MACHINES IN BANKS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 November 1929, Page 2

MACHINES IN BANKS

DISPLACING CLERKS

DOOM OF THE PEN

DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITAIN. A revolution is at work in the great banks of; Britain. The machine is rapidly ousting the pen. The process, it is admitted on all hands, is bound to go on, with important results'-both for the community at large and the bank clerk.

The consequent economy in working costs is already enabling the banks to open many new branches, to the great convenience of the public. AY hat of the clerk? Staff reductions in the future are .inevitable. One authority, in an interview with the “Daily Telegraph,” expressed the view that in regard to staff there would be a clear line of demarcation: tire clerk with real administrative ability, and (b) the girl to work the machines.

The Midland Bank hns made n very extensive installation of machines; the Westminster Bank has gone a long way in the same direction and othei EVe mt houses have adopted or are now adopting mechanisation in varying degrees. For the most' part the machines are for adding and listing and for ledger posting. ' The effect of {lie change over so, far as it is brought under"the notice of clients is tiie substitution of loose-leaf statements for the old style pass-books,

REDUCTION OF "OVERHEAD” 1 Mechanisation, if was pointed out by one bank manager, makes 1 possible the handling of a greatly increased volume of business with ‘the' same staff and at the same expense, and, in addition, the opening of additional branches without materially augmenting the staff. “In these days of lively competition,” he said, “ft is esential to examine every possible means of reducing overhead and other charges, and it has been conclusively demonstrated that a vast amount of routine work can be done by machines, with a' consequent ecoiioriiy. The purchase of a great number of machines means a considerable outlay, but the difference between the pay of a bank clerk and that of a' girl capable of working a machine is appreciable, and thus the outlay so m repays ’ itself’. “The eeohomy' is such' that no big bank'can afford to neglect mechanisation. One of the underlying principles of all mechanisation is, of course, the use of the loose'leaf, and this of itself means a big saving by comparison with the cost of the old expensivelybound ledger and other books.”

NO WHOLESALE DISMISSALS The whole subject is being carefully studied by the Bank Officers’ Guild, the membership of which is made up oi bank clerks, male and female. The assurance was given by an official of the guild that "up to the present, tnough the process, of installing machines has proceeded- a tong way, there has been no drastic result in the .way. of dismissals.”

Reductions of personnel are being effected by means other than that of dismissal. Few juniors are being taken on; men who retire on pension are not being replaced; and some are retiring earlier than they would have done but for the revolution in methods. Then new branches are being opened in considerable numbers all over tlie country, and these absorb a good proportion of existing staffs. It is recognised by the employees that an increasing ratio of female staff to male staff is inevitable, and that eventually the total of bank staffs must be greatly reduced. The tendency will be, it was stated by an official in one bank, to draw a clear line of demarcation between, the clerical and administrative positions. There will Ire two distinct classes of employees, the clerk who lias to exercise initiative and participate in the real business of the office, and the girl- who works the machines.

"There is no reason to apprehend the disappearance of the banx clerk,” said this authority "The necessary qualifications of a clerk are .becoming higher and higher. In addition to his educational equipment, which is now very high, lie must be of a superior intelligence. His work can never be done by a machine, for the manipulation of which, on the other hand, the deft fingers of a girl are more suitable. No, the- bank clerk is not by any means doomed.”

VERSATILE BANK MANAGER. The public do not realise, perhaps, the extraordinary claims that are made on a bank manager by many of his customers. Some clients seems to. fly to him in every emergency. Naturally his advice is widely sought in regard to investments and other financial matters but some people evidently think that he ought to play the multiple role of financial expert, lawyer, doctor, father confessor-—and psychologist. “We have customers,” said one manager, “who .seem to think that the hank is a suitable place in which to receive *Jegal advice, and there are others who regard it as the natural repository for all family problems and difficulties.” This official told of a brother manager who was consulted by a lady client as to the most suitable present to make to a friend’s new horn habv. A still more curious form of advice was requested of another manager by a i

lady who had an account at the bank. Sha brought a photograph of a gentleman and sought an opinion, whpthei’ he seemed likely, from his lace, to make her a good husband. , .1 “No machine will ever be able to perform this sort of service,” added the narrator of these stories. "So. though mechanisation is inevitable, there will always be an opening for the human element in our banks.”