Industrial Betterment.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 4, 1 February 1907, Page 140

Industrial Betterment.

By H. E. J. Porter.

No good business man can justify his taking up a line of work which, as the term " welfare work " implies, has no direct bearing upon his business, but, on the contrary, is directed towards improving his employees' condition, and which, he may deem, would be considered a mark of presumption on his part if he should attempt it. On the contrary, every business man now-a-days is compelled by the exigencies of competition to adhere closely to his direct line of business. He cannot digress, or his competitor will take advantage of the lapse, and he will soon find himself hopelessly in the rear, and will have to close up his plant or run it as a charitable institution. For these reasons many employers have not only considered the adoption of so called " welfare-work " unfavourably, but look upon the whole movement with derision, and this attitude of mind has been brought about largely through the fact that they have been misled m their understanding of the purpose of the movement by the unfortunate appellation of the work embodied in it. These various attitudes are all wrong, and their falsity is due to the misunderstanding of the rationale of the movement. Just now it is necessary to make the point very clear that there are no features covered by the term "welfare work" which have not been thoroughly proved to be a good investment, and, therefore, of betterment to the enterprise. There is nothing philanthropic or charitable whatever about them. They are simple improvements in the manner of conducting the business. As such it is not proper to call attention to them by advertising. A man should advertise his business, not his methods of conducting it. And yet there should be no hesitancy on the part of any manufacturer who has bettered his conditions by the adoption of these features to let that fact be known. It should be a benefit to him to advise the public judiciously that his product is turned out under the best conditions and by a high class of operatives, it is now recognised as a fact that the best work is performed only by the best class of help, and that this class will work only under the best conditions. In view of the foregoing, employers need not be deterred from the adoption of these features by the feeling that they would be diverting either their attention or their money from legitimate business channels. Too often have enterprises on the point of failure been resuscitated and brought to a high state of success entirely through the adoption of industrial betterment features. — Cassier's MagcCzme.