EMPLOYMENT MANAGER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 183, 29 April 1919, Page 6

EMPLOYMENT MANAGER

NEW PROFESSION IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY

HOW IT DEVELOPED

(By Meyer Bloomfield.)

£Mr. Meyer Bloomfield, who was appointed by. General Goethals to bo bead of the Industrial Service Department under the United States Shipping Board, is a pioneer in the Employment Manager movement, and the author'of a number of works on this' and kindred subjects.! Within a littlo juoro than half a dozen years a new movement and a now profesalon have been definitely recognised in tho management of America's industries.'- Tho movement has come to be ■ < genorally known as the employment' management movement; the profession - as that of the employment or personnel manager. The principles and tho technique-underlying this work are not now. What is new is the emphasis and the recognition of what has always been accepted as desirable in the building up and the supervision of a working force, and the establishment by the leading universities of courses for training men and women to do this work effectively.- The value of this work is Bignalised by-the setting up in,tlie.leading industries of .special employment and personnel departments, by the interest manifested in trade union circles, Secretary Wilson, the Labour member of President Wilson's Cabinet, having been tho guest of honour at the last annual convention of employment managers, held in Hochester, New York, and attended by nine hundred men and women, and by the National Government's promotion of this work as a war measure intended to help to organise the war industries on the most efficient production basis possible. The Ordnance branch of tho War Department itself required the appointment and the training of six hundred employment managers for its factories, Filling a Job. A few simple and universally accepted ideas underlie the work of employment management. The hiring of workers is an important function, and 6hould bo in the hands of trained men and women, who are given a responsible place in the scheme of management. Such work and all tnat it implies calls for brains and insight. It is not work for a weak or untrained subordinate. Bmploymcnt_ is, at bottom, a venture in co-operation. Irresponsible hiring and discharge in the hands of many littlo executives is a costly and wasteful thing, viewed from the standpoint of good management; and from the side of tho men, it goes contrary to their instinct as to how human beings should be dealt with in the employment relation.

The traditional way in building.up a ■working force on tilling job vacancies is to make a vague.and wholesalo demand for labour, and then pick at random from the crowds at the pate. The men, ones chosen, are then placed-on probation, with a certain amount of random supervision. If by chance they make good they remain; if, for reasons often un. known to them, they do not, out they Jo without recompense or explanation. AH sorts of little bosses are kings in their own domain, with unchecked authority over that most vital interest in a worker's life—his livelihood. Taken at its lowest, this is a bad business, demonstrated by the wasteful coming and going of iren in and out of the jobs. _ There can be no real organisation or spirit on a foundation of quicksands.

Managers in Conference. Eight years ago in the city of Boston JO men were- invited to come' together and discuss the problems of building up a working force. These men were in obarge of the hiring of employees in Boston's leading industries. It was probably the first time that these men, or men representing such work as they were doing, had ever boon called together to consider the common problems of their work. And the problems, as it soon appeared, wore many. Tho importance of the work. they wore engaged in, had never been properly realised, not even by themselves. Literally, they were responsible for pumping the life-blood into.their respective establishments, for this is what hiring men means, but their place- in management was obscure. ,' - ' Early, in the career of thj Boston association the need for providing special training of those who were to conduct employment work in commercial and industrial plants became apparent. To meet this need Dartmouth College, -the University of Pennsylvania, and "later Haward University, the University of Eflchester, Columbia University, and other institutions started through their schools of business special employment management courses. Men and: .women from all parts of the United States came; somo were sent by their employers, others olive to tho birth of a new vocation, with 4 large field for constructive service in industry, sought preparation. Meanwhile lending industries' in the country signified their interest by organising central employment " departments within their plant, and,.abolishing haphazard methods of employing and dismissing men. Tho International Harvester Company, for example, brought together six hundred foremon, and announced that in future they would have to plan their requisitions for help on a six months' basis carefully studied as to detail of the actual needs and qualifications of the workers required; that all interviews'would be conducted by the staff of •th'9""contral'employment office, which could give Hie necessary time'and care to the work, something a busy foreman could not; and that all dismissals would be investigated and passed upon ■by tho eamo central office. Other companies reorganised their employment 'system, if they had any, appointed tho best man or woman that could bo found for the purpose, and furnished requisite authority to tho new appointee for keeping in close touch with all employees, watching their progress, making such transfers as wore desirable as between departments, and ensuring a fair schemo of promotion. ,

