The Denver local office enjoys an excellent working relationship with many industries and agencies. William H. Lancaster, manager of the Denver office, is shown here flanked by William Echelmeyer, personnel manager of Hallack & Howard Lumber Co. (left) and Charles Collings, Colorado State rehabilitation officer for the blind and announcer at radio station KTLN.

Other determining factors are the status of closed orders, open orders, the employer's job specificationsespecially where the ratio of referral to placement is high or where the number of canceled openings is excessive-active file supply, and consideration of other services which may be useful to those employers, such as testing, clearance, or service specialties which the group feels are pertinent.

Prior to a meeting of this group, a review of the existing employer relations records is made to take advantage of any information that has been recommended concerning the employer and the placement experience with that organization. Personnel policies, recruitment by publicity and other methods and processes, production trends, employer services provided, the departmental jobs, the fringe benefits, and prior

experience with the firm are summarized in order to obtain an employer attitude picture. All information pertinent to making a comprehensive picture of the firm is included on this record. Completed data serve as a basis for planning and for improving placement facilities with the firm concerned.

The prime purpose of the group meeting is to determine any additional factors which should be considered in developing a plan of service. After a tentative plan has been developed, the group selects the placement employment representative who is most acceptable to the employer or who has had good public relations with the firm, either by satisfactory placement or some other service rendered in the past, to make the visit.

After the visit, the results are reported to the same group. They determine the combined service potential which is incorporated into a plan of action. Consideration is given to the particular services the employer has emphasized, or is likely to emphasize under economic conditions prevailing at the time of the next planned firm visit.

The average overall penetration rate for firms to which the local office directed special attention during the pilot study in May 1954 was 5.4 percent; in October 1954, 5 months later, the rate had increased to 25.8 percent. Two of the firms when selected had zero penetration rates, one had 1 percent and the remaining accounts, 12.7 percent or under. The followup study made in October 1954 revealed penetration rates for the selected firms varied from 5 percent to 75 percent.

Whenever employers have received maximum service, new firms with greater needs for additional service are selected for the group approach study. Firms are tentatively scheduled in advance, weekly, by the sections. An innovation in the original plan is a preliminary telephone conference with section supervisors discussing placement potential, low penetration versus plant expansion potential or turnover, prior to selection of the firm for group approach study. This

helps to eliminate supervisor objections of too much time consumed in conference on irrelevant material. Meetings with management, placement interviewers, and personnel of the public relations section are held as needed. Employer accounts are reviewed and placement relationships with the selected employers are discussed. Plans for extension of services are agreed upon and other employers with potential placement problems are prepared for the group approach

treatment.

The form for reporting employer relations contacts has been revised to indicate the objective of the visit, result of contact, and the plan of service.

A recent report on activities of our public relations section showed that, of seven accounts selected for survey, one was dropped from immediate consideration in the group approach study because turnover was very low and no apparent expansion was anticipated. These firms were initially selected on the basis of information received from the different placement

section supervisors in the local office. Each of these employers has cooperated in this program and increased placement activity has resulted.

In each instance the ratio of visits or the attention paid to the particular firm from the standpoint of personalized service has been in direct relation to the number of orders received, and there usually has been a corresponding increase in placement opportunities with the organization. Constant vigilance and attention by supervisors of placement is necessary to maintain these established gains in the program.

Progress has been slow but healthy. The group approach, with the offer of additional service, is not a "shotgun" method. In some cases our placement activity to a particular employer has not increased, but in each instance we have arrived at a mutual knowledge and respect of our individual problems and responsibilities. We now have employers with problems, not problem employers.

WH

THEN the Bureau of Employment Security established the industry relations program at the end of 1949, its major objectives were to present and interpret the overall Employment Service program policies, techniques, and services available through the local offices of the Employment Service to the Nation's larger employers and related national trade associations; and to develop cooperative programs with their policymaking executives and top management officials.

Accordingly, officials of more than 400 such companies and trade associations were contacted by industry relations representatives during the succeeding 5-year period. Followup visits recently made at the home offices of many of these organizations have indicated conclusively that results have been tangible and satisfactory. Officials have commended the services provided their individual establishments by local Employment Service offices. By and large, company representatives have agreed that excellent progress has been made in improving working relationships between local Employment Service offices and their plants during the past 5 years. The other side of the coin is that thousands of workers have been placed with these companies through positive recruitment and out-of-State clearance activities, and such placements are being made in increasing numbers.

After the industry relation program had been in operation for several years, it became apparent that

there was a need for developing programs for certain industries on a nationwide basis. Accordingly, increased emphasis was given to the development of such programs designed to meet the manpower problems of a particular industry. A good example of the approach used by the Bureau in working out that type of program is to be found in the plan developed to assist the hotel and restaurant industry in meeting its manpower needs.

