To utilise the services of a staff of approximately 15,000 employees in such a way as to obtain the maximum of efficiency in the conduct of business, with the minimum of friction in the internal working of the organisation, is a major problem in the management of the Railways. How the problem is dealt with by the Staff Division, working under the direction of the Staff Superintendent, Mr. A. Urquhart, at Railway Headquarters, is told briefly in the following article.

The successful working of any large organisation essentially depends on having the most efficient men in the various positions. It will be readily appreciated, therefore, that the problems associated with the employment of a staff of approximately 15,000 men in the multitude of occupations associated with a railway system extending from Opua in the far north to the Bluff in the extreme south, are many and diverse. The staff must be utilised in such a way as to enable the requirements of business to be met as they fluctuate from day to day.

It is probably safe to say that every permanent employee of the Department takes a keen interest in matters connected with staff administration, and it may be of interest to record the impressions gained in a visit to the ground floor section of the Head Office building in Featherston Street, Wellington, which accommodates the Staff Division. Passing along the main corridor and through a swinging glass door we reach the domain of the Staff Superintendent who, with an assistant and staff of correspondence and posting clerks, devotes his activities to administering the policy of the management in relation to the staff.

We find the Staff Superintendent, Mr. A. Urquhart, in his office, surrounded by telephones and official papers, grappling with major administrative problems, making decisions and issuing instructions to his staff in the short intervals between the visits of numerous callers, who wait upon him to discuss official business. It is a busy Division, as can be seen from a tour of inspection of the offices which accommodate Mr. Urquhart's Divisional Staff.

Inquiry and Employment Section.

We are first taken to the Inquiry and Employment Section, where a courteous clerk, between the periods devoted to attending to inquiries of numerous callers, deals with an imposing pile of correspondence from applicants for employment. Each application is carefully recorded and indexed on a most up-to-date card index register, which comprises some 75,000 cards. Copies of documents and testimonials submitted by applicants are checked with the originals, which are duly returned to the applicant with an acknowledgment, while the copies are filed in a fire-proof strongroom for future reference.

While observing the orderly system in evidence in the Employment Section our attention is drawn in no uncertain manner to the fact that there are busy typewriters in the vicinity.

Passing to the next room we view with interest row upon row of typewriters, at which, under the watchful eye of the Lady Supervisor, a large staff of capable shorthand-typistes are turning out a mass of official correspondence from shorthand notes dictated to them by the staff in the surrounding offices.

New Zealand Railways Staff Division
(Rly. Publicity photos.)
(1) Mr. A. Urquhart, Staff Superintendent; (2) Divisional Clerks—Mr. J. A. Martin, Senior Clerk[gap — reason: illegible]), Messrs. A. F. Taylor (left) and L. G. Shepherd; (3) Mr. G. L. Anderson, Staff Assistant; (4) General Office—Classification and Posting Sections; (5) A section of the modern card index system Location cards; (6) Typistes' Office—Miss B. R. McQueen (standing), Lady Supervisor; (7) Inquiry Office and Employment Section.

Up-to-date Filing Methods.

After inspecting the electric duplicator which, with admirable mechanical efficiency, produces in hundreds departmental circulars destined for distribution throughout the system, we move to the next office, a spacious room accommodating, with a staff of posting and section clerks, a great array of neatly pigeon-holed files, each one of which, we are informed, contains the personal record of a member of the permanent staff covering the whole period of his service in the Department.

The task of keeping the information on each of those twelve thousand-odd files posted up to date is obviously one of some magnitude, but the work goes smoothly on day by day, and the complete record of each individual member, covering such details as salary, grade, class, designation, qualifications, educational attainments, promotions, punishments and location at any given date throughout his career is available for inspection at a moment's notice.

Education in Railway Working.

The Department recognises that the value of a member to the service is determined largely by the extent of his education and training, coupled with such essential personal characteristics as initiative, energy and capacity.

The provision of improved facilities for education in railway working for the benefit of the staff is a feature of the Department's general principle of conforming to the best practices obtaining in modern large scale enterprises. A correspondence course covering a varied range of subjects, from the fundamental principles of train running work to rules, regulations and tariff charges, is provided. At half-yearly intervals examinations are conducted to determine the extent to which members are taking advantage of the facilities afforded for gaining both theoretical and practical knowledge of railway work.

