Denver labor bulletin., 1918-08-10


and want have reigned supreme, not
SO much because of conflicting inter-
ests as because Of very foolish mis-
understandings.
MANY employers" he said, "have
stubbornly held out against a 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. Others have had the same
experience in strikes for higher wages.
Unfair wages are not only unfair:
they are unwise, and long-visioned en-
ployers are beginning to see it.
Zone of the great causes of strikes" )"
Mr.. Williams added, "has been the
discharge Of some employees. Employ
ers have generally considered 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
ing in new employees begun to be
reckoned. 1t has been hidden former
ly in the initial cost of production
and thus escaped the employers at
tention. Now the labor turnover
the ratio Of the number of men hired
in a year to the total number of
employees in an industry at a given
time, has come to light as an amaz-
ing waste.
Henry Ford found that he was hir-
ing 10000 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 $40.
By tackling the human problem in the
various ways he did, especially by in
stituting profit sharing so that each
employe had an employers interest in
the company, this labor turnover was
almost completely eliminated.
'In many industries the labor turn
over averages 800 or 400 per cent.
In some of the chemical industries it
exceeds 700 or 500 per cent which
means that the average employe 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 thru the mechanical motions
required, but he can have no interest
in the result. And even in the rough
est of labor, in shoveling dirt or car
rying brick, this element of personal
interest in the outcome is sure to tell.
From the moment a man is hired in
any capacity some sort of trusteeship
should be considered established, with
some sort of protection against the
whims of his immediate superior.
mo mans mind can work at max
imum efficiency in an atmosphere of
insecurity. A mans job should be
considered sacred and he should not
be deprived of it without due process
of reason. The right to discharge
should be taken away from foremen
and immediate supervisors. Their au-
thority should be limited to suspen-
sion and their verdicts should be re-
viewed by some unprejudiced superior
MANY a competent man is dis
charged thru anger or irritation on
the part of his immediate boss. If
the employer realized that it would
cost him 500 to hire another he would
think twice before permitting the
change. Employers may be stubborn
in declaring their rights, but they are
generally given credit for willingness
to follow their own interests when
those interests are once clearly per-
ceived. And in the long view, the
interests of employer and employe are
mutual.
1T is doubtful if it is often ad-
visable to discharge even incompetent
men, for an incompetent man on one
job is quite likely to be competent on
another. Transferring employees from
department to department, until in
some place they eventually take hold,'
is more economical system.
Unemployment and uncertainty of
employment are staggering wastes of
man power. American industry can
not afford either. Our industries, so
far as possible, must be stabilized,