Turnover is the change in personnel brought about by hiring and ter
mination of employment. Many conditions enter into these changes, some
of which are beyond the employer's control or influence. Other conditions
are largely within the control of the employer and, because of their obvious
importance, they demand serious consideration,

Problems relating to personnel are no less vital than problems relating
to markets, materials and machinery. Conditions affecting turnover lie at
the heart of all personnel problems. Intelligent consideration cannot be
given these conditions without knowledge of facts and such knowledge de-
pends upon accurate data.

It is impractical merely to group or express in total percentage, all the
factors entering into turnover; these factors are irreconcilable. It is of value
to know the percent of exits but it is of more value to know the causes of
those exits; therefore a detailed anaylsis of reasons underlying termination
of employment becomes valuable.

With the above in mind and appreciating the necessity of uniform rec-
ords if future discussions of the problems of turnover are to be of value, the
Employment Managers' Association of Boston has adopted this provisional
form and method for computing turnover. The Association anticipates its
later revision in the light of experience to be secured through its use.

1 Employed

As a convenience and economy to employers this form is printed and

carried in stock by the Library Bureau, Boston, Massachusetts.

REMARKS:

it seemed desirable to leave a column frankly for those whom we do not wish to assign to any particular cause.

CAUSES OF DISMISSAL

The exits from work on account of dismissal have been classified under the heads of "Careless," the careless man perhaps being the greatest bugbear that we have, although sometimes it is a curable disease. Laziness is our second classification, though as a usual thing it is very hard to distinguish between carelessness and laziness, the results and the symptoms being very much the same. It was, however, thought that there would be men who are exceptionally active whose carelessness is the result of over-enthusiasm, and whose classification falls under the first head rather than the second.

Incompetency is a very common cause of dismissal in these times when men are apt to represent themselves as even more capable than they really are. In a measure, the turnover due to incompetence may be said to reflect somewhat on the employment department who should be sufficiently keen to discover such cases before hiring them. It is certainly a part of their duty to give such people another opportunity if possible by transferring them to some other department, so that we would expect that this column would not be especially large. Under the head of "Unreliable," we would place such men as we considered were actually competent, but through carelessness or laziness were apt to be variable in their actions. Probably not a great many would be classified under this head, as they would most naturally fall under the two heads of "Carelessness" or "Laziness." The column "Liquor," "Trouble Breeders," "Insubordinates" and "Misconduct" probably need no explanation. There are very few places where any of us can afford to keep men who abuse the use of liquors, or those who are in the habit of stirring up trouble with other people. Our general experience with insubordination, however, leads us to feel that there would be very few cases which could be clearly placed under this classification, as most men are willing to subordinate themselves to a foreman's instructions if they are given clearly so the man does not misunderstand them, and if they are given in a proper spirit. Most of the men, who under proper working conditions, are insubordinate may be said to be trouble breeders by nature, and should probably be classed under that heading.

WHY MEN ARE LAID OFF OR TRANSFERRED

Under the sub-heading of "Men Laid Off," we have made the following divisions:

1. To decrease the force, probably made necessary by lack of work, although it might be due to the fact that additional machinery had been installed which required less labor to operate, or because the men already on the job had become more efficient and were able to do the work in a smaller group.

2. Those laid off for physical reasons include those who have become aged in the service of the company, and those who as a result of some sickness, or accident, had become incapacitated. It seems, however, that very few should be placed under this column, as a man who has become incapacitated as a result of the work which he has done seems to be a proper object for further care by the company, either by being placed in some easier, less active job, or by being placed on some sort of a pension roll.

The next column accounts for the laying off of those temporarily employed, which reminds us that under the entrances no division is made between those who are employed for temporary work and those who are not. It is very difficult usually to determine, at the time a man is hired, whether his employment is temporary or not. We may have a gang of fifty men, and we may wish to increase that gang temporarily to seventy-five. In hiring twenty-five new men, we are almost certain that some will prove to be men whom we will wish to keep at the expiration of the time when the work is done for which they are hired, preferring to discharge some of the men who are already on the job as being less capable.

The subheading for men transferred is divided into those transferred for physical reasons, which is covered also in our statement regarding those laid off; for those promoted, which is usually obvious, although promotion at times may appear to be a little vague. Oftentimes, a man asks for a transfer from one department to another which he believes will prove to be a promotion for him, when it seems to us as if it was a demotion. However, we should feel, we think, that anyone who is bettered either mentally, or physically, or pecuniarily, is promoted even though it may not appear to an outsider that the new job is better than the old one.

Those who have failed in one department and are transferred from that department on that account, also, of course, appear in the entrances under the head of those transferred. Departmental fluctuation is supposed to cover the transfers made from time to

time from one department to another, and more especially between departments of the same nature, but, perhaps, in different buildings under different foremen. This would cover such cases as those where a number of people leave one department, and in order to fill the gap others are shifted from other departments to that, possibly temporarily and possibly permanently. Transfers under this heading would not constitute promotions nor indicate that the person transferred is in any sense a failure.

The unavoidable causes are classified among those who are superannuated or pensioned for any other reason, those whose marriage takes them away from the shop or office, and the deaths which are caused by exterior causes, or those due to occupation in the works. We felt there should be this last distinction between the two because exterior causes are not a reflection upon the industry at all, while those coming from the occupational diseases or from accidents should be kept separate so that we might have an index of the dangers of our work.

At the bottom of the sheet, it will be seen that there is provision made for getting the percentage of leaving for each one of a number of different causes. There is first a footing for the total of each individual column. By dividing that total by the average number of employes concerned, we arrive at the percentage leaving for that particular department for that individual reason, and for the time covered by the sheet. Then the next totals are for the totals of the subheadings: that is, the new entrances, the reëmployed and transferred, those who left of their own accord, those who were discharged, those who were laid off, those who were transferred and the unavoidable. Then the third set of totals and percentages is for those coming and those leaving, so that if this is applied to the whole plant, the percentage of those leaving over the average number employed will give us the total turnover for the whole plant. On the other hand, the sheet gives us a classification as fine as anyone probably will require, so that a study of these sheets will give a bird's-eye view of the whole condition, and as finely subdivided an opportunity for study as can be wished. The recapitulation of these figures by departments and by plants is provided for, as may be noticed on the back of the two forms.