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mined after due consideration given to the conditions of service which are mutually advantageous.

"More than any other employer in the United States, the City of New York is interested in establishing for itself a reputation for fair dealing. It has no advantage to gain from any other course. Those who are interested in the welfare of civil servants must also look favorably upon any determination reached by the City of New York which may have for its end and which promises equal opportunity and equal pay for similar work. It is of advantage to each employe to have before him such definite specifications governing employment that he may be able to plan his career. The city and its civil servants alike are interested in open-handed fair dealing and in having standards established which will make municipal employment attractive to men and women alike. Any standardization which will lay the foundation for an administrative procedure that will give to employes better opportunity to rise, which will enable men and women in the service to make life plans with fair hope of success, and which will put appointments, promotions and increases in compensation on a basis of merit is preferable to a method which offers opportunity to those only who may establish their claim to recognition through subservience and loyalty to an unofficial organization controlled in the interest of those who would thrive by exchanging 'patronage' for 'votes.'

"Questions having to do with standardization have little in common with the determination of what work is to be done by a particular department or office, on the one hand, or with the use which is to be made of the authorized personnel on the other. Standard specifications go into the abilities, training and experience of men and their adaptation to the requirements of established civil service positions; they have nothing to do with decision as to how many men who may meet these requirements shall be employed. The Bureau of Standards has undertaken to do two things: prepare specifications or a description of personal qualifications required to entitle men to hold positions when established, and recommend a schedule of standard rates of pay. "The Determination of Work Requirements a Problem of BudgetMaking

"In making a budget it is necessary to determine what amount of money shall be appropriated for the employment of men. To do this, consideration must be given to (1) the work to be done; (2) the number of persons having different qualifications required to do the work efficiently; (3) the salary to be paid to each. In arriving at its conclusion as to what amount should be appropriated, the board of estimate should assume that the management will

be efficient and that the funds provided will be economically
used.
After the amount which may be used by each head of
department for 'personal service' has been fixed, however,
the appropriating body has nothing further to do except to
decide whether any terms or conditions should be attached
to the expenditure to protect the city against the use of the
funds voted in a manner not intended. To this end, it has
been found desirable to prepare a list of established positions
and to limit the use of funds appropriated to the employ-
ments set forth in the 'personal service schedule.' The
preparation of a schedule of authorized positions to be filled,
however, is quite a different matter from the establishment
cf standard specifications and rates of pay.

"Assignment of Personnel to Work a Matter of Administration

"There is no one who is qualified to determine how persons shall be assigned to work except officers who are responsible for the daily conduct and direction of the work to be done. When a budget-making body puts itself into the attitude of continuing to deprive its own members as executives of the right to exercise discretion in this matter through conditions attached to appropriations, it uses its power in a manner which ultimately must defeat good administration and makes it impossible to conduct the affairs of the city in the most efficient and economical manner. This has been done in the past as a first step when the means for the exercise of central executive control was lacking.

"Confusion and Injustice the Result of Wrong Method

"This brings us to the point. There are two opposing forces now operating in the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, each of which seeks to influence the appropriation for 1916. One is primarily interested in reducing the expenses of the city; the other is primarily interested in establishing standard specifications for employment and rates of pay which in turn have for their purpose the holding out of greater opportunity and greater security to employes. Reduction in total expenditures may or may not be desirable. But whether it is or is not, confusing the two issues will be helpful to neither. Any new plan of standardization when applied to those who hold positions under an old plan may have a detrimental effect unless great care is used in making adjustments. Let us take an example which will illustrate the application of the method which is now being used. We will assume that two bookkeepers are employed by the city who have the same training and experience and have demonstrated the same ability and enthusiasm in their work. One may have been assigned to an office where there is small need for bookkeeping and required to act largely as a filing clerk; the other may be placed in an office where he

has a chance to do his best and to develop further his abilities through bookkeeping experience.

"The staff of the board of estimate and apportionment now undertakes to prepare schedules for a budget. Not having full information about the work which is being done and as a basis for determining what personnel should be provided for carrying on the functions of each of the departments, it undertakes to get at this through its study of individual employments. In making a study of the work of these two bookkeepers the board's staff may have arrived at the conclusion that the services performed by the first man are those which may be done by a $720 clerk, whereas those performed by the second man could only be done by a senior bookkeeper who would not be overpaid at $1,800 a year. This may be the best method that is now available for determining what is a fair allowance to be made for personal services required by the whole department. But the staff would make further use of it and apply the same logic to determine what salaries each of the two individuals in question should receive. It is the latter use of the facts that works a very grave injustice and threatens to upset standardization and conclusions as to budget requirements as well as the living plans of persons who have rendered faithful and intelligent service to the city.

