OVER.
The employment manager is necessary to apply the art of mental testing and vocational guidance in ascertaining the fitness of pros pective employees. He best can direct indus trial training to provide the talent which the employment records show to be most needed. He knows the process of establishing fair base rates of wages, of working out wage scales, of checking minimum rates against the local cost of living, and of planning simple and spe cific production bonuses. The employment manager has come in with safety first, because it has been found that three-fourths of the accidents arc due to the carelessness or igno rance of the working force. His department works along the lines of hygiene, sanitation, medical aid, canteens and health education, to cut down accidents, reduce fatigue and cure antagonism of mind. Employment supervision represents a movement in the direction of the democratic shop, in which a voice is given to labor in determining the working conditions. It is a means of applying that conception of truth and service which has revolutionized sell ing and advertising. As the customer is "sold* goods — that is to say is thoroughly convinced and satisfied — so a workman is "sold" his iob. The latter has to be satisfied as to the task, the working conditions, the wages and the general policies, before he becomes a genuine employee.
The employment manager is .coming in as
a new staff man to relieve general executives. Staff or service departments are already famil iar in the form of accounting departments, statistical departments and the like. This prin ciple of staff service is now being carried over into the field of human engineering. General executives are demanding well-chosen men, men who are free from accidents and in sound health, men satisfied with their pay, and men so treated that they form a permanent and contented force, ready to co-operate loyally in the general plans of the enterprise. Of all the standardized agencies a service depart ment can furnish to a general executive, the greatest is a first-class man. In a somewhat analogous way the employment manager repre sents a step in specializing the work of the foremen. His coming makes the foreman less of a jack of all trades, just as the coming of the tool room, the stock room and the design ing department did. Under the new system, the foreman can no longer sell jobs, or protect pets, or cover up his own incompetence by dis charging a man. When the foreman becomes accustomed to the new system he finds it a great relief. He gets a more even and depend able run of men than he could provide for himself, and he is free to become an expert in shop processes. See EMPLOYMENT MANA