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E

REPORT OF TRANSMISSION
TO ACCOMPAN Y
THE CLASSIFICATION
OF THE '
CIVIL SERVICE OF CANADA
Describing the schedules for the classiﬁcation of positions and
the standardization of compensation, explaining their
need, basis, and use and the method of their preparation, ‘
and including a discussion of the problem
of personnel in the Civil Service of Canada
with recommendations for a comprehen-
sive employment policy and plan.
, BY
ARTHUR YOUNG 85 COMPANY
Chicago—Toronto—New York
OTTAWA
J. de LABROQUERIE TACHE '
PRINTER To THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY
1919
03135-1
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LETTER OF TRANSMISSION BY THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION... . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LETTER OF TRANSMISSION BY ARTHUR YOUNG & COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
PART I—THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CIVIL SERVICE—
(81)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
Deﬁnitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The need and purpose of classiﬁcation—a discussion of the considerations
that made a classiﬁcation of the Civil Service imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The basis of classiﬁcation—a record of the principles approved by the
Commission for the guidance of those engaged in the work . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A description of the classiﬁcation Schedules—
1. The title of the class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. The deﬁnition of the class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. The examples of duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4. The statement of qualiﬁcation requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5. The suggestions regarding lines of promotion . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A brief explanation of the method of preparing the classiﬁcation schedules.
Recommendations regarding the administration of the classiﬁcation . . . . . .
A discussion of the considerations involved in ﬁxing the status, under
the new classiﬁcation, Of employees now in the service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PART II—THE STANDARDIZATION 0F COMPENSATION IN THE CIVIL SERVICE—-
(21)
0))
(<1)
(d)
(e)
_ (f)
A description of present conditions with regard to the compensation of
positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A discussion of the considerations that led to the standardization of
compensation at this time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
The principles and policies adopted as a basis for the recommended
schedules of compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
A description of the schedules of compensation . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Recommendations for the administration of schedules of compensation. . .
A discussion of the considerations involved in determining the salary
status, under the new schedules of compensation, of employees now in
the service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PART III—A DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM OF PERSONNEL IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
OF CANADA WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A COMPREHENSIVE EMPLOYMENT
POLICY AND PLAN—
(81)
(b) '
(c)
The place of the problem of civil service personnel in the administration
of government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . .
A theoretical analysis of the problem of personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A statement of the essential features of a complete employment plan for
the Civil Service of Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
63135——1%
iii
PAGE
vii
10
10
11
11
13
15
21
23
24
27
30
32
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(i)
(k)
(l)
The scientiﬁc selection of employees for original and promotional appoint-
ments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The training of employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The ascertaining Of the individual eﬂiciency of employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The advancement in pay and promotion in position of eﬁicient employees.
The removal of ineﬁicient employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The retirement of incapacitated employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The lay off of unnecessary employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The working conditions and welfare Of employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
The establishment of a means of Co-operation between Civil Service
employes and the government as their employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPENDIX A—(Under separate Cover).
THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CIVIL SERVICE OF CANADA—SHOWING ALL CLAssEs,
ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, WITH DEFINITIONS, QUALIFICATIONS, PRINCIPAL
LINEs OF PROMOTION, AND COMPENSATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NOTEs ON
APPENDIX B.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CIVIL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION WITH
ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF EMPLoYMENTs AND THE
STANDARDIZATION 0F COMPENSATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
I’
46
45
47
50
52
55
57
59
60
65
OTTAWA, June 9th, 1919.
To the Honourable
MARTIN BURRELL,
Secretary of State,
Ottawa, Ont.
SIR,———The Civil Service Act of 1918, extending as it did the jurisdiction
of the Commission to the entire Civil Service of Canada, simultaneously
imposed many important tasks on the Commission. Among these were the
classiﬁcation of the Outside Service, the standardization of compensation,
the preparing of plans of organization for departments, the organization
of the Commission’s own staff, the preparation of regulations, the handling
of voluminous departmental requests and reports, and the examination of
applicants for the recruiting of the Civil Service at a time when the demands
on it were very great. The Commission organized by establishing an
Administration Branch, an Examination Branch, and an Organization
Branch in order that the work might be divided. The work of classiﬁca-
tion and standardization was considered most pressing because the other
work of the Commission was largely dependent on its completion.