Cooperative Program With the Statler Company

At a preliminary meeting with home office officials of the Hotels Statler Co., Inc., to explore ways in which the Employment Service might expand its services to local establishments of the Statler hotel chain, it was clearly indicated that it would be advantageous to establish as close working relationships as possible between local Statler hotels and State Employment Service offices in each of the cities in which the Statler Co. operates. A suggested plan of cooperation was sent to local Employment Service office managers and by the Statler Hotel Co. to its respective personnel managers, requesting them to get together in each locality to develop the program along the lines suggested.

As a preliminary step in that program, a complete staffing pattern was developed cooperatively in one of the hotels showing by departments the hotel job titles

converted to DICTIONARY OF OCCUPATIONAL TITLES and code numbers. The number employed in each occupation, experience requirements, etc., were also shown.

Bureau technicians analyzed the listed occupations to determine those for which various kinds of tests were already available for the screening of applicants. The staffing pattern of the selected hotel included 184 different occupational titles involving more than 800 employed workers. Employment Service aptitude or performance tests were available for 23 of the 184 occupations listed.

Each local Employment Service office concerned was requested to identify, with the respective local hotel personnel managers, those occupations in the hotel in which there was a placement potential-thus making it mutually advantageous for the Employment Service to refer qualified workers. Managerial and supervisory occupations and occupations normally filled by promotion from within were excluded, leaving a core of occupations classified as entry jobs, or those normally filled from outside sources. The next step was to develop, with the hotel, master job orders for this latter group of jobs. Employment Service offices were also requested to refer only test-selected applicants wherever possible in those occupations for which tests are available.

Meeting With the National Council on Hotel and Restaurant Education

A representative of the Bureau addressed a meeting of the National Council on Hotel and Restaurant Education held in Chicago, Ill., in May 1954. He described what the Employment Service had been doing to provide service to the industry and explored ways in which the Employment Service might contribute to the advancement of the National Council's objectives. The interest and need for an industrywide program which were demonstrated at that conference led to a later meeting in Washington, D. C., of representatives of interested agencies and organizations for further exploration and planning with regard to a cooperative program.

The suggested meeting, arranged by the Bureau, was held in Washington, D. C., in September 1954 and was attended by representatives of the following organizations: American Culinary Federation, American Hotel Association, Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, International Chefs Association, International Stewards and Caterers Association, National Council on Hotel and Restaurant Education, National Restaurant Association, The Culinary Institute of America, the Bureau of Apprenticeship, the Bureau of Employment Security, and the United States Office of Education. The stated of the meeting was "to explore ways in which purpose the agencies could contribute to a nationwide cooperative program designed to meet some of the needs of the hotel and restaurant industry."

The following general recommendations were made:

The scope of the counseling and vocational guidance programs should be increased by enlisting the help of school counselors in stimulating the interest of students in seeking employment in the industry.

Better training programs should be developed for the industry; and more educational institutions like The Culinary Institute of America should be established. Apprenticeship training, especially for cooks and chefs, is needed, as well as training courses to fill the need for good management executives.

Appropriate tests are needed by the industry and should be developed.

Public relations programs at the local level are badly needed by the industry, and literature and films developed by the industry should be used in this connection. Closer working relationships should be established among unions, hotel management, Employment Service, and training agencies.

It was also suggested that it would be helpful to have representatives of interested Government agencies. address local units of these national organizations to provide technical information of the type which had been imparted to conferees in the meeting.

It was finally recommended that a joint action program should be developed by representatives of the Bureau of Apprenticeship, the Division of Vocational Education of the U. S. Office of Education, and the United States Employment Service with the cooperation of the National Council on Hotel and Restaurant Education, which would set forth the manner in which these agencies, and particularly their counterparts or affiliated agencies in local communities, could best assist the industry in the solution of its employment-management problems.

Subsequently a recommended action program was developed and is now being considered by the interested organizations. Briefly, it encompasses the following activities:

Community planning which would involve local conferences to identify specific local problems of the industry, and to develop cooperative action programs which would meet the needs of the industry through concerted effort on the part of each interested group.

Local Employment Service offices would identify with management those occupations in the industry to which it would be advantageous to refer qualified workers; and a modified staffing pattern might be prepared in this connection. In cooperation with management, master orders should be developed for each job in the selected group of occupations. Testscreened applicants should be referred whenever possible. Management should be assisted in resolving turnover and other personnel problems through the application of Employment Service tools and techniques. In addition, the Employment Services should make every effort to cooperate with training agencies, schools, management, and labor in setting up needed training programs, and in working with school counselors in the guidance of youth to job and training opportunities leading to careers in the industry. Finally, necessary cooperative working relationships with appropriate union officials should (Continued on page 25)

Ο

NE of the outstanding industrial developments on the Oregon scene in recent years has been the amazing growth of the Douglas fir plywood industry. During 1953 there were 99 mills producing softwood plywood in the western States, 46 of them in Oregon quite a record when you consider that in 1934 we had only two such mills.

