bers were assigned to units in blocks, so that it is possible to identify not only the person making the referral, but the unit in which he was working at the time the referral was made. An interviewer transferred or loaned temporarily to another unit is assigned a new number by the unit to which he is transferred or loaned.

The local office statistician, using a simple line entry form, records the results of all referrals in the column provided.

At the end of the week, a clerk in each unit enters the totals for all activities on an 8 x 10 mimeographed form known as an "activity summary." A column is provided for each interviewer and clerk in the unit and a grand total for the unit. Three copies are prepared and submitted to the Employer Relations Division supervisor.

In addition to the data attained from the "daily activity record," the "activity summary" has lines on which to record the number of placements, the number of applicants who did not qualify, failed to report, refused the job offered, or were not hired for other reasons. This information is taken from the statistician's weekly report and entered on all three copies of the summary. One copy is returned to the unit supervisor, one is furnished to the manager, and one retained by the division supervisor.

The "activity summary" form also provides lines upon which each unit, at the end of the reporting month, enters the number of different employers visited during the month; the number of openings received, total and female; the number of cards in the active application file, total, female, total, veterans; World War II veterans, and disabled veterans. This information is required for the ES-209, as well as for analysis of unit operations.

The final two entries on the form are for recording each interviewer's ratios of interviews to referrals and referrals to placements.

When the month ends in the middle of a week, a

split week report is necessary in order that the statistics will correspond with the official activity reports for comparison purposes.

At the end of each month a summary of the division's activities is prepared, using the same form to show the total of each unit's activities.

For the benefit of any office wishing to try a similar experiment, we offer the following advice:

The method used to record results of referrals is the most satisfactory. We tried having the interviewer who verified the referral in the order holding unit record the results. The necessary forms were too cumbersome. We also tried returning the "route slip and referral record" form to the interviewer making the referral for him to record his own results, after the statistician had recorded the statistical information. While this simplified the bookkeeping, it resulted in a time lag which made it impossible to compare placements with the official office record.

The statistician finds that very little additional work is necessary to prepare the report finally adopted. From our experience, we recommend that no attempt be made to keep a record of time spent on miscellaneous activities. This was abandoned after we found that we were unable to agree upon a definition and it became a dumping ground for activities that rightfully were a part of another function.

A direct benefit of this experiment was an improvement in employee morale. It engenders a spirit of competition which is healthy.

We may well be asked what we have achieved. We have, we believe, a measure of the essential components of each operating job in the Employer Relations Division. Within placement units, where tasks are similar, we can compare and rate the effectiveness of personnel. We are not yet prepared to attempt comparing interviewers in different units. We still can't add apples to oranges. We hope by further study to develop some system of weights which will solve the problem.

The Indiana State administrative office, recognizing a need for more hard facts on the caliber and success of referrals, devised a compact check sheet for use as a guide in making such an analysis. When this was distributed to the local offices, Terre Haute recognized a good thing, and began a study at once. Results have been quite helpful, both for program planning and for closer supervision of the entire referral process.

Even as many areas were finding a shortage of labor, Terre Haute continued to have a surplus of several thousand, nearly 90 percent male. However, despite the surplus supply, prompt placement on job openings was not all that should be expected. We had followed the administrative policy of referral from file selection and call-in, attempting to minimize referral from intake. It was now important to check the efficiency of the selection staff and the adequacy of referral.

For the past few months, a periodic check has been made on numerous orders in all occupational classification groups. To do an adequate job, we found it advisable to record: the name of the employer, occupational code; occupational title; number of openings by sex; total referrals, veteran and nonveteran; referrals from files, veteran, and nonveteran; referrals from intake, veteran and nonveteran; statement as to whether files were reviewed; total number called in from files; number with the same occupational code in active file, veteran and nonveteran; number in active file whose qualifications match order specifications, veteran and nonveteran; number of veteran and nonveteran referrals in which the qualifications match order specifications; number of veteran and nonveteran referrals in which the qualifications do not match order specifications; date of order; date of first referral; date of last referral; number of placements; ratio of referrals to placements.

