New-York tribune., 1919-01-30
Capitalization OF
Employment Gains
Favor in Factories
Big Concerns Are Adopting
Methods Used During the
War; Greater Benefit for
the Workers Expected

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 Wizard
lessons of the war has been that
centralized employment departments
in factories contribute largely to etli
cheney among workers and to increased
production. The old hit or miss meth
cds of engaging men arc being rapidly
eliminated by l1rge corporations and
scientific standards are established
!, through special employment depart
ments.
The Department Of Labor has taken
:. q leading part IN encouraging and pro
. noting this Capitalization of the task
Of selecting workers. and through its
:. Working Conditions Service has just
issued its arst Labor Administration
n Circular. which is devoted to this sub
iect This circular quotes instructions
to department managers and their as
sistants, presents d statement by the
= director Of AN employment department
> ard outlines the functions of employ
ment departments as recognized by
several large corporations.
Will Study Workers
An &utOlnONAl' manu- etS VI ~ o.
Ohio city of 0,000 has instructed his
department managers and their as
sistants in part rs follows:
"Iu the past we have made no effort
. to study the workers of our industry
. and there has been no well-defned
. policy or principle that has governed
> the selection and maintenance of our
! employees. The employing Of persons
y has been distributed through several
lN.4,-a
y hired and disposed of employees in ac-
:, cordance with their best Judgment
= This practice. whether it be good or
. bad has entailed much duplication of
:. effort and we have not been able to
. direct our relations with our working
;, force from any centralized point. In
: order that this result may be accom-
plished we are creating an employment
department ard delegatiag to that
department certain perogatives which
have hitherto been exercised by a
variety of persons and departments.
This change viii enable the foremen
TO give more personal attention to their
men aud more time to production.
Care in Selection
"We have reorganized our employ
ment department with the intentions
of giving more time to each applicant
and with the view OF more careful Sc
lection Of help. New cn' sves have
been a constant problem - lhe com
pany and our labor rotation is much
affected by them Therefore. we ex-
pect the prospective employees TO re
ceive a favorable impression of the
company and is principles of courtesy
and Justice at the very threshold and
we wish these same principles TO pre-
vail throughout the entire organiza-
,iou.'
This Ohio automobile manufacturer
rfovides for special supervision OF his
rcw department.
occasionally some one from the en-
nloNment department viii call upon you
mud out how the new persons are
ting along and how they are taking
the work and to speak a word of
encouragement 20 the employees" he
80 ANs "This is done for several rea-
> sons: First, the company wishes to ill
positions with 'he kinds and types
o. men who are most likely TO remain
In the organization and make good en-
+, noyes; second. speaking q word Of en-
couragement to such employees is fur
, ther evidence Of the kindly interest
entertained toward them by the COM
., pany Subsequent calls will be made
from the employment department with
,. the same object in view, and we know
that you will assist in this work and
mat the rotation OF new enplONCS Will
be greatly reduced within the next
twelve months
Has Full Control
statement by the director OF the
employment department Of manu-
facturer Of metal products, located in
a large city OF Illinois, says:
"Al men employed. outside of sales
men, department heads and branch
house employees. enter through the en-
ployment department. No engagement
or promotion can be made elsewhere.
Several hundred applicants call there
daily. nj those who appear in good
health the primary question asked Is
the kind OF work wanted, and as we
consider particularly important our
conversation with applicants general
.alk is had with those whom we are
likely TO call on in the near future as
to their capabilities, previous employ
ment. etc
az for any reason an applicant can
NOT be given announcement he is told
so; that eliminates the possibility Of
false hope and OF filing up files with
useless applications. To accepted ap-
phcants d regular application blank is
given, and inquiries are sent out to
verify their statements before they are
considered further With the final
rloye is given book of the company's
rules and then sent 20 our medical de-
partmen. for physical examination.
II approved by our medical department
he is put 70 work; otherwise the en-
gagemcnt is cancelled.
Records Are Retained
a. Folders. properly labelled, Of each
class of help employed are kept in the
application file Foremost in each
- folder are the names Of employees who
49, are engaged in other work and who
- wish TO be considered when help of the
class they desire is required; secondly
provision is made for those who have
been relieved through 10 fault of their
own commonly termed laid OFF,;
and, lastly, are the applications Of
: strangers
"Whencver an cmployc leaves, ire
= spective Of cause. he IL required 70 call
: a. the employment bureau before re