In order that the Commission might not be distracted from giving its
attention to the Current needs of public business, it decided to retain special
temporary assistance for its Organization Branch to make the investiga-
tions and formulate the recommendations upon which a classiﬁcation
might be based. Inasmuch as this work was of a permanent character
and of the highest value to the country, and as the time element was most
important, it was considered inadvisable to attempt to train a special
staﬁ' for this temporary purpose. After a thorough canvass of the pro-
fessional ﬁeld, the Commission found that the ﬁrm of Arthur Young &
Company was engaged in this highly specialized line of work and well
able to furnish experts of the kinds and numbers needed. It was found
that this ﬁrm maintained an organization of civil service specialists,
employment experts, efﬁciency engineers, and accountants, thoroughly
experienced in classiﬁcation work, is of high standing in the United States
and Canada, has been established in business for some twenty-ﬁve years
and was retained over a period of years by the British, French, and American
governments on important commissions.
The staff thus secured was assigned to work with the permanent staff
of the Organization Branch under the general direction of the Commission.
Its Work was carried on according to principles and policies approved by
the Commission, and each step in the programme was Considered and
sanctioned before it was taken.
The recommended schedules for the classiﬁcation of positions ani the
standardization of compensation in the Civil Service of Canada as prepared
by this staff and our Organization Branch are now complete, and are
submitted for your consideration.
In explanation of this classiﬁcation we transmit, herewith, a report
Parts I and II of which constitute a record of the considerations that led
to the undertaking of the work and the'principles and methods involved
in carrying it on, and contain a description of the schedules themselves.
Appendix B contains a sketch of recent classiﬁcation work in a number
of the more important English-speaking communities.
In presenting this proposed classiﬁcation, we recommend that the
same be printed and submitted to Parliament for ratiﬁcation, as required
by the Civil Service Act of 1918; and that the report in explanation of
the classiﬁcation be printed separately, and that it be distributed to the
Senators and Members of Parliament in order that they may obtain some
idea of the basis and purpose of classiﬁcation, and the general principles
on which it has been carried out. This report should also be printed for
general distribution, as it constitutes a work which should prove of in-
estirnable value in educating the public to an understanding of the important
and drastic changes which have taken place in the administration of civil
service laws in the last two years.
Part III of this same report contains a series of observations and
suggestions, including certain proposals as to civil service procedure
dealing with the employment problem in the Canadian Civil Service.
We transmit these comments with the idea that they will prove of interest
and value as representing an outside point of view. It is not to be inferred
from their inclusion in this report that the Commission endorses all of
the suggestions made. While a number of the ideas advanced coincide
with our policies others are such that their adoption at this time would
not in ‘our opinion be practicable.
The Commissioners desire to add that they cannot speak too highly
of the faithful and efﬁcient manner in which this work has been done by
the staff placed at the disposal of the Commission by Messrs. Arthur Young
& Company. While it is realized that the classiﬁcation is not entirely
free from defects, the fault does not lie with this staff, because of the fact
that sufﬁcient time could not be taken to complete the work in as
thorough a manner as had been hoped. However, what defects may- be
found to exist, can be remedied from time to time, as need arises, and
provision therefor has been made in the proposed amendments to the
Civil Service Act.
In conclusion, the Commissioners feel that the adoption of this classiﬁ-
cation will be of permanent value to the country, and that the expenditure
which has been incurred in connection therewith is a judicious measure,
and one which will ultimately result in a noticeable saving of the public
money.
We have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servants,
W. ]. ROCHE,
M. G. LAROCHELLE,
C. JAMESON,
Commissioners.
vi
OTTAWA, June 1st, 1919.
T o the CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF CANADA,
Ottawa, Canada.
SIRs,—~—In August, 1918, we undertook at your request to prepare
recommendations for the classiﬁcation of the Civil Service of the Dominion
of Canada. Subsequently we were asked to prepare recommendations
respecting the compensation for each class of employment, the quali-
ﬁcations to be required of applicants, the principal lines of promotion to be
observed within the service, and the necessary details of administration.