Highlights Tell Story

Here are a few highlights of the study, which is still in progress. For 238 openings, taken at random, 678 individuals were called in from the active files. Yet, to make 191 placements, 210 of the 424 total referrals had to be from intake. Further analysis showed that results varied widely according to the occupational classification of the orders. On clerical, professional, and skilled orders, for example, placements could usually be made from the files with a minimum of call-ins and referrals. Frequently the ratio of referrals to placements was 1 to 1 or 2 to 1. But on the larger orders for unskilled industrial labor at the rather low prevailing local wage rates, it was necessary to make spot referrals even after calling in many more than the number of workers requested. On the labor orders, the ratio of referrals to placements was much higher, running from 2 to 1 up to 6 to 1 on one temporary industrial call for heavy outdoor labor. Files were reviewed on all but a few rush orders for unskilled workers on temporary work. Veterans received a higher percentage of the total referrals on orders for males than for females, but the study revealed that referral of nonveteran females was necessitated by the relative lack of registered qualified female veterans.

In the Terre Haute area, there has been a longstanding industrial policy, by agreement of management and labor, of hiring at the lower paid unskilled level, and filling skilled jobs by upgrading. With large numbers of registered applicants possessing skills learned in war industry or in military service, it had been recognized earlier that difficulty would be experienced in assisting many of them to get started locally. This study made it possible to get a factual picture of our cumulative staff experience in dealing with the problem. It showed on what types of orders applicants tended most to fail to respond to call-in, to refuse offered referral, to fail to report, and to refuse the employer's job offer. Local industries have been

growing more impatient toward our delay in making adequate referral. Our study helped to show where referral from intake was most needed to supplement file selection in order to please both employers and applicants by bringing the employer quickly in contact with applicants actually interested in the work available.

We have found the use of the "referral study” helpful in several ways to sound operations:

1. It is the best means yet found for removing the "guess work" from supervision of the referral process. Now the day-to-day activity of the selection and referral interviewers in each ASR unit can be studied in such a way that it can be determined on which orders and in which units selection and referral is consistently adequate, and in what spheres there are more noticeable needs for strengthening the selection and referral process. Now we can tell whether selection is being carried far enough, how successful are the results, and where need is appearing for referral from intake.

2. It furnishes additional information about our veteran applicants and our service to them. We can check for proper preferential treatment of qualified veterans on selection and referral. We can compare the qualifications and supply of veterans and nonveterans in the occupations for which openings have been appearing.

3. It uncovers information of value to the order control and employer relations divisions. When we find an employer rejecting applicants who meet his quoted specifications, and hiring those who do not, we are in a better position to discuss a revision of the specifications. When the ratio of referral of apparently qualified applicants to placements is high, because of either numerous rejections by the employer or refusals by the applicants, there is indication of possible need for our industrial personnel management services.

4. It is a means of interpreting labor market information more realistically. Our monthly active registration file count is interesting and instructive. But when it can be related to our experience as to positive results of call-ins from the file in the various occupational groups it will indicate more closely the number of registrants actually interested in the type of employment which is available.

The Terre Haute office agrees with the theory that the most satisfactory placements should be accomplished by matching men and jobs through careful file selection. It attempts to do this in all occupations. But when actual study reveals that call-in from the files is inadequate, whether it be because of lack of qualified applicants, or because of difficulty in determining which registered applicants are actually seeking work of the type available and reaching a sufficient number within the time limit set by the employer, we call upon referral from intake as a supplement to continued file selection. Now we can show from our studies that such action is necessary on some orders, even in a loose labor market.

THE

By RICHARD S. ALKIRE

Huntington Park, Calif.

