Method and apparatus for polishing work

There is disclosed a method of processing a work comprising polishing a work holding surface 4a of a work holding plate 4 by contacting and rubbing a work holding surface 4a of a work holding plate 4 with a polishing pad 2 attached on a polishing turn table 1 with providing polishing agent 5 thereto, holding a wafer W on said work holding surface 4a by vacuum-holding, and contacting and rubbing the wafer W with said polishing pad 2 to polish the work with providing polishing agent 5 characterized in that temperature of the polishing agent 5 or the polishing turn table 1 is controlled by temperature controller 7,9 so that a temperature of said work holding surface 4a when polishing said work holding plate 4 and a temperature of said work holding surface 4a when polishing the wafer w are controlled to be the same. Degradation of flatness due to thermal influence when polishing the holding plate and polishing the wafer can be prevented in a method of processing comprising polishing the work holding surface of the work holding plate to conform with the deformed shape of the polishing pad, holding a work with the work holding surface, and polishing the work.