Our several recommendations while in tentative form have been
discussed from time to time with your Commission. The ﬁnal schedules
have now been completed and are transmitted herewith under separate
cover as Appendix A to this report, entitled “The Classiﬁcation of the
Civil Service of Canada.”
As a necessary step in Securing the required information as to the
duties and responsibilities of all places of employment in the civil service,
the internal Organization of each department was analyzed and charted.
These charts are also transmitted herewith as exhibits of the size and
complexity of the governmental structure. They are bound separately
and entitled “ Departmental Organization Charts."
In our report of transmission in the following ‘pages, we explain
the form and contents of the classiﬁcation and compensation schedules
contained in Appendix A, discuss the theory and method of their
preparation, and offer concrete recommendations for their maintenance
and use. We have also thought it well to preface these remarks with a
resumé, for purposes of record, of the considerations that led to the under-
taking of the classiﬁcation and the principles which your Commission has
approved from time to time for the guidance of those engaged in the work.
In the course of our investigations we have naturally become more or
less familiar with employment conditions in the service, with the employ-
ment methods and personnel requirements of departments, with the point
of view of civil servants of all ranks, and with the administrative problems
of the Commission. Youw have requested -that a statement of our ﬁndings
and impressions 'in respect to these subjects, and particularly of our con-
clusions and recommendations, be laid before you and we have accordingly
included in this report, as part III, a general discussion of the problem of
personnel in the Civil Service of Canada.
Moreover, in our analysis of the work of departments and individuals,
we have noted many conditions with regard to Organization and methods
of procedure which offer promising possibilities for improvements that if
made would in our opinion lead to substantial reductions in the costs of
vii
conducting the public business. These data are on record for the use of
your Commission in carrying on its efﬁciency and economy work in the
several departments under the provisions of the Civil Service Act.
At this point a brief recapitulation of the desirable results that should
follow the adoption of a classiﬁcation such as that now laid before you may
be in order. It will remedy the confused conditions now existing in respect
to the relation of pay to work. It will insure the same pay for the same
work. It will carry this uniformity throughout the service regardless of
department lines or geographical location of work. It will make possible
the advancement of pay of an individual within proper limits for increased
efﬁciency in the same position but will call a halt on seniority advancement
out of all reason when there is no real change in duties and consequently
no increase in usefulness to the government. It will furnish a practical
basis for promotion by drawing sharp lines between classes of positions
diﬂering in their importance and responsibility; It will insure higher
compensation for those selected for the higher positions because best
ﬁtted, and for no others.
The classiﬁcation, properly administered, will do all of these things,
but even they are not in our opinion the most important beneﬁts to be
expected. It will be of invaluable aid to Parliament in making a dis—
criminating application of public funds to the several agencies of govern-
ment. The use of a‘ generally accepted nomenclature for the designation
of positions, each title carrying with it a deﬁnite concept of the kind and
value of the employment designated, will make it possible for departments
to prepare their estimates in a way that has not hitherto been feasible.
Parliament in considering departmental estimates of organization require-
ments can concentrate its attention if it desires on the need of the speciﬁc
classes and exact numbers of positions requested instead of considering
merely lump sums or attempting to deal with individual salaries. When it
has satisﬁed itself as to the real organization needs, the automatic applica-
tion of the approved schedules of compensation to the classes of positions
authorized will naturally lead to uniformity and consistency in salaries.
Furthermore, the Commission with a classiﬁcation at hand picturing
in detail the service that it is called upon to recruit, will be able, as it has
not been hitherto, readily to inform the public of opportunities in the gov-
ernment service, systematically to, seek out desirable applicants, to devise
effective and practical tests for determining their relative ﬁtness, to employ
similar scientiﬁc methods for ﬁlling positions of the higher ranks, to
ascertain‘ individual efﬁciency, to control compensation, and to effectively
regulate transfers, lay offs, and other employment processes.