The scheme of staff education includes, also, instruction on technical subjects to apprentices employed in the Department's Workshops, while encouragement is given to the formation by members of the staff at large centres, of classes for instruction in First Aid.

Passing along the row of busy clerks our attention is directed to one engaged in recording the results of a recent examination and preparing statistical data in connection therewith. A neat card-filing system facilitates the establishment of a permanent and accurate record of the results attained by each member at the examinations. Success at these examinations is a vital factor affecting the advancement and salary increments of the candidates.

Housing the Department's Employees.

The Department is keenly appreciative of the important part comfortable residential accommodation for married employees plays in securing a contented staff. A clerk, with the aid of an effective card system, records the details of between three and four thousand houses which are provided by the Department and reserved for occupation by members of the staff. The system of control of house property is complete, and allocation of houses to employees of all classes throughout the system is arranged by the housing section of the Staff Division, which experiences on a large scale all the problems of the average house agent.

As an adjunct to the activities connected with housing, this section arranges for the printing and distribution to District Controlling Officers of passes for use by the staff when travelling on official business or while on holiday leave.

How Location Cards are Kept.

Moving to the next section, we find a staff posting on location cards, a complete record of every change of location for each member. Neat cabinets contain a range of cards, with master cards indicating the name of each station, office, depot or workshop, followed by another recording the details of the designation and grade of positions authorised for each establishment page 35

Typical personal service record of a member of the Railways permanent staff.

Then follows what is termed a location card for each employee employed at such station, office, etc. Recorded on this card are full particulars of the grade, salary and location of the employee at all periods of his career, and it can be conveniently moved as the location of the employee to whom it refers is changed from time to time. Notification of the date each change of staff authorised by the General Manager is carried out, is submitted by District Controlling Officers to Head Office on a special form printed fivefold. After the accuracy of the details has been checked by the posting clerk one copy is forwarded to the Audit Office, one to the Chief Accountant, and one returned to the District Controlling Office for record purposes. One of the remaining copies is retained by the posting section for attachment to the personal record of the individual concerned, while the remaining copy passes to another important branch of the office—the Classification Section.

Classification and Correspondence.

Every member of the service is familiar with, and more or less keenly interested in, the Classification List, which is published annually, setting forth in order of classification the name, status and pay of each member, probationer, and apprentice, and the length of time he has been in the service of the Department. It is doubtful whether many have any conception of the amount of detail work involved in compiling accurately the particulars published in that document. In order that the information may be readily available, it is essential that a special card for each member of the permanent staff be kept posted up to date throughout the year, with every detail affecting the pay and classification of the member concerned. A record is also kept of work performed by members acting in an advanced capacity in every case in which the time so occupied has a bearing on the due date of the member's right to advancement to a higher rate of pay. A most important and responsible task is the collating annually page 36 of the recommendations made by controlling officers in respect to the qualifications and suitability for advancement of individual members, and the review of the recommendations made, having due regard to the personal history of the member as disclosed by his official record in Head Office. This duty must of necessity be completed before the printing of the Classification List can be arranged.

The nature of the work connected with what is, of course, the largest transport concern in the Dominion, is such that accidents are inevitable, and we find a clerk absorbed in the intricacies of assessing compensation payable in terms of the Workers' Compensation Act to members who have the misfortune to meet with serious accident in the course of their employment.

We note the orderly distribution of correspondence and statistical data from the various sections to the supervising clerk, who carefully checks it before passing it through to the Staff Superintendent or his assistant for final review prior to despatch.

Railway Educational Facilities.
(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Mr. M. L. Bracefield (centre) Officer-in-Charge, Railway Training School, Wellington, and his staff at work.

Passing through to still another office, we meet the Staff Assistant and Senior Section Clerks, who are engaged in dealing with the seemingly-endless volume of correspondence connected with the staffing of innumerable stations, locomotive depots, maintenance gang lengths, stores, workshops, etc. The selection of suitable members to fill vacancies created by retirements, resignations, and other causes; arrangements for placing retired members on superannuation, refund of contributions to members resigned, preparation of circular instructions; amendments to regulations, and fixing of staff establishments, are among the items which keep every member of the staff Division in this office fully engaged throughout the day.

Low Rates In America.

That reduced rates are developing rail travel which otherwise definitely would not move—at least by rail—is self-evident. Many trains are carrying a substantial volume of business again, and even if at lowered rates, it is significant of the possibilities.—From the Christian Science Monitor.