P. & T. SERVICE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8366, 28 February 1913, Page 10

P. & T. SERVICE

THE EXODUS SERIOUS SPIRIT OF UNREST PREVAILING. CRAZE FOB EXAMINATIONS. The following article is taken from the February issue of the “Katipo," the official organ of the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Officers’' Association: The tendency on the part of many junior officers to seek employment in what, to them, appear more congenial fields cannot be marked without some comment. That the tendency towards change always exists, especially with the younger generation, may, of course, rob the very steady stream qi resignations of some of its sting—if it has any—to those who face the responsibility of supplying vacancies, but we are convinced that something more than casual remark on the event is necessary. It bas been evident for some time that a spirit of unrest, more than usually pronounced, has pervaded the rank and file of the service, and it behoves those who have to meet the situation to go deeply into the underlying causes of it. It would be unfortunate in the extreme if this matter of emigration from the ranks of the service should be summarily dismissed by attributing it to the irresponsibility of youth or to coincidence that these young men should choose practically rhe same time to leave, it has only te he known that one of these departing officers carried with him the names or nineteen others who are anxious to lollow him should satisfactory opportunity come under his notice, to realise how far reaching the tendency to discredit service in the department has become. On top of this, or perhaps we should say, under it, as the difficulty arose earlier, there has to be remembered the extraordinary difficulty the department experienced in obtaining sufficient .boys. A subsidy per boy may be only a trifling matter to the revenue, but it is a serious thing to the personnel of a service that fills its major posts ultimately with such recruits. There is still another sign by which the spirit of the times may be read, and that lies in the sudden emergence of officers grievances, whether real or fancied, m the columns of tho daily press. We are of the opinion that all these matters have some relation to each other, and it behoves those responsible to enter into an investigation. However much we may regret the thrusting of our troubles on tbo notice of tbo general public, it must always b© remembered that this court of appeal exists, and a remedy applied now to matters arousing minor discontent is tne very .best way of meeting the situation. One has only to remember that the British Post and Telegraph officers have twice forced the Home Government to appoint special committees to inquire into their grievances and service conditions within the last decade, that the Commonwealth service was investigated by a similar committee,, a few years back, and that this inqmry was largely due to the evidences of discontent amongst the staff, which found their way into the daily papers, to point a moral to the happenings nearer home. In saying this we do not allege that the necessity for an exhaustive or even general inquiry into the JNew Zealand service exists, but we_ believe it to be prudent policy on the department’s part to make internal inquiry and rectify what needs- .rectification before the present spirit of belittling employment under it grows. It is in such matters as this that we have a definite place to occupy, and in the spirit of this duty it is necessary for us to make a review of everything which we hold is having an influence on the situation. To. commence with, therefore, we feel we -cannot do better than strike, in cold blood, at the departmental system of , EXAMINATIONS as the principal cause of dissatisfaction. We have traversed this subject again and again, but with practically little effect beyond obtaining amendment or deletion in an absurd syllabus or so. The microbe of examinations seems to have permeated the blood of the higher officials beyond all hope of eradication, and the rank and file are made to fall before the fetish. It is natural when reviewing any subject to look for a simple definition of it, and the following from Webster seems to fill tho bill in this case: ~ “Examination.—A process prescribed for testing qualification.” Keeping tms in mind, the setting oi any test is literally an examination, and it would be quite legitimate to make the extent and quality of an officer’s daily work a test of qualification, and at the same time be far more practical and reasonable, but the department must depart from such a simple rule. To put it in another way. A cadet, say, fails to pass his efficiency test, but he is not immediately hustled away from his duty te some lesser duty as lacking qualification. No! He tries again, and ultimately succeeds, which goes to prove that word “efficiency” is not used in relation to the duty, an officer perform. If this is noc so, then railure would mean inefficiency and removal to other duties. Again, we have that much-condemned “sorting test.’ This, at first acquaintance, would appear to anyone as a highly practical test in a postal service. But is it so in actual fact? Again the answer must be “No.” The test is based on a grouping of post offices convenient for administrative purposes, instead of on the grouping necessary at the sorting table. An officer passing the sorting test, as we have it has actually to unlearn' much of the knowledge necessary to passing it, because if it bo adhered to at the sorting case trouble and fines would be his portion. Yet, this sorting test is “a prescribed process for testing qualification” for advancement as a sorter. A far more practical test would be a close examination of the work of a sorter for a period, that is, if, in a general way, he has failed to satisfy the local authorities. It would not then be necessary to insist on the M.O. and S.B. junior passing the test, and the man who does the work would stand or fall on the work be has to do. If we turn to the tests at higher points, the same divergence from efficiency in the true sense of the term is maintained. A candidate is called upon to show knowledge of the whole gamut of postal activities. The mail room officer has. to face the same ■ questions on M.O. and S.B. work as an officer employed in that branch, while the converse is equally true. Failure on any candidate’s part makes as much difference in his daily tour of duty as success, that is. “nil.” He tries again, and repeats his attempts till examination efficiency is reached, and in the meantime the efficient and non-efficient “swap” duties in the most casual and reckless manner, without disturbing the authorities’ equanimity, either local or central. If the telegraph side is adopted for the purpose of argument, the same conclusions can only be arrived at. viz., that the efficiency test is beside the