This resume of the beneﬁts to be derived from the work would not be
complete without some reference to the by—products that will come‘ from
the Commission’s investigations. Such facts as have been brought out
as to opportunities for the elimination of unnecessary work, for the reduc-
tion of overlapping and duplication, and for the establishment of a more
efﬁcient relationship between the work done and the pay-roll cost ought
certainly not to be disregarded. ‘
viii
It has been possible to maintain a high pitch of enthusiasm throughout
the course of this often tedious work. In laying the results before you
we feel that we should record the fact that this has been due to the
attitude constantly maintained by your Commission. Our instructions
have in no case called for anything but the strictest and fairest application
of right principles. They have never suggested any compromise of
such principles in favour of any group or individual or in support of any
existing conditions or practices that were considered bad. The leader-
ship'and counsel of your Secretary have been a continuous inspiration.
In the light of this progressive attitude and the interest we have seen
displayed by those in the service, high and low, we feel certain there will
be no backward step in civil service administration in Canada.
Yours faithfully, '
' ARTHUR YOUNG & COMPANY,
by E. O. GRIFFENHACEN.
PART I
THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CIVIL
SERVICE
OUTLINE.
(a) Deﬁnitions.
(b) The need and purpose of classiﬁcation—a dis-
cussion of the considerations that made a classiﬁcation
of the Civil Service imperative.
(c) The basis of classiﬁcation—a record of the prin-
ciples approved by your Commission for the guidance of
those engaged in the work.
((1) A description of the classiﬁcation schedules——
1. The title of the class.
The deﬁnition of the class.
. The examples of duties.
The statement of qualiﬁcation requirements.
News»
The suggestions regarding lines of promotion.
(e) A brief explanation of the method of preparing the
classiﬁcation schedules.
(f) Recommendations regarding the administration
of the classiﬁcation.
(g) A discussion of the considerations involved in
ﬁxing the status under the classiﬁcation of employees
now in the service.
PART I
THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CIVIL
SERVICE
DEFINITIONS, NEED AND PURPOSE, BASIS, DESCRIPTION OF
SCHEDULES AND METHOD OF PREPARATION, MAINTEN-
ANCE AND ADMINISTRATION, APPLICATION TO THE PER-
SONNEL.
Foreword: Without an efﬁcient personnel in the public ser-
vice the most carefully constructed organization and highly per-
fected methods of procedure will not serve their purpose. An efﬁ-
cient personnel cannot be secured or retained unless the principle
of fair play as exempliﬁed by the maxims, “equal opportunity for
all,” “reward only for merit,” “the same pay for the same work,”
are given practical day by day application. In a later section
of this report we enumerate and discuss the administrative
measures that are necessary to insure the actual application of
these principles to individual cases. We point out that a
classiﬁcation of the positions in the civil service comes ﬁrst. In
this ﬁrst part of our report we will, therefore, take up the general
subject of classiﬁcation and particularly the classiﬁcation sched-
ules proposed in a separate volume entitled “The Classiﬁcation
of the Civil Service of Canada,” referred to hereinafter as
Appendix A.
(a) Deﬁnitions:
In speaking of the “Civil Service” in this report we use
that expression to mean the aggregation of Civil ofﬁces and
places of employment in the several departments of the govern-
ment. We refer to each individual ofﬁce or place of employ-
ment as a “position” and take it for granted that each position
involves speciﬁc duties and responsibilities calling for some
person’s attention for their performance or exercise. By a
“classiﬁcation” of the civil service we mean a grouping of the
positions (not the incumbents) according to some logical and
systematic scheme that will bring together into the same group
all positions involving work of like character and responsibilities
of like importance. We refer to these groups of similar positions
as “classes” and proceed on the assumption that all positions
in a class are properly subject to common treatment from the
standpoint of selection and compensation and other employment
processes.
Contents of
Part I.
Meaning of
Civil Service.
Meaning of
classiﬁcation.
Meaning of
class .
4 .
Several
reasons for
classiﬁcation.
1918 Act
called for
classiﬁcation
of Outside
Service.
Necessary
as basis for
selection of
appointees.
service practice.
