GREATER INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 March 1947, Page 4

GREATER INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

FIRMS CAN JUDGE ABILITY TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES FIGURES FOR WANGANUI DISTRICT. More efficiency in industry, because firms with more than average labour turnover rates can now become acquainted with the fact and search for the reasons, thanks to an analysis completed by the National Employment Service. Wanganui manufacturing firms will be able to see whether or not their number of staff changes arc greater than other firms in the same industry, and then take steps to rectify the position, if such is necessary. The analysis has been from data supplied by employers during the half-yearly industrial survey last October. A similar analysis will be made every six months.

Excessive turnover is an indication of industrial ills resulting in wastage, loss of maximum efficiency in production and increased unemployment throughout the community. The rate of turnover is usually calculated by assessing the relationship between the number of terminations of engagements over a period and the average number of staff employed during the same period. Figures disclosing labour turnover percentage rates of various grouped manufacturing and industrial concerns operating the Wanganui employment district were released yesterday by the district employment officer, Mr. G. A- Plummer.

They show the highest, lowest, and middle rates respectively. The middle rate, not the average rate, is quoted. It is obvious that any individual concern within the groups with a very high turnover rate would inflate the average figure and give a wrong impression of the group as a whole. For this reason the middle figure, that of an individual concern whose rate is representative of the middle group, is accepted as a standard typical of that particular class. In the figures quoted below for motor garages,’for example, the highest turnover rate is 36 per cent, the lowest 5 per cent and the middle or typical rate Is 13 per cent. In the textile trade the staff is very nomadic, and during the six months the number of employees who left their jobs was greater than the total number. Of the males, 137 per cent of the employees in one firm left. This was the highest rate, but the lowest rate was just one per cent less. In this same type of work 100 per cent of the females left one firm. Females evidently find footwear manufacturing more distasteful than men do, and the same is the case with most, other undertakingsLabour turnover in undertakings in this district is as follows: — Forestry and bush sawmilling.— Males: 50 per cent on the highest rate 46 per cent on the lower rate; 48 per cent on the middle rate. Baking industry;—Males: 35, 0, 30; females, 50, 0, 22. Confectionery and other foodstuffs. Males: 50, 25, 37; females, 27, 0, 25. • Beverages.—Males: 18. 0,15. Chemical products.—Males: 52, 0, 31. Town sawmilling.—Males: 57, 0. 36. Joinery factories. —Males: 31, 0, 13. Furniture making.—Males: 20, 0, 9. Printing and photography.—Males: 9,0, 0; females, 60, 0, 19Tanneries and leather goods.— Males: 38, 0, 19. Textile products.—Males: 137, 0, 136; females. 100, 0, 62. Clothing factories and woollen mills. —Males: 33, 0,0; females, 96, 0, 10. Footwear manufacturing. Males: 42, 0. 0; females, 76, 29, 52. Brick, tile, lime and cement works. --Males: 58, 0, 17Glass and pottery.—Males: 27, 4. 15. General engineering.—Males: 10, 0, Electrical manufacture—Males: 50, 0, 12. Cycle and motor manufacture and assembly.—Males: 20, 0, 0. Motor garages.—Males: 36, 5, 13-

“The figures show that the more skilled the work, the lighter the labour turnover and that females are more prone to changing employment than males,” Mr. Plummer comments.

“As is to be expected, in most cases a greater rate exists where the occupation is of a physically strenuous nature. This also applies where the situation calls for dirty work to be performed. These facts, though elementary, are significant but are by no means the only reasons for excessive labour turnover.

“Other important factors may contribute to a high turnover rate. Frequently working conditions such as noise or defective light or ventilation or other unattractive features of the working environment cause a high proportion of terminations. Again, faulty selection (the square peg in the round hole), and weaknesses in supervisory personnel may be causes- Some industries are prone to higher rates of labour turnover than others and comparisons from unit to unit within an industry are therefore more valid than comparisons between indust riee. “It* is to be expected that an industrial concern of any size will have numerous comings and goings in the course of a year, but at the same time much can be done to keep labour turnover to a minimum. When the rate becomes too high i,t is detrimental to efficiency and is a sure sign that something is wrong. Excessive labour turnover is an expensive characteristic in many ways—the cost of continually training an undue proportion of inexperienced labour, loss of production, faulty production, loss of time' and wages to workers arising from frequent changes. “Industrial concerns would do well to keep full records and calculate their labour turnover regularly over six monthly periods. It is measured by the number of persons engaged during the period to replace persons leaving, taken in relation to the total number employed on the average. Thus, if 10 persons were engaged during the period to replace persons leaving, the average pay-roll strength during the period being 25, the rate of turnover would be 40 per cent, or, more simply, two out of every live persons left during the six months,” Mr. Plummer added.

The district, employment officer intimated that his department is, if required, prepared to give assistance Io any employer who wishes to establish records or charts for the purpose of tabulating information on labour turnover.