HE rapid-fire demobilization of the armed forces hit us right between the eyes. Veterans came pouring into our office. Reception counters were jammed and registration interviewers, placement officers, and counselors found the days too short to see even a small portion of the veterans who were seeking advice, employment, and readjustment allowance benefits.

We were already taxed to the limit with the huge numbers of displaced war workers who had been crowding into the office since shortly after VJ-day. To cope with the problem of handling loads far out of proportion to our office space, facilities, and personnel, we planned and devised various means. Registration interviews were scheduled by appointment. Monitored and self-registration methods were adopted. Streamlined, almost skeleton applications, were taken. Speed became the watchword.

When our veteran load began to level off, we were able to discard most of the hastily devised methods which had pulled us through the earlier months of the year and return to normal procedures which allowed for proper reception and screening and intelligent registration interviewing and realistic classification. We were at last in a position to take stock of ourselves and the results of our efforts of the past 6 months.

One of the main results of this evaluation and analysis of past operations was the fact that we had built up an active file of over 15,000 applicants. Of this number we found that approximately one out of every three was a veteran of World War II. This was obviously an ideal time to match men and jobs, and certainly an ideal opportunity to give preference forour registered veterans, inasmuch as employers had, to the most part, gotten into postwar production, major labor disputes had been settled, and job openings were becoming numerous. Here was a seemingly ideal situation of having numerous orders and a large supply of registered applicants, including many World War II veterans.

Placement officers reported, however, that their continued efforts to call in, or to refer veterans to jobs, were getting poor results. Either veteran applicants failed to report to the job, or when they did, were found to lack qualifications for the job, or were found to have either higher or additional skills which should be utilized. Something was obviously wrong with our seemingly ideal situation-plenty of jobsplenty of applicants; we could not get them together.

Files Realistic ?

The reason? After much study we found that we did not have a realistic active file.

Inasmuch as our policies dictated that we give maximum service to veterans and due to the fact that at the end of one month we were carrying 5,104 veteran applicants in our active application file, it was decided that only a card-by-card analysis of the veteran section of the file could solve the problem.

The improvised and hasty methods used during the first 6 months of 1946 had resulted in a huge number of veteran applicants being incorrectly or inadequately classified and coded. We knew, too, that a great many veterans had been assigned classifications and coded on the basis of military or naval experience, or that they had been classified on short terms or wartime experience gained before entering the service.

The analyst made a careful study of each application card. The information appearing in each significant item was weighted against the classification assigned and, if in the opinion of the analyst this information did not support the code assigned, or if it appeared that additional codes might be indicated, a notation was made of the name, address, and occupational classification. These names and addresses were then given to the supervisor of applicant services, who had clerks send call-in cards to each applicant. Nine hundred and six, or approximately one-fifth of the veterans were selected to be called in for reinterview and were scheduled to appear on days when the applicant load was lightest.

The results of this analysis and the subsequent procedure of sending the call-in cards was both interesting and revealing. Of the 906 cards sent, 653, or 72 percent of the applicants, reported to our Applicant Service Division, either by mail, phone, or in person. Of the 653 who reported, 356, or 39.3 percent, advised that they were already employed. Thirty-two, or 3.5 percent, reported that they were attending school and, therefore, not in the labor market. Thirtyseven, or 7.6 percent, flatly stated that they had no desire or intention of working. The remaining 200 were reinterviewed and either recoded or had additional codes assigned them. Over 60 percent of these were referred to jobs.

We are back on solid ground again. We know that every veteran application card in our active file represents a potential worker who is both qualified and available for work. We can now go about the job of matching our labor demand with a realistic applicant file.

