Introduction. The relevance of the article is due to the fact that the modern assessment of the work of investigative bodies is based on statistical indicators that do not take into account the conditions of their functioning, staffing and the resulting workload distributed among investigators. This circumstance does not allow for a reliable assessment of their activities and making management decisions corresponding to their results. For this reason, it is necessary to improve approaches to regulating the work of investigators. One of such approaches may be the definition of optimal industry workload standards for their procedural activities. These standards may become a significant tool in improving the quality of the organization of functioning of investigative bodies. The importance of solving the problem of determining industry workload standards led the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia to contact the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia with an initiative to conduct a scientific study on this topic. Statement of the problem. The methodology for calculating the optimal workload on investigators is not regulated by law. Attempts to create it have been made more than once using various approaches, mainly within the framework of developing a methodology for calculating the staffing level of investigative bodies. Currently, the processes associated with changes in the legal regulation of the organization of activities of territorial internal affairs bodies, in the state of crime and the increase in this regard of the labor intensity of preliminary investigation, have determined the need to return to the issue of the methodology for calculating the optimal workload and determining workload indicators adequate to the current state of working conditions of investigative bodies. Methods. The study used: document research method, formal-legal, logical, comparative methods. Results. The basis for the methodology for determining a reasonable workload for one investigator should be recognized as the calculation of the ratio of the annual fund of his working time and the labor intensity of his profile procedural activity. It is advisable to establish labor intensity by timing this activity and taking into account the opinion of the expert community. The optimality and reliability of the calculations are determined by the boundaries and volumes of the empirical material used for them and are confirmed by the results of the study of materials from checks of reports of crimes and criminal cases.