(b) The Need and Purpose of Classiﬁcation—a discus-
sion of the considerations that made the classiﬁcation
of the Civil Service imperative:
There were several reasons why the classiﬁcation of the
civil service was necessary as a preliminary step to any adequate
attempt to administer the Civil Service Act of 1918. These
ranged all the way from the express provisions and implied
requirements of the Act to the general dictates of good civil
In the following paragraphs we explain some
of the more direct and important of these reasons.
First: The Civil Service Act of 1918 speciﬁcally called for
a classiﬁcation of the “Outside Service.” Section 52, (1) provides:
“The Commission shall, as soon as practicable after the
’ passing of this Act, . . . . . . ..prepare schedules con-
taining lists of the positions and the duties and
salaries attached thereto and the salaries and in-
creases or other remuneration that in the opinion of
the Commission are necessary and proper, . . . . . . . .
and, upon the approval of the same by the Governor
in Council, and by resolution passed by both Houses
of Parliament, such schedules shall come into oper-
ation.”
At least ﬁfty thousand positions (about eighty-ﬁve per cent)
of the approximately sixty thousand coming under the Act are
in the so called “Outside Service.” No investigation, analysis,
or classiﬁcation of this service that would give the Commission
a basis to work on had ever been undertaken. It was clearly
the intention of Parliament that these ﬁfty thousand positions‘
should be studied and classiﬁed asv the ﬁrst step in the application
of the extended Civil Service Act. The classiﬁcation submitted
herewith constitutes such an analysis and complies in a practical
way with the requirement that “the positions and the duties
and salaries attached thereto” be “listed.”
Second: If the provisions of the Act with regard to the
examination of applicants were to be carried out, a classiﬁcation
was absolutely necessary. The primary function of the Civil
Service Commission is, of course, to recruit the service by
selecting from among all persons available those who are best
ﬁtted to fulﬁll the duties of the respective positions to which
they seek to be appointed. The ﬁrst clause under the side-
heading, “Duties of Commission,” Section 4 (1) (a), reads:
“To test and pass upon the qualiﬁcations of candidates
for admission to and transfer and promotion in- the
civil service, . . . . . . . ..”
and in section 38, part III, the matter of tests is prescribed in
the words:
5
"appointments ‘to positions in the civil service shall
be by competitive examination which shall be of
such a nature as will determine the qualiﬁcations
of candidates for the particular positions to which
they are to be appointed . . . . . . . . . ..”
Obviously the Commission cannot pass on the qualiﬁcations
of candidates to fulﬁll the duties of particular positions unless
they know what the duties of those positions are. If they are
to wait until a vacancy is to be ﬁlled to ascertain the duties
not only will a serious delay be introduced but a separate test
of applicants will have to be conducted for each vacancy, which
is an absolutely impracticable method. Only by a system of
classiﬁcation by which positions having substantially the same
duties and calling for the same qualiﬁcations are grouped
together can examinations be held in advance and lists of
qualiﬁed persons (eligible lists) be secured and maintained.
Then when vacancies Occur, appointments can be made without
delay from those whose names are on the appropriate list and
examinations need be held only when lists need to be replenished.
Third: The provisions of the Act respecting the organization
of departments also impliedly called for a classiﬁcation of
positions. Section 9 part II of the Act requires the Commission,
after consultation with department heads, ,to prepare plans for
the organization of each department of the civil Service, and
particularly provides in clause 4, page 5:
“If, after such organization and classiﬁcation has been
effected, the number of Ofﬁcers, clerks, and employees
in any portion of the civil service, or in any class
or grade thereof, is greater than the number allowed
under such organization, the remainder shall be
supernumeraries . . . . . . . . . ”
Clearly if the Commission is to indicate what classes of
positions and what numbers of each class are required for the
work of any department, it must be able to refer to a classiﬁcation
and scheme of nomenclature by which the duties of given classes
are prescribed and designated.
As an example, let us assume that the Commission has
Organization
of depart-
ments cannot
be prescribed
without a
classiﬁcation.
analyzed the work of a certain branch and found it to be partly '
statistical, partly engineering, partly legal, and partly clerical.
