The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1917-10-05


of Employees and Increased the Fac
tory Output.
BY ARTHUR WILLIAMS,
President of The American Museum of
Safety.
IL America is going to hold her pres
ent supremacy American employers
must learn that they cannot afford TO
waste human life. We can't afford TO
have dead workers. We can't afford
to have sick workers. We can't afford
to have resentful, discontented, under
nourished or underpaid workers.
We must quit sentencing men TO
death for the crime OF carelessness.
Ce-elessness is criminal, to be sure, but
capital punishment is too severe.
But If we are to solve the human
side OF the labor problem let me
say again that we are doomed TO lose
our position In the worlds markets un-
less we dove must think of much
more than mechanical safeguards. We
must see to 1t that our factory condi-
tions are never such as TO undermine
the health of the employees. Sick men
cannot compete with healthy ones.
And we should go further into the
consideration of their physical health
We must not ignore their comfort, their
self respect and their ambitions. Not
for their sakes-for self respecting
American workingmen do not want en-
ployers to be nice and kind TO them
but for ours. If we want them TO do
their best work we must insure them
the best possible conditions.
Many employers have stubbornly held
out against shorter workday, only
to discover after they had suffered
seeming defeat and were at the mercy
of the union that the shorter workday
raised the efficiency of the employees
and greatly increased the output 9th
ers have had the same experience In
strikes for higher wages Unfair wages
are not only unfair, they are unwise,
and long yisioned employers are begin
ming TO see it.
One Of the greatest causes Of strikes
has been the discharge of some employ
cred it their right to discharge any one
they wished, and they have delegated
this right to their foremen and superin-
tendents Now they are beginning TO
see that discharging employees is one
OF the most expensive luxuries that an
employer can indulge in.
Only recently has the cost OF break
1 Rr. he
reckoned 1t has been hidden formerly
in the initial cost of production and
thus escaped the employers attention.
Now the 'labor turnover" the ratio or
| the number of men hired in year to
the total number OF employees In an
industry at a given time, has come to
| light as an amazing waste.
Henry Ford found that he was hiring
| $4,000 men per year in 1913, while only
employing 1900 or $4,000 at any one
time. He figured the cost of breaking
in a new man averaged SO. BY tackling
the human problem in the various ways
he did especially by instituting profit
sharing so that each employee had an
employers interest in the company,
| this labor turnover was almost com
pletely eliminated
| In many industries the labor turn
over averages 800 or 400 per cent. In
! some OF the chemical industries 1t ex-
ceeds TOO or 800 per cent, which means
| that the average employee holds his
| job only three or four weeks. This is
/ frightful waste 1t means more than
/ the cost OF breaking in new men, for
no man can be at his best where his
! Job is so uncertain He may go through
| the mechanical motions required, but
| he can have no interest in the result.
! And even in the toughest of labor, In
shoveling dirt or carrying bricks, this
element of personal interest in the out
come is sure to tell From the moment
man is hired in any capacity some
sort of trusteeship should be consider
ed established, with some sort OF pro
lection against the whims of his Inn
mediate superior
No ones mind can work at maxi
mum efficiency In an atmosphere of In
security. A mans Job should be con
sidered sacred and he should not bt
deprived OF it without due process oi
reason. The right to discharge should
be taken away from foremen and i'm
mediate supervisors. Their authority
should be limited to suspension anC
/ their verdicts should be reviewed b!
some unprejudiced superior.
Many a competent man is discharges
4 through anger or irritation on the par
OF his immediate boss, If the employ
er realized that it would cost him ST
to hire another he would think twic
before permitting the change. En-
ployers may be stubborn in declaring
their rights, but they are general.
given credit for willingness 10 follow
their own interests when those inter
ests are once clearly perceived. An
In the long view, the interests of EN-
i ployer and employee are mutual
i 1t is doubtful il it is often advisabl
to discharge even incompetent men, 70
| an incompetent man on one Job is quit
i likely to be competent on another
Transferring employees from depart
ment 10 department until III some plac