PRIDE IN HIS WORK

Evening Star, Issue 21720, 15 May 1934, Page 5 (Supplement)

PRIDE IN HIS WORK

WORKING MAN OF TO-DAY Mr Robert Hyde, whose work in connection with the British Industrial [Welfare Society is so widely recognised, is one of the great authorities on the working man and his work. The following extract from an important paper which he read before the Royal Society of Arts speaks for itself:— . “ I am quite prepared to admit that some employers may have introduced welfare schemes from motives that were not of the highest. Some, for instance, worked on what may be described as a ‘ fodder ’ basis, that is, ‘ Feed your workers well and keep them fit and you will get more work out of them.’ Others regarded cx--Mgji A form-of

insurance against future strife and discontent. “ But having said all this, I am convinced that the vast majority : of employers to-day have a conception of their responsibilities towards their workpeople which never entered the minds of their forefathers; they ai-e as proud of their factories, their products, and their working teams as others are of their pictures, their gardens, or their own intellectual achievements. There is no doubt that there is the same feeling of pride In the firm on the worker’s part. In going through factories f have frequently found the same thing. WIMBLEDON TEN’S'IS AND MOTOR RACING. “The workers,” he added, “at the Dunlop Rubber Company follow with great enthusiasm the achievements of tenuis players at Wimbledon and elsewhere who use their balls; the Austin Motor Company workers know everyLhiag -that- is to be known aibpufc the

performance of their cars on the racing track, and the humblest riveter on the Clyde neve; loses interest in the movement of the ships in the building of which ho played a minor part. These examples are all taken from repetitive occupations, and this pride in the firm’s product must not be confused with pride in individual achievement. THOUSANDS OF SUGGESTIONS. “ Let me tell yon what is being done in one engineering works where 1,618 workers are concerned. Some years ago a suggestion scheme was introduced whereby the workers were encouraged to take an active interest in the wellbeing of the plant and to mako suggestions for improving the processes, avoiding waste, improving the amenities of the works and increasing the general safety. Last , year the total number of suggestions submitted was 2,936, of which 930 wore adopted, and awards amounted tq L 383.

“ Jn one department each man on an average submitted forty-seven, sug-

gestions. -An obvious criticism of the scheme umj’ be the low number of suggestions adopted compared with the number submitted, but a great many of them had already boon anticipated and found unworkable. All suggestions arc reviewed, and if they are not accepted reasons are given. The •scheme has been running now. for sixteen years, and there is not the slightest doubt that had the firm found it of no Amine it would have been dropped long ago. ' “ AVe hate records, of such schemes that Jiave railed, but in nearly every case they lad done so because there was no drinug force behind the plan. In the case I have mentioned the directors and ligher executives take the greatest personal interest in the suggestions, arid there is no doubt that it is this that makes for success. ACC I DIiXTS AT AVOIIK COST £30,000,000. “Besides arousing the worker’s interest in the production a sugges-

tion scheme is useful in awakening him to a sense of safe working, and this is a matter of national concern. In 1931 the total number of accidents in industry was approximately 400,000, which included 2,295 deaths — but those figures refer only to accidents actually reported and take no account of all the minor injuries which add greatly to the national loss. “ According to a Home Office calculation, compensation paid for industrial accidents, including administration and insurance costs, amounted to something over £11,000,000, but since it is generally estimated that the indirect cost of accidents is about four times the direct or eompicusation costs, the burden of accidents on British production costs was a sum well over £30,000.000, but this figure refers only to compensable accidents. r .lhe accident statistics compiled _by the Stantion Ironworks Company show that compensable accidents in 1932 amounted to 297 out of a total of 7,793, i.e., 3.8 per cent.

“ Experience has shown , that about 65 per cent, of industrial accidents are due to thoughtlessness, and while legislation has done much to reduce the hazards by insisting upon machine-guards, protective clothing, and so on, nothing but the education of the worker in habits of safety can make him responsible for his own protection; in other words, it is the human element that must be reckoned with. This inculcation of safe practice is being undertaken by individual firms in various ways, such as the establishment of accident prevention committees, the display of safety posters, a bonus for freedom from accident. “ One firm pays each lorry driver a bonus of lialf-a-week's wage if he has no accident during a period of six months —75 per cent, of the bonus is given for freedom from accident, and the remaining 25 ])cr cent, for keeping his lorry in good order. All the lorry drivers this year qualified for the bonus.

“ Another firm, by popularising the canteen and inducing the workers to eat a good meal in comfort and in pleasant surroundings, noticed a remarkable reduction in the afternoon accidents. A motor manufacturer, by appointing an official to supervise the firm’s safety work, thereby reduced his insurance premium last year by £3,050; a steelworks in Swansea, by adopting similar measures, reduced their premium by £SOO a year. Employers are trying to recognise the human element in industry. They are faced with new obligations and responsibilities, and in meeting them they find encouraging response from their workpeople. This growing sense of partnership and mutual interest is, I believe, one of the most hopeful characteristics of this changing world in which we live. LIFE’S SIMPLE SATISFACTIONS. “ The ordinary working man does /lot gr«4> the theories about which jve all hear so much to-day—rational-

isation, mechanisation, technicological unemployment, and automatisation, but what he can understand are life'# simple satisfactions—work iu congenial surroundings, an adequate reward fop honest labour, relief from undue strain and the hope of security when the day is done. He does not want to heap the threat, ‘lf you don’t work yon cannot eat,’ but the promise,* If you work you can eat.’ ” ADVERTISING NOTE The map who has the goods to sell. And goes and whispers down a well, Is not so likely to collar the dollar* As he who climbs a tree and hollers, I took Mary out. I'll be broke for days. Who said “The woman Always pays?."-