For the first time many -large establishments began to keep adequate to cords of their employees. Instead of registering "hands," they were registering human being 9 with certain ambitions, skill, and experience; often far abovethat for which they wore specially enframed. It was the business of the employment department to know enough about the workers in the plant to give them the first call on any new or superior employment which opened up, and for which they were fitted. One of the first <ind most telling effects in the starting of these central employment departments was a sudden drop in the number of leavings and discharges. Emnloyeeshad a plnce to go to w ; th their grievances or suggestions, an office where (hey wem certain that what they had to sny would be intelligently understood. And they did go in fareo numbers, and found a real desire and power to cn-oper.ite with them in the oroljlem of makiiisr the best adjustment that could bo made of their skill and ambition to the organisation.

Labour Recruiting. The ouestion may be asked wbat. effect such an employment'department lias on other industrial arrangements, as. for example, shop committees, eolloctivo bargaining, yard delegates, shop stewards, and the like. Tho reply is that none of these is affected,'-except as improved management in tho handling of the labour force is always helpful. There can bo no doubt that an enlightened systom of recruiting labour, careful and fair selection of workers, systematic proirision for their advancement, encouragement in their progress, and protection against abuse of authority, is a distinct contribution to sound relations. This is true, and holds, whether tho employer is a State or a private, individual, the chief point to remember is that in employment management industry takes a constructive attitude. It seeks not merely, to minimisa friction spots: it is mainly interested in opening up clogged channels, and widening the 6Cope of opportunity during employment. When the United States entered the •war the Government took over the shipyards and started a large nmnbor of ■ujunition ,i,.works. ~cKvory, head, supported the idea of a wcll-con-dufited employment l department in connection with the war work. One of the first steps was to invite a number of '■universities to give short, intensive coulees in order to equip those vrho were

'to bo in charge of manning the factories an dother places with the workors remiired. All the shipyards, for instance, wcro invited to send one or more of their staffs to a six weeks' course in the nearest training centre. Tho Government paid all expenses. Tho Department of Labour 6ent a number of its agents to these courses, as an essential part of tho training consisted in laying down plans- for close co-operation between the labour exchange and the various establishments. Nothing helped so much to organise the munitions personnel in record time as the intelligent work of tho men and women who had been through tho employment management courses. Instructed as they were among other things as to tho best methods of canvassing for employees, the starting up of new shops and shipyards was effected with the least possible disturbance to tho labour market or waste of time and energy on the part of the prospective employee. Scientific Industry. One shipyard which had 4000 workers on its pay-roll had to enlarge because of a new contract for sixty destroyers to 15,000 men. Instead of making a wild scramble for men, Hooding tho countrr with advertisements and with scouts, something, of courso, which every other concern could duplicate, this particular yard began by enlarging its employment department. Men \rjro sent to take the courso in employment management, and when they had finished they were placed, by arrangement with the Federal Department of Labour, in tho offices of the various exchanges or public-employment beaueax. All advertisements were pointed in the name of the Government, and.not that of tho employer. Work conditions, wages, hours, and the like, were carefully specified. A housing staff was on dut.y to help locate tho new workers and their families. Transportation facilities were looked after. Surveys wero made of rentals, cost of living, and schooling in the vicinity of this shipyard, and the oncoming workers were assisted by tho employment staff to settle down without those cares and anxieties which, though often overlooked by management, touch the very souls of the men. As a. result- of this care and intelligence the shipyard in question secured its 15,000 men without a ripple in the labour market. Obviously work such as employment management embraces is a benefit to the men and to industry as a whole. Its effect on foremen and other minor officials in a works' has been wholesome. For the first time a new measure of the foremen's usefulness, other than his ability to get a certain o.utput, has been applied in a large way. This measure is his ability to hold his men and to appeal to their sense of self-respect. The employment manager keeps close watch on these things. Comparisons are made in black and white. . The records show just what is going on. One result has been an awakening of interest in the human, assets represented by even the humblest worker.

There is still much to be done, and much to lie learned. This new profession is still in the making. Its technique is far from complete. But it is a long step fcljyard to accept as a definite motive in management, the idea that the directing of a working force needs brains and vision—that those who are given this great responsibility must be equal to its demands on character and industrial, insight.