"The vital question now is whether a staff of the board of estimate and apportionment should be permitted to say that the first man, who has already been handicapped by having an unfortunate assignment, shall have a still further injustice done him by requiring that his salary shall be reduced, whereas if the two men in question had had their assignments reversed the recommendation for salary increase and decrease would have applied in an obverse way. Such a method of determining what amount should be appropriated, in the assumed interest of economy, bids fair to defeat its own ends. And it is fairly contended that if this is the use to be made of standardization-if the board is to invoke a principle of general good for doing personal injustice the whole thing should be defeated until a method may be developed which will reconcile them.

"Suggestions for 1916 Budget

"The suggestion is made that instead of considering these three problems as one, [viz.: (1) the adoption of standard specifications, (2) the fixing of the number of positions and salaries in each department, and (3) the determination of how men shall be assigned to work] and instead of assuming that all of them are to be considered and determined by the board at the time that it fixes its budget-each be separately considered; and that appropriations be made in such manner that they can be acted on independently. To the end that proper consideration may be given to the just

claims of those now on the payroll, as well as to the establishment of conditions and rates of pay that will be more equitable and just for the future, some such rules as the following should be adopted to govern the preparation of the 1916 budget and 'schedules of personal service':

1-That all appropriations for "personal service," as well

as for each other kind of thing to be purchased, be set up in one amount for each department, as shown by Exhibit "A" attached.

2-That instead of seeking to control the amount of the appropriation for "personal services" which may be used for each function or kind of work done, as in the past, through designating the number of employes, and positions and salaries which may be paid in each bureau or office, the board of estimate and apportionment set up, by schedule, the amount or total cost of "personal services" which may be used for each kind of work, leaving to the head of the department the right to determine what persons will be assigned or used in the performance of such work (See Exhibit "B" attached).

3-That as soon as practicable, and before January 1st next, the board of estimate and apportionment act on the reports before its committee on salaries and grades and establish standard specifications and rates of pay without regard to the number of positions provided for in the budget, and as soon as each report has been acted upon, that the specifications thereby established be made applicable to all subsequent changes in salaries and grades.

4-That until standard specifications and rates of pay have been established no changes be made except after approval by the board of estimate and apportionment. 5-That the head of each department be required by resolution to recommend changes in organization, and before January 1st to submit for the action of the board of estimate and apportionment and board of aldermen a schedule of positions which he wishes to have established in his department, any changes proposed, so far as practicable, to be in accordance with the new standards, the total amount or annual basis of the employments so listed not to exceed the total amount appropriated for the department. 6-That upon receipt of requests from department heads, or if not received before January 1, upon their own motion, the board of estimate and apportionment shall establish revised schedules of positions in the several departments; such schedules when established to govern expenditures from the 1916 appropriations for 'personal services.""

CHAPTER VII

INFLUENCE OF THE STANDARDIZATION MOVEMENT -PRESENT ATTITUDE OF THE COUNTRY TOWARD IT

The second part of this work presents in detail a description and discussion of the work of the several political subdivisionsstate and municipal-which have provided special agencies to standardize their employments. These particular communities expend annually a grand total of $200,000,000 for personal service. The country at large expends in the neighborhood of ten times that much for similar purposes. It is evident that every community has reason to be interested and it is believed. that through the isolated attempts which have been made to establish better control of the personnel there has been developed a leadership and influence which will bring about a general and permanent reform in civil service.

As a part of its investigation, the New York senate committee on civil service submitted to civil service commissions and other public agencies throughout the country, a questionnaire dealing with civil service regulation, practice and experience, for the purpose of gathering material for a comparative study. This method of inquiry was supplemented by field studies.

It may be said, as a result of this investigation, that the organizations-federal, state, municipal-throughout the country recognize that one of the most important reforms in government is that comprehended within the standardization movement-constructive reorganization of employment control which will substitute positive standards and requirements of work for the present negative system of restrictive regulation.

Representative private practice in local, and other communities, was studied and interpreted through correspondence and field investigation in order to learn the methods of employment control which have been successfully applied by private employers. Through such inquiries and conferences the senate committee on civil service has been able to focus upon the stan

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