This is an important matter, since it costs money to introduce new men in any business, and requires from a day or two to several weeks for the new man to become sufficiently accustomed to his work and surroundings to be of the same value as the man who is perfectly familiar with the shop, the routine and methods of work, and the foreman under whom he works. It is therefore necessary to go about this matter in a methodical manner, and to keep records of:

Fig. 5. Application Card.

(a) All persons making application for employment.

(6) All persons regularly accepted as employees.

(c) Individual records of all regular workmen.

(d) All employees who leave the employment of the company.

To accomplish these results, the official whose duty it is to employ men will fill out, or will have a clerk fill out, an Application Card of the form shown in Fig. 5, for each person applying for a position. It will so be noticed that it is important to know whether the applicant has ever been employed in this establishment previous to the present application. If so, his record can be readily referred to for information as to the desirability of employing him again. It is also necessary that the record of his last employer be known, and frequently of the employer previous to the last, as these matters will also be taken into consideration in determining his fitness for the position for which he applies. It is also necessary to know how many years he has been employed in manufacturing establishments, as this fact, taken in consideration with his age, will frequently furnish information upon which to base judgment as to his fitness.

Fig. 6. Employment Card.

The Application Card

The Application Card, being on file, is available for the use of such foremen or other officials as may be in need of workmen. Should the applicant be decided to be available, after consultation between the official to whom application was made and the foreman desiring to increase his force, the applicant will be sent for, and employed at a rate mutually satisfactory, and an Employment Card of the form shown in Fig. 6 filled out. This will repeat some of the information contained on the Application Card; but it is necessary to have two cards in any event, as the information must be filed in separate drawers.

The Employment Card

The Employment Card will also give the name of the official employing the man, as well as that of the foreman under whom he is to work, the kind of work he is to perform, and when he is to commence work. It will also require the approval of the Superintendent or Factory Manager, as the case may be, to make it valid and operative.

The applicant having become one of the regular employees of the concern, a third card is made out for filing in the List of Employees drawer. This will be upon the form shown in Fig. 7, and is called a Service Card. It will be noticed that each of these three cards is headed with the name and address of the person whom it represents.

The Service Card

The Service Card gives the department in which the employee is to work, the kind of work which he is to do, the date he begins work, and his rate of pay. Spaces are also provided for noting the amount and date of any increases in his rate, and for the record of a transfer to another department should he be moved, as is frequently the case with new men who may not be quite adaptable to the kind of work first attempted, but entirely satisfactory at some other class of work.

Fig. 7. Service Card.

A space is also provided for noting the date of the workman's leaving the employ of the company, and also for giving the reason for it. This will be valuable information in case the workman should subsequently apply for employment. When an employee leaves the service of the company, his Service Card is removed from the List of Employees drawer, and placed in a fourth drawer labeled Discharged or Quit, being held there for future reference.

Individual Record Of Standing

In many well-conducted manufacturing establishments, it is customary to keep a record of the standing of the men as rated each month, as a valuable reference in cases of proposed promotion, increases in pay, reliability for special work and positions of responsibility. Various methods of marking the records of the men each month have been tried, but the simplest method is to use the number 100 for perfect, and to divide it as follows:

Fig. 8. Individual Record Card.

Demerits are marked off as to workmanship, by the foreman, according to his judgment aided by the Inspector's reports of the work done by the man.

Punctuality is judged by the number of times late, each instance reducing the mark by one unit. As the workman enters the shop twice a day, morning and afternoon, assuming 26 working days in the month, a practical disregard of punctuality soon reduces his record in this respect to zero.

Deportment is judged by the Foreman, who also takes into account occasions on which the workman may have been reported for violating the regulations in this respect.

A Record Card is shown in Fig. 8, upon which monthly records are kept The total for any period, divided by the number of months covered by the record, will give the percentage of a perfect record. This card provides for a record for two years.

If it seems advisable to do so for special reasons, a similar card may be formulated covering the six working days of the week. A year's record in this form may be entered on a card 4 by 6 inches, by arranging the horizontal and vertical ruling for that purpose.

Such a record may be profitably kept of the work of the office force, as well as of the men in the shops. It will be valuable in many ways in judging of the availability of the men for special work, as well as for promotion.

Necessarily such records should be very carefully kept; otherwise there is liable to be serious injury done to the working reputation and integrity, as well as reliability, of the men.