It is not in a position to .Specify the positions to be allowed for
the handling of such work if it has no classiﬁcation to refer to
in preparing the budget of positions. With the classiﬁcation
at hand it could say that the branch should comprise, say,
1 Chief Clerk, 1 Principal Clerk, 14 Junior Clerks, 3 Junior
Statistical Clerks, 1 Junior Departmental Librarian, 1 Mes-
senger-Clerk, 2 Statistical Clerks, 2 Clerk—Stenographers. 1
Example of
a budget of
positions.
6
Classiﬁcation
9. basis for
uniformity in
compensation.
Standardized
terminology
essential to
civil service
ad ministration.
In matching up
vacancies and
eligible lists.
Controlling
transfers.
Clerk-Typist, 1 Junior Law Clerk, 2 Draftsmen, and 1 Mechani-
cal Engineer. Each of these designations would have a meaning
uniformly accepted throughout the service by all departments
- and each class of position thus designated would carry a recog-
nized scale of compensation and call for certain well understood
qualiﬁcations.
Fourth: classiﬁcation was absolutely necessary if uniform-
ity in compensation for the same work was to be brought about.
In the discussions in part II of this report the need for a
standardization of salaries is brought out. That rates of com-
pensation should be uniform for the same character of employ-
ment is, We believe, generally conceded, and if this conclusion
is accepted, it follows that there must be some classiﬁcation of
kinds of employment in order to bring together those deserving
of the same pay.
Fifth: Practically all of the remaining considerations making
a classiﬁcation of the service essential from the view point of
civil service administration are embraced in the one requirement
that there must be an accepted uniform nomenclature for the
designation of the positions that make up the service. Perhaps
the best way'to make this clear is-by examples. The Com-
mission, in order to carry out the spirit and letter of' the Act
and of its regulations and rules, must apply its regulations to
speciﬁc cases. If the Commission were without a standardized
nomenclature to avail itself of, in what way would it deal with
such matters of daily routine as the following:
A requisition is received from a department for the ﬁlling
of a vacancy. The Commission has certain lists of eligibles.
But from which list should the prospective appointee be selected?
With only a vague idea of the duties to be performed by the
incumbent of the position, the Commission is confronted with
two alternatives: (1) It may make a selection on the basis of
the information at hand and run the risk that the person selected
will lack some essential qualiﬁcation and be rejected entirely
or render unsatisfactory service; or (2), It may delay the appoint-
ment until additional information can be secured and acted
upon. Obviously either course is impractical from a working
standpoint. If every position were classiﬁed immediately upon
its establishment according to a previously adopted classiﬁcation
scheme, if each examination were held for the securing of persons
eligible for a certain class of position, then a vacancy in any
given position would naturally be ﬁlled from the list of those
persons who have proved themselves qualiﬁed to fulﬁll the
duties of that class.
Asa second example, suppose it is desired to move an
employee from one position to another and the Commission is
asked to approve this transfer. Without any classiﬁcation
of the positions from and to which the employee is to be moved
7
' it will require a special investigation by the Commission to deter-
mine that the change is not in the nature of a demotion, involving
an injustice, or a promotion, in violation of the competitive
spirit of the merit principle, or a transfer to an entirely different
line and character of work for which the employee is not neces-
s'arily ﬁtted. With a classiﬁcation to refer to, the Commission
can see from the departments’ requests whether the positions
are of the same class, in which case the transfer is obviously to
be approved, or belong to a different class, in which case the
appropriate rule of the Commission will apply.
The utility of, and the need for, an accepted uniforrmnomen- DeﬁIfite
clature is not limited to the transactions that involve the Civil Service Commission alone. It applies also to records of esti- give weaning
mates and appropriations. It can readily be appreciated what 21.31,???
a great aid it would be to the departments to have a standardized Priations-
and generally understood terminology for use in setting up -
their organization requirements for the coming ﬁscal period,
and how extremely helpful it would be to the appropriating
body to compare these estimates from year to year‘, or as
between departments for the same period, if the form were such
that kinds of positions were clearly speciﬁed in easily compre-
hensible terms having a deﬁnite and uniform meaning throughout
the service as to duties, qualiﬁcation requirements, rates of
compensation, and the like.