However, we are not stopping there. It would be a waste of both professional and clerical time, now that we have achieved a good applicant file, if we let it slip back into the condition we found it in July. To avoid this, we are bending every effort. Registration interviewers have been trained and retrained in classification and coding and interviewing techniques. They have also been trained in using such occupational analysis tools as job families, interviewing aids, and

national job descriptions. Each veteran is granted a desk interview and trained personnel interview him. His skills, knowledge, and ability are explored and recorded. His background is carefully scrutinized, and his potentialities are considered. Then, after all the factors are weighed, he is classified and coded

correctly. When his application card goes into our file we can rest assured that it represents just what the title and code on it signify. We know further that it represents a potential referral and replacement-a good one. In short, we know now that we do have a realistic active file.

For

Breakfast With

Personnel Managers

By Agatha E. IVIE

Salt Lake City, Utah

RMED with labor market statistical information, monthly employers' letters, a copy of SERVICE TO VETERANS booklet, and a pad of 514's, I ventured forth one day to visit the personnel managers of Salt Lake's department and variety stores. Servicing department and variety stores was now my first line of duty.

On my list to visit were two national chain department stores, two locally owned department stores, three national chain variety stores, one chain dry goods, and two local dry goods stores. The personnel managers were all women.

At every call I was confronted with questions as to how problems of wages, hours, absenteeism, tardiness, and turn-over were met by competitors, and I was frequently asked the names of the other personnel managers. Each one wanted to know the other personnel managers well enough to call on them for verification of employees' work histories but felt hesitant toward using this privilege because of lack of acquaintance with one another. This group had common interests but lacked a way to get together to discuss them.

One or two gestures to get together at a luncheon conference had failed. Each waited for the other to take the initiative. As I heard this story repeated over and over I began to wonder: "What can be done to get them together and how can I help?”

I studied the problems from personality angles as I knew them. Longer or closer acquaintance was needed before I dared attempt to bring this group together. I therefore arranged a few private luncheon engagements at which I casually suggested a luncheon for the entire group in the retail trade. This seemed impossible. Lunch hours were short and taken at various times. Most stores, however, do not open until 10 a. m. That gave me an idea. Why not a breakfast meeting which could be arranged for 8:30 a. m. at a local hotel? Everyone seemed to like the idea.

Retail Trade

The day came. My hopes were high that there would be a 100 percent attendance and I was not disappointed. At 8:30 in the morning everyone was there. Introductions were in order, and it was really like the old home week with many new in-laws present for the first time.

Two members led out with suggestions. I wanted to keep myself in the background to allow a normal interchange of thoughts among the personnel managers.

A proposal that regular meetings be held once a month went over unanimously and the third Tuesday of each month was set aside as the regular meeting date. It was decided that all meetings would be informal, and membership restricted to women employed full time in personnel work within the retail trade and the Employment Service. New members would be invited upon recommendation of the group. We named ourselves the Retail Personnel Association.

There was a discussion of topics to be taken up at the meetings, and it was the consensus that the most urgent problems had to do with recruitment and selection of employees, working conditions, wages, absenteeism, counseling, and training. A proposed exchange of ideas about personnel policies was also approved.

No definite objective was outlined other than to create a closer relationship among ourselves. My personal aim was to better understand each member and her problems, and to make them all feel that the ES office was an extension of their own personnel offices.

In time the ES came automatically to be looked upon as the one to lead out the discussions because of the advantage it enjoyed in having an over-all picture of the labor market and of personnel problems. Some phase of ES services was presented at each meeting in order that the members would know how the ES works.

Monthly meetings have been held for the past 4 months, and direct and indirect results have been evident.

At the second meeting I presented a plan to save the employers time by offering a special screening service. The cry at this time was for women. The ES files showed a very small percentage of qualified women available to fill the active orders, and no prospects of any improvement in the supply. It seemed that

women between 21 and 35 had disappeared from the labor market. One problem was, how to recruit women to replace students returning to school. Suggestions included newspaper publicity and requests to local women's organizations to appeal to housewives. Much time had been wasted in the personnel sections of the stores in the initial interviews of applicants answering newspaper advertisements. Although ads specified age, experience, education, and sex, applicants disregarded these specifications. Generally the company lacked openings to fit their qualifications and could not use them. To overcome this, the ES suggested that the employer include in his ad a request that applicants apply at the ES. These applicants could then be screened by the ES, and only qualified people sent out to the employer. The personnel group agreed to present the idea to their respective managements.

