Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

GOVERNMENT BUREAUSSource: Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 8, No. 5 (MAY, 1919), pp. 281-285Published by: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of LaborStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41827539 .

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GOVERNMENT BUREAUS.

PLAN FOR PROMOTIONS AND INCREASES IN SALARIES OF NONTECH- NICAL EMPLOYEES OF UNITED STATES HOUSING CORPORATION.1

In the formulation of any thought-out plan for governing promo- tions and increases of nontechnical employees of the Housing Corpora- tion receiving $2,000 or less a year, allowance must be made for time and experience to adjust such a plan to the varying circumstances of individual employees. Only after its operation is closely studied can such a plan be made to fit in with exceptional conditions it is likely to encounter.

The committee realizes that the application of any system must be experimental for some months. For this reason it recommends that its operation be given close study and that the entire ground of its experimentation be thoroughly reviewed at the end of six months or a year. It is possible that at the end of that period it may be nec- essary to make such revisions as the developments of particular instances show to be necessary.

In formulating this proposed plan for governing promotions and increases of nontechnical employees the committee has made diligent inquiries of numerous other departments of the Federal Government with the view of securing some guidance toward the attainment of its object, but it has been able to secure very little assistance in this direction. All these other departments or bureaus appear to be and have for years been confronted by problems somewhat similar to those now facing the Housing Corporation, and your committee ex- presses its surprise at finding that no intelligent or satisfactory plan, as far as it has been able to learn, has yet been worked out in any of these departments. There is very great need for such a plan as your committee has tried to formulate. The fact that your com- mittee seems to have had set for it a task which it has had to perform largely without the experience of other departments to assist it is called attention to here as explanation in part of some of the diili- crJties that confronted your committee.

The committee believes fundamentally that promotions and in- creases in salaries should not depend either upon the initiative of the employee or of his or her direct superior but rather that they should occur automatically, thus assuming the continued performance of his or her duties in an able and efficient manner. Tlio action of the

i I'ropared by th. oommitteo on salaries and personnel of th» United Stata lloasingCarporiti.m. [1507] 281

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282 MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW.

employee's superior officer should be negative rather than affirma- tive - that is, any action taken by him should be in the direction of interfering with automatic promotion and increase by an adverse report as to the employee's ability and efficiency, these latter being assumed when not so adversely reported upon. With this principle as the basis the committee recommends the following:

For the present the salary of $900 a year is recognized as the mini- mum for all nontechnical employees with the exception of messen- gers and night telephone operators. It may be necessary to increase this minimum upon investigation of the facts. Such an investigation the committee expects to have made.

The annual salary of each employee receiving from $900 up to but not including $1,400 is automatically to be increased at the end of every six months of service in the amount of $50, dating from the date of appointment.

The annual salary of each employee receiving from $1,400 up to but not including $1,600 is automatically to be increased at the end of each year of service in the amount of $100, dating from the date of appointment.

The annual salary payable to a typist is limited to $1,400. The annual salary payable to a stenographer is limited to $1,600. The annual salary payable to a secretary is limited to $1,800. The classification of secretary should be given a clear and definite

status. To this end, the committee suggest that a secretary be re- garded as an employee of a division or of an administrative or ex- ecutive branch of the corporation who is called upon &t times by the head of a division or an administrator or executive to conduct the division or the duties of a particular office during the absence of the head. In brief, a secretary is a regular employee to whom the chief of the division or the executive intrusts unusual responsibilities. While the salary of the secretary is herein limited to $1,800 a year, in cases of employees of this class who exhibit exceptional ability and who, in the judgment of the head of the division or executive, deserve a higher compensation, then such an employee íb to be given the title " assistant to the chief' or " assistant to the manager," with a salary commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position.

The primary value of some such plan as is herein proposed is that it tends to eliminate all favoritism or undue influence. Instead of in- creases and promotions depending, as now, largely upon the" initiative of the employee and the favorable recommendation of his or her superior, they follow automatically, the assumption being that the continuance of the employee in his or her position of itself is a rec- ommendation of continuing ability and efficiency. A report to the

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MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW. 283

contrary to the chief clerk automatically drops the employee from the pay roll of the corporation. Thus incompetents are weeded out not only within a reasonable time after their first employment but also by preventing their entrance into a higher class with larger compensation.

