SWF stands for “Standard Workload Formula” and is issued to full-time faculty each semester. The SWF provides a detailed account of: the courses being taught, number of sections of each course, class size, delivery method, preparation factor, evaluation factor, total number of students, Below the line hours (called complementary functions) release time for any college approved committees and the total number of hours per week (normally between 40 and 44 hours).
OPSEU/SEFPO provides a thorough overview of the SWF in this article: SWF – Standard Workload Formula
Fleming College’s HR Department created this resource: Reading and Understanding your SWF
Important Formulas on the SWF
Evaluation Factor
The Evaluation Factor is a formula built into the SWF that allocates the amount of time the professor is assigned to evaluate assessments in a course. There are 3 separate types of evaluation:
- Essay or Project
- Routine or Assisted
- In-Process
Professor Kevin Mackay’s excellent SWF Primer: Evaluation Factors (Part One) and SWF Primer: Evaluation Factors (Part Two) provides a good understanding how evaluation factors work.
Want to see a sample SWF? Check out an annotated SWF from Fanshaw College
SWF Calculator
Chairs use the SWF Calculator to build each professor’s SWF. The SWF calculator is simply an Excel spreadsheet that contains prepopulated formulas for evaluation factors, preparation factors, etc.
NOTE: The Kaplan Award included changes to the SWF effective January 2026.
You can try building your own SWF by downloading and using the Excel SWF Calculator. (This version has been updated to take into account the changes from the Kaplan Award)
If you require clarification of any part of your SWF, or you would like your steward to review your SWF, feel free to contact a steward or Andrew Bohart from the Workload Monitoring Group (WMG).
A college approved tool for calculating a mixed evaluation factor (This version has been updated to take into account the changes from the Kaplan Award)
A tool for determining curriculum development time requirements
Fleming Faculty Union 