Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-20
WHAT WOMEN ARE
DOING IN WASHINGTON

!
w fession for women--one dictated by press
of war necessity, but to increase in i'm
portance when peace comes-a profession
promoted only six weeks before from an oc-
cupation to professional rank.
Employment managers have been few and
scarce among factories and mercantile estab-
lishments, and those few have always been
men. Not more than three four women
have the right to hire and fire in our fac
tories--a few more in stores--not more than
dozen In the country. The industrial serv-
ice sections OF the War Department, the
fleet corporation and the Department of
Labor have found this lack of trained per-
sonnet managers serious handicap in the
increase of production. They believe that
more trained men and women in such posi-
tions will quickly result in lower costs, less
friction and sustained output in all manner
of Government contracts.
I Asst March the first course in employment
~ management was opened in Rochester to
men who had had factory experience for at
least three years a high school education
and were more than twenty-five years old
AFTER six weeks twenty-four diplomas were
distributed.
On Junes Rochester opened a second
course, and Harvard will follow with one on
June "a, Columbia probably with another on
July D. The requirements for entrance will
be the same except in one funda mental re-
spect Women will be admitted on the same
terms with men.
1NHE requirement of three years factory
experience Is so unusual that few women
nave been found able TO meet 1t. on the
o'her hahd' women are specially qualified
10 act as employment managers If properly
trained. To overcome this the storage com
nittee of the Council OF National Defense
mas arranged preliminary course of two
months factory work under special instruc-
f,, t,t.,,
course in employment management
Location and requirements for admission
10 this preliminary training have not been
fully determined, but will be announced
shortly. In the meantime Bryn Mawr Uni
Nersity has opened nine months course
on employment management under Dr. Susan
kingsbury.
MISS MARY b. gibson is one of those
A'A rare specimens. woman factory em-
poyment manager. She has been loaned to
the Government by her firm to arrange these
preliminary courses and TO select the right
sort of women to take them More than a
hundred applications have already been re-
ceived by the storage committee from women.
1t svl be Miss Gilson's business to sort
The desira bles from the other kind.
Last winter Columbia University in New
York arranged a class in the Problems Of
Personnel Management" under Mr. Ordway
Tead. which led closely along the lines of
the present class in employment manage
ment which will be given there on the open
ing Of. the summer school. Applications for
this and the Harvard class must be made to
Captain Boyd Fisher. Storage Committee
Room sos. Council Building, Washington,
ID. G.
TT Is not an easy thing to describe the
i duties Of a genuine employment manager;
it might be well TO say little OF what they
are not.
He or she must not he merely a welfare
worker Experience has proved that the
quickest way to arouse friction between EN-
ployers and their workers is TO give them
'upift' and nothing else.
The employees will probably 20 out on
strike for decent wages or hours of labor
and the willing welfare worker Will lose her
job and quite properly. too. Another factory
will be on record as opposed TO "new-fangied
notions because the real thing has never
| been tried.
An employment manager hires all employees
and discharges them. She Will be held by
both sides responsible for conditions which
make an employe want TO stay or want 10
leave She is the one directly concerned with
the percentage of 'labor-turnover,' one OF
the oostliest items of expense in any factory
In her endeavors to reduce THESE COSTS sne
must cover wide field which includes
health recreation hours of work, rates OF
pay safety devices, etc.
ANOTHER course for women meant TO sup
n plement the work of the employment
manager and to provide her staff with
trained specialist is that 10 be opened on
June 26 at Mount Holyolie for the health
officers This course has been arranged ny
DR. Kristine Mann, of the industrial service
section Of the Ordnance Department
Instruction, which is largely by lectures
and also by personal visits to Industrial
plants lasts for eight weeks June 26 to
August 2l The only charge is for actual
living expenses. $50. plus incidentals, such
as laundry and carfare 10 nearby factories
Only forty students will be accepted. and ap-
plicants should write at oSce to Miss Ger
trude Bruyn. Mount Holyoke College, South
Hadley Mass