Such a plan also removes any uncertainty the employee may havo as to recognition of increasing ability and efficiency. He or she knows that evidence of these qualities in the work performed i?> alone necessary to an increase in salary or a promotion to a higher position; that its absence means dismissal. Thus, automatic removal from the service of the corporation is provided for in case the employee does not indicate ordinary attention in the performance of his or her duties, and this in itself removes the necessity of any personal adjustments on the part of the heads of divisions. This plan is based on the belief that such an employee is worth to the Housing Corporation $50 more at the end of six months or $100 more at the end of a year, and that if he or she is not that much more valuable, then such an employee should not be continued in the service of the corporation. Under the present system, or lack of system, there is no assurance to the employee, other than the personal opinion or influence of the head of the division, that ability and efficiency will be properly recognized. We believe this plan will not only stabilize the personnel, which of itself is an asset, but that it will continue the more able employees in longer terms of service and will attract others to the corporation.

In the formulation of this plan for governing increases and pro- motions for nontechnical employees of the Housing Corporation the committee has had in mind the enactment of the Sixty-fifth Congress, approved March 1, 1919, and entitled "An act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Govern- ment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, and for other purposes." This act provides, in substance, that "all civilian employees of the Government of the United States and the District of Columbia who receive a total of compensation at the rate of $2,500 per annum or less, except as otherwise provided in this section, shall receive, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, additional compensation at the rate of $240 per annum." Numerous exceptions are made to this, but for our present purpose only the following are important:

Excluded from the application of the act are "employees paid from lump-sum appropriations in bureaus, divisions, commissions, or any other governmental agencies or employments created by law since January 1, 1916." Such a provision would seem to exclude employees of the Housing Corporation from the benefits of this act. A similar effect seems to be also involved in the clause of the act excluding from

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284 MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW.

its application "persons employed by or through corporations, firms, or individuals acting for or on behalf of or as agents of the United States or any department or independent establishment of the Government of the United States in connection with the construction work or the operation of plants." If the basis of the act referred to rests on justice, your committee sees no reason why the principio should not be made applicable to employees of the Housing Corpora- tion. The adoption of the plan herein suggested for governing increases in salaries and promotions of nontechnical employees receiving 82,000 or less would seem to your committee to apply this principle to corporation employees. It is true the total amount is not given at one time or in any one year, but over a period of years this amount, and even more, is secured by the capable and efficient employee who continues in service.

The committee does not believe it conducive to the efficiency or the esprit de corps of the personnel to reduce salaries. It believes, on the contrary, that a situation such action may be designed to remedy, if such a situation exists, can better be met by dispensing with the services of such employee or employees.

It has been found necessary in the past, and may no doubt be found necessary in the future, although possible to a lesser extent, to require of nontechnical employees a certain amount of extra work or overtime. This overtime employment is to be limited to the absolute minimum. In cases where it is found necessary, then, the employee is to secure time off from work at such time as a slackening in the duties of her regular employment will permit, such time off being equal to the amount of time given in extra work. Such extra time is not to be considered as a factor in an increase of salary or in promotion to a higher position, although the spirit in which such extra service is performed is to be favorably considered as an element in determining ability and efficiency.

Employees in the service of the Housing Corporation are entitled to a reasonable vacation period, not only for recreation and recuper- ation but also as a reward for faithful and continuous service. Such vacation, however, should not begin to oper ate un til after theemployee has been in the service of the corporation at least six months. As to the length of the annual vacation period, the committee is con- fronted by a choice between two plans. One of these is to allow a vacation period of 30 days with Saturday afternoon holiday only from the 15th of June to the 15th of September. The other plan is to limit the annual vacation to two weeks and have a half holiday on Saturday the year round. For the present the committee believes that the former plan should be adopted, as this is in accordance with the custom now prevailing in Washington. This vacation is to be

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MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW. 285

used by the employee when he or she determines, but only upon notification of a sufficient time in advance to the head of his or her division and the chief clerk and with the written approval of both these officials. No employee is permitted to have more days' vacation than are actually due as measured by time of service.

Other things being equal, such as the factors determining ability and efficiency as outlined by the chief clerk, promotions to higher positions are to be based on seniority of service.

Increases in salaries and promotions already made affecting em- ployees of the corporation are to be adjusted to the operation of tho plan herein presented.

This plan is to be retroactive in its application in that the time of service of employees subject to salary increases is to begin at the date of their original appointment.

In order to prevent the operation of the plan from becoming too rigid, attention is here called to the possibility of at any time pro- moting an employee from any position with a comparatively low salary to any other position with a relatively larger salary without the particular employee being limited to the automatic operation of the semiannual or annual increase. As the misuse of this action, however, would seriously jeopardize the value of the plan, such pro- motions should be made only rarely and then in cases only of excep- tional ability and efficiency.

F. J. Warne, Chairman. Harlean James. J. Tuckerman.

Approved: L. K. Sherman, President.

April 16, 1919.

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