(c) The Basis of Classiﬁcation—a record of the princi-
ples approved by the commission for the guidance of
those engaged in the work: ''
Certain principles with regard to the basis and method of Principlesof
classiﬁcation were agreed upon at the start between the Commis- classiﬁcation.
sion and the staff engaged in the work. They are restated
here as a matter of record. '
1. That the duties and responsibilities appertaining to a Dutiesthe
position should be the criteria for determining the classiﬁcation basis‘
of the position because these attributes constitute the funda-
mental characteristics that distinguish the position from other
positions and because all of the purposes of classiﬁcation will
be served by a grouping that will bring together positions involv—
ing substantially the same duties and responsibilities.
2. That positions involving substantially the same duties Qualiﬁcation
and responsibilities call for practically the same qualiﬁcations giqziigegents
as to education, experience, knowledge, and skill in their classiﬁcation.
incumbents and that for this reason such qualiﬁcation require-
ments, dependent as they are on the work to be performed,
constitute an auxiliary basis for determining the proper classi-
ﬁcation of a given position. ' _
3. That neither the degree of efﬁciency with which the duties Eff‘cie‘m’
. . . . . of incumbent
of a position are being carried out by the person who may be has no bearing.
63135-2
8
The "class”
as the unit.
(Blassiﬁcation '
made up of
schedules.
Composition
of schedules.
The class
title.
ﬁlling it,‘ nor the qualiﬁcations such person may possess or lack, '
nor the pay he may receive, nor any other fact dependent solely
on his individuality, shall be considered as having any bearing
on the classiﬁcation of the position in question.
4. That the simplest practical grouping of positions should be
adopted that will serve the purposes for which the classiﬁcation
is needed: that in conformity with this principle the unit of
classiﬁcation should be a group (called a “class”) embracing
all those positions in the service, regardless of departmental
lines, that involve duties and responsibilities which are sub-
stantially the same.
((1) A Description of the Classiﬁcation Schedules:
The classiﬁcation as submitted herewith as Appendix A
is made up of a number of schedules, one for each of the classes
into which the positions comprising the civil service of Canada
have been grouped.
The schedules are arranged in alphabetical order by class
titles, that is, in dictionary form, making an alphabetical index
unnecessary. Certain vocational names, such as accountant,
engineer, librarian, have been inserted in their proper places,
followed by lists, for class reference purposes, of the titles of
classes involving the related kind of employment. These cross
references, together with the classes referred to in the lines of
promotion, will enable any one interested in ﬁnding opportunities
for the exercise of his particular talents and skill to discover the
classes of positions in which these opportunities exist.
To each class schedule is appended a schedule of compensa—
tion, as fully discussed and described in part II of this report.
The class schedule proper is made up of the following elements:
A title, constituting the official designation of the class;
a deﬁnition of the class, being a general statement of the scope
of the class and the duties pertaining in common to all positions
properly coming within the class; examples, sometimes included,
listing speciﬁc kinds of work to make the general deﬁnition
more applicable to a given case; a statement of qualiﬁcations,
representing the minimum requirements that applicants should
meet; and suggesfions regarding principal lines of promotion.
Each of these elements will be brieﬂy'discussed in its turn.
1. The Title of the Class: Each class is given a deﬁnite
designation known as the “ Class Title ” and this title appears
in bold-faced type at the top of each schedule. It is to be used
wherever and whenever it is necessary to referto the class
of any position in the service. Employees occupying positions
in any given class automatically assume the title of the class.
Titles are, as far as possible, suggestive of the kind of work
9
performed by the incumbent of the position and at the same time
as far as possible indicative of the rank. The title “Senior Statis-
tical Clerk” is a good example. The Word “ Clerk ” indicates
the general nature of the work, the word “Statistical” indicates
the kind of specialization, and the Word “Senior” indicates
rank and responsibility. Many titles also indicate the place of
the position in the civil service organization. For example,
the title “Senior Customs Clerk” indicates the kind of work,
the rank, and both the kind of specialization required and
the departmental location. As a general rule, titles have been
restricted to the minimum of words consistent with good practice.
