers who directly produce the work are counted when calculating production rates, while other workers supervise or support that work in some way.
The distinction matters when building up rates. Productive labour, such as bricklayers or groundworkers, is included in the unit rates for measured work. Supervisory staff, such as foremen and site managers, and support labour, such as general operatives attending other trades, are usually priced in the preliminaries or as an addition to the gang rate. Getting the balance right avoids pricing supervision twice or leaving it out altogether. In UK employment law, “worker” also has a specific legal meaning that sits between an employee and a self-employed contractor, which affects rights such as holiday pay and the minimum wage.
Related terms: labour, gang rate, productivity, wage rate.