mark, as a means of creating a standard of work or raising the operator’s ability to work. Tell any telegraph executive officer that So-and-so should not be placed at such and such a wire because ho failed once, twice, or three times to pass his efficiency test, and he would think you a fit candidate for detention under medical supervision. Thus it is that every executive officer, be ho postal or telegraph, has a mental estimate of the ability of the staff under him which overrides, where it does not absolutely ignore, the departmental efficiency tests. Indeed, the only persons, outside the candidates, who give a second’s consideration to these absurd examinations, are the clerks who are told , off to see the regulations complied with. We are sincerely of the opinion that -the department is not one whit better served now it has all its officers, under the whip of examinations than it was prior to their inception. In fact, we go so far as to assert that it is considerably the loser, economically, by their inception, In the first place, the officer who has this burden of examinations ahead of him has a tendency to allow them to supersede in importance the work it. is hu lot to perform. He sees the man who passes examinations apparently exalted over his fellows, while ability to face an emergency rush of work is accepted as a matter of course. It is natural for him to weigh * these matters. Knowing that no double increments or negotiations of barriers will be his portion if he does a little more work than the other fellow, he begins to ifeel a sense of uselessness, in any healthy competition of working skill. He has learned the first step towards giving a little less than’ his best to the work’ in hand. Then, as each examination approaches, an examination which he knows will not make him the least bit a better officer, his mind comes off his duty aud is absorbed in the test he has to undergo. He has to add to his seven hours in the office two or three in study. This is a tax on hiR vitality which may bo already taxed by irregular meal hours, broken hours of duty, recalls for extra work and sleep at unnatural hours. Can’it be credibly denied that this is not a natural sequence in the devolution of good officers ? If not does not ■ the whole system require revision? We believe it does, and we see in the exodus of young and qualified officers a commentary on the examination obsession with which the department is inflicted. Any young fellow in the service comparing his prospects and obstacles with those of Ms companions in other walks in life finds little to be pleased about. ' . The business world—the standard of all efficiency as non-efficiency in it spells loss—does not recognise efficiency ,by examination. Commercial houses give no heed to the initials after a man s name if the owner cannot “deliver the goods” necessary to the firm’s welfare. In the banking world examinations are practically unknown once the individnal has been appointed. Insurance companies require only an examination certificate on entry except for their actuarial branches,, and so wo might go on. The necessity for the repeated testing of our officers even if the tests were true to name, does not obtain justification by comparison. We freely admit that examinations are an easy way of meeting the official responsibility of assessing the worth of an officer. It may look well on paper to say that 1000 officers have passed the efficiency tests, but when the tests are probed from the efficiency point of new, such a statement would prove to be an empty boast. The standard o,f efficiency in the examination room is.quite a different thing to efficiency where the work is handled. CADETS’ ANOMALY. There are, however, other, matters besides examinations which weigh with younger officers, and decide them to seek a change, and one of these must be the cadets’ anomaly. We have laboured with this subject very recently, and do not intend to traverse the rights and wrongs of it here, but whether the junior officer is an actual sufferer or only an onlooker, his confidence in the department as a just employer suffers a rude shock. It is admitted on all hands, the department as well as -the rest; that these cadets did actually receive less than their fellows when a general improvement was instituted, and yet repeated requests to adjust the grievance have been of no avail. Yet at the same time officers who suffered similarly in a Mgher class have had their cases rectified. These things are talked of everywhere, and the department’s credit goes down in the general estimation as a consequence. SALARY. Then comes the question of salary. The department claims (vide a statement in the daily press) that the cadet is learning his business at the expense of the State, but in most cases the cadet does not feel that way about it. It must be remembered that officers who are leaving or are seeking to leave, have reached a high grade as workers, and, remembering this, it can hardly be said that a cadet at the end of a busy wire is at the same time, under a debt of gratitude for the tuition he is receiving. Let Mm make the mistake of receiving an “e” for a “t” in a cable, and he will find that the department grades him not as a pupil, but as an expert, and metes out punishment accordingly. Then, again, a cadet away from home, taking into consideration his lodging allowance, advances by increments of £9 £7, and' £3 till he reaches a salary of £95 per annum. If he finds an opening where he can start at 10s or Hs a'day, and feels that , his future in Ms new employ has the same prospective brightness as the one he leaves, it must be readily admitted that he is under great temptation to go. To obtain the salary offered if he remained he would spend five or six years in the service that trained him. It seems to us that this is a serious matter for departmental considefation. The conditions may be abnormal, but they .may continue. and they will doubtless recur, and it can hardly he a pleasant prospect to bring youths to a State of practical efficiency and then lose their services. To sum up, the examination system robs the young officer of his recreation the cadets’ anomaly gives him a line by which he supposes advancement to Mgh place is much of a lottery, and the chance of substantial pay clinches the matter.