Tailors and alteration men and women are scarcer than hen's teeth in the Salt Lake area. Women skilled in commercial sewing and alteration work are few and far between. Many men's tailors will reach the retirement age in another 5 years. The area has no "on-the-job" training program to supply new people in this field, because of a lack of journeymen to do the training. Nor is there any provision in the schools for these occupations. The ES has been asked to assist in establishing some type of training for tailors and alteration women, so that a future supply will be assured.

At a later meeting we had as a guest speaker the instructor in merchandising and retail sales at one of our local high schools. She explained this course is for the purpose of training girls in sales techniqueshow to open and close sales, how to greet people, and how to make suggestions to the customer. Opportunities in the field of retail selling were also discussed. The speaker suggested that the ES could be of unlimited service to the department stores by acting as a central point to screen and refer these students to proper job openings. She agreed to furnish the ES with the names of the girls as they finished the course and also to instruct them to register with the ES.

At this same meeting I was able to report that training for tailors and alteration women would shortly be available by the Adult Board of Education.

Holiday Jobs for Youth

Our next meeting found us grappling with the problem of Christmas employment. Tentative plans were set up for the ES to refer all high school students to the stores for part-time and temporary work through the holidays. These students were to be sent to the ES by their respective school counselors.

For purposes of training, and establishing general working policies, an evening class for personnel managers in business psychology or personnel management was considered.

The department store personnel manager never has a dull moment. This was brought out in our discussions on training, absenteeism, personal problems,

and dress regulations. As she arrives at work in the morning, she faces inevitable problems: Mrs. Jones can't possibly be at work today as little Johnny has a toothache; Miss Olson has to do shopping as she is to be a bridesmaid Saturday night and her best friend who works with her is also going to the wedding and has to have a permanent; little Jo Ann, who started last week at the notion counter, thought it was all right to eat popcorn on the job because she was only instructed not to chew gum or eat candy. The girls on the aisles had to come to work today with no hose as their last pair of nylons were simply in shreds. Miss Davis, who sells ladies' ready-to-wear and has been employed for 5 years, broke all the rules in the book today by coming to work in a brightly colored afternoon gown because she was going out to dinner after work and had no time to go home and change.

A solution to the absenteeism problem has been offered wherein a store will close one day a week and another arrange the working hours of its personnel to allow them one-half day off during the week. The ES was glad of this arrangement since well-qualified women are sometimes available if the hours allow them to take care of home duties. One store has been able to keep its women on by granting them the privilege of buying a pair of nylons, if they have been on the job every day for a whole month.

The women personnel managers of Salt Lake's department and variety stores are now united with the ES to work on common problems, and the Chamber of Commerce is a booster for ES placement procedures as applied to wholesale and retail employment.

Mutual Effort Profitable

Some of the results achieved through mutual efforts are: Training classes to relieve acute shortages of skilled workers; higher wages for retail store clerks; a request that the ES take the responsibility for screening workers directed there by merchants advertising for help; responsibility by ES for registering and referring high school students for sales work. In addition, the Chamber of Commerce has sponsored publicity to recruit housewives for part-time and temporary employment.

The ES was also designated by the Board of Education, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Retail Trade Association as a disbursement center to supply students needed for work during the Christmas season.

Though still in the embryo stage, our organization has shown progress in promoting unity among the personnel managers and the ES and in plans to recruit workers to meet everyday personnel needs. A better understanding as to each company's policies, working conditions, job requirements, employees' qualifications and all other problems that affect a good placement program has been beneficial to the ES as well as to personnel managers. They are enthusiastically anticipating the expansion of the organization so that it will eventually include the entire retail trade in this area.