Believing that many new war-workers, fresh from household duties or
from school, were unable to adjust themselves quickly to the tempo of a
big factory, Fairchild Aircraft, Burlington, has inaugurated an "induc¬
tion” system. In the above picture the director is shown taking a group
of new employees on a tour of the factory, helping them get their bearings.
The system is credited with cutting turnover of new labor by 50 per cent.
Breaking In On
a New Job
The iiiaiiiigemcnt found that in
many instances. nc*u workers
were seared, so now they are
given an opportunity to famil¬
iarize themselves thoroughly
with llieir new surroundings.
Ill/ BILL SHARPE
RKM I0MBER the day you report¬
ed for your first job ? itold as you
were when you started from the
house, a great wave of timidity over¬
whelm^! you as you entered the huge
plant, heard unaccustomed noises and
saw thousands of strange, indifferent
fares. There was an unhappy feeling
in your stomach as you wondered if
you would make some mistake, or ad¬
dress the wrong person.
Thousands of Americans — espe¬
cially women who never Indore had
oven Ihn'H in a factory — much less
worked in one — arc going through that
ex|H‘rieitee every day now, and many
of them find themselves unable to
go through with their determination
to abandon home and security for the
strange, quickened tempo of war plant
work.
Study of records showed Fairchild
Aircraft, Burlington, that 80 percent
of its employment turnover was com¬
ing from new employees— people who
quit within 30 days of their start on
the job. The Personnel Department
became convinced that a lot of these
in-nml-outers were simply ill at ease,
disappointed, and harassed by an un¬
accustomed environment.
The surmise was correct. After es¬
tablishment of a sympathetic "induc¬
tion" system, the turn-over of new
employee* was reduced by 50 per cent.
The induction director takes over
all new employees each day and ex¬
plains the new things they will en¬
counter. His little talk includes ex¬
planation of the Protection system,
why it is necessary to inspect lunch
boxes, why it is necessary to wear
identification badges, and how to re¬
place lost ones.
He shows them how the parking sys¬
tem really is simple and not compli¬
cated, as it might appear; when and
where they can smoke; how to get a
locker. Their rights and obligations
are carefully explained, and they are
told of employee- services available to
them and how to get it — how to uti¬
lize the share-ride program, the ra¬
tioning officer, the housing division.
Briefly, he makes simple the tilings
which heretofore had puzzled new
employees safety rules ami wlint type
of clothes to wear on the job; rales of
pay, and how overtime is figured; the
vacation policy; promotions, job rat¬
ing, pay increases, how to make com¬
plaints, how to get additional training.
Included i« advice on group insurance,
policy regarding company tools, and
many other things.
Bursting with this new-found in¬
formation, the group is then taken
on a complete tour of the plant, guid¬
ed hv the induction director. This trip
takes the new employee to all the
points mentioned in the talk and of
course includes an inspection of the
department where she will work.
The time clock is first on the tour,
and the fledglings go through the
office, and every department of the
plant, seeing the various sulenssem-
blies merge into a completed plane.
They discover the locker room, first-aid
room, smoking area, and the way to
and from the departments they will
visit. The tour winds up at lunch¬
time with the employee's first visit to
the cafeteria, where she eats with hun¬
dreds of her future fellow employees.
When she reports after lunch to her
foreman for her first day nil the job.
she usually has had the rough spots
rubbed off, and cau find her way
around without asking questions. The
Personnel Department estimates that
the concentrated induction program
gives the now employee poise and as¬
surance which in most cases had re¬
quired a month to obtain.
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