Although the need for occupational information had been recognized for some time, up until last year job descriptions and codes for this industry were restricted to only one phase of the operation; namely, the manufacture of veneer. An analysis of some local office operations showed a lack of proportionate penetration in the plywood industry. Since this was not necessarily evident in all offices serving the industry, the lack of DICTIONARY OF OCCUPATIONAL TITLES coverage could not bear all of the blame.

Before we cover problems and solutions, let's take a look at the operation which employed 14 percent of Oregon's workers in the lumber and wood products industry last year, and added $52,628,180 to our economy in alone. wages

Oregon's first plywood mill was established in Portland in 1905. The earliest employment data, however, is for the year 1936. At that time, there were four establishments classified as plywood and veneer mills. These four establishments employed 817 persons and had an annual payroll of $812,617.

However, drains on manpower resources to the Armed Forces and defense industries, combined with equipment shortages, hindered the industry's expansion during the war. The return to peacetime economy found the industry resuming its expansion program.

Public acceptance of this timber product has not lessened. About 40 percent of last year's production went into construction at the job site, with most of the remainder being used for maintenance and for manufactured articles. It has been estimated that this year's production of Douglas fir plywood will exceed, by over 6 percent, that of 1953; a peak year for plywood demand and production.

Although production is high, the industry is watching with alarm the increase of plywood imports from outside the country. Last year plywood imports amounted to 222.4 million square feet; hardwood plywood imports have increased 350 percent between 1950 and 1953. Managers agree that if this rate of increase continues as in the past, it will be a serious threat to the plywood industry as a whole. Even though production is running well above normal, no proportionate increase in production workers is noted. Technical advancements will account for some of this lag rate, but most managers of plywood mills say, "We must hold the line on production costs if we are to meet import competition.

The Oregon State Employment Service is aware that if the plywood industry is to "hold the line of production costs," it must continue to employ those individuals who have the interests and abilities needed for adequate job performance. Availability of workers and job performance have little in common, however. Moderately high wages in a predominately nonseasonal industry put plywood jobs high on the preferred

Number of covered

Annual

average

covered

ments

employment

19

2, 801

24

4,318

26

5, 267

31

5,906

29

5, 981

33

7,470

46

8,852

list of Oregonians in the Douglas fir area. This is not necessarily a healthy situation for employers, even though a majority of the jobs within the plywood industry are classified as "semiskilled." This situation quite often leads to gate hiring. Such selection practices become a time-consuming chore in no way allied to the cutting down of "production costs." It becomes difficult to determine whether a prospective employee's interest and ability is "with the industry" or aimed at a steady job with good pay.

A New Approach Needed

It was evident that if the Employment Service was to be of greater value to the plywood industry and the community, new aids or avenues of approach were needed. Last year, two means of service were employed; the first step was to become better informed concerning the duties required of a plywood worker and the physical demands placed upon him. A job analysis study was made of the industry.

The establishment picked for job analysis study had capacity for producing 65 million square feet (%-inch 3-ply) of Douglas fir plywood per year. Panels varied from 2 to 5 feet in width, 5 to 10 feet in length, and 6 to 1% inches in thickness. Management was eager to cooperate in the job analysis study after seeing the advantages to be gained by such a venture.

Three employees were drawn from the local Employment Service office handling the firm's account. Refresher training was provided, using the Training and Reference Manual for Job Analysis as a guide, and close supervision was maintained throughout the study. Of the 88 jobs in the mill, 68 required complete writeups. Nineteen were directly converted to the DOT. A physical-demands appraisal was made of all jobs. Such a study will be helpful to the whole plywood industry. Some plywood job descriptions have appeared in supplements to the DOT and it is understood that further coverage of the industry is forthcoming.

The second step in our systematic review of the plywood industry was to become better acquainted with local hiring policy, procedures, and obstacles. What better tool could we use but the "group approach" system?

Section 7200, Part I, of the Employment Service Manual, outlines a procedure which is no stranger to the local office manager. It reads in part:

"Concurrent with the establishment of approved program goals, a plan of action must be developed which will outline, in logical sequences, the steps to be taken to adjust and strengthen operations, as may be required, so that those goals may be achieved." Farther down the page, we find item B. Method and a statement reading in part:

Panel Assembly Operations: Here we see veneer strips being ejected from the glue machine and placed on a face plate by the core layer. Two face plate layers have started to lift the face plates up and over the core layer and place them on top of the core.

Photos center and bottom courtesy The Timberman magazine.