In many cases, however, it has been imperative to sacriﬁce
brevity in Order to secure suggestiveness and accuracy. In
general, the indication of departmental location is regarded
as a less important consideration than brevity. Existing and
well recognized titles have been retained wherever this could
be done without destroying the consistency Of the title plan.
2. The Deﬁnition of the Class: The ﬁrst paragraph of
each schedule is entitled, “Deﬁnition of Class.” It contains a
statement Of the duties that appertain in general to all positions
to be embraced by the class—that is a Statement of its scope and
application. The ﬁrst clause is nearly always a broad state~
ment of the duties common to all positions that properly come
within the class, together with some phrase designed to make
clear to what extent these duties are performed independently,
or under more or less close supervision, or under the general
direction of asuperior. When necessary this clause is followed
by subsidiary clauses explanatory or in ampliﬁcation of the
ﬁrst general statement and sufficiently detailed to make it
possible to distinguish between the scope of the class in question
and that of all other classes, and to furnish clues by which any
’ additional positions which may be created from time to time may
be classiﬁed in conformity with the original scheme. These
additional clauses also serve to distinguish a given class from
other classes having duties which are substantially similar,
but Which call for a greater or lesser degree of proﬁciency on the
part of their incumbents. Supervisory responsibility is always
indicated by a statement as to whether the supervision of
employees of the same or lower ranks‘ is involved. In every
case the statement of duties concludes with a clause designed
to cover duties not speciﬁcally mentioned. ~ Where necessary
the deﬁnition in‘Oludes statements indicating whether the duties
of that particular class of position require the undivided atten-
tion and full time of incumbents and mentions other points such
as' the time of year or season when the duties are to be
performed.
63135—2-é-
Construction
of titles.
Deﬁnition of
the scope of
each class-
Construction
0 f deﬁnition.
0Q~°0
O
"on!
.1 r C
l
u‘.
10
Examples of
aid in
applying the
classiﬁcation
to any
speciﬁc
position.
Minimum $5
qualiﬁcations
' applicants
should
possess.
Education.
Experience.
Technical
knowledge.
Special
aptitude.
' that these examples are neither inclusive nor exclusive.
3. The Examples of Duties: As a general rule the state-
ment of duties in the deﬁnition covers only those duties common
to every position within the class and then, describes them only
in general terms. A paragraph is therefore added in many
schedules giving speciﬁc examples of duties pertaining to one or
more of the positions included within the class but not necessarily
involved in all of them. These examples are intended to amplify
and if necessary make clearer the scope of the class. They set
forth those tasks commonly found connected with positions of
the class. Thesevv examples should afford valuable assistance to
those charged with classifying additional positions which may be
created from time to time. It must be borne in mind, however,
N 0 one
position would be likely to involve the performance of all the
kinds of work indicated.
K».
4. The‘ Statement of Qualiﬁcation Requirements:
The, next section of the schedule, under the heading, “Qualiﬁca~
tions,” is a concise statement of the approximate minimum qual-
iﬁcations as to education, experience, technical knowledge,
special skill,or physical ﬁtness which any person should possess
to receive consideration as a possible appointee to any position
Within the class. These qualiﬁcation requirements are not in-
‘tended to set up the attributes necessary for the most satisfactory '
performance of the duties of the position. On the other hand,
these minimum standards are not intended to bar out any con-
siderable class of persons who could conceivably perform the
duties of a class with any reasonable degree of efﬁciency. The
qualiﬁcations are usually indicated in the following order:
First, the approximate amount of actual schooling neces-
sary, such as“education equivalent to high school graduation.”
Second, the amount and kind of experience required, to-
gether with indications as to where it must of necessity have
been gained, or should preferably have been gained, or in what
manner it could best be gained. A typical example is “at least
six years of postalexperience in a supervisory capacity, preferably _
in the railway mail service.”
Third, the degree and kind of specialized knowledge, such
as “thorough knowledge of canal and waterway design, construc-
tion, and maintenance.”
Fourth, the kind of manual skill required, such as “ability
to make neat, accurate, and complete plans and drawings from
notes or sketches.” ,
Fifth, the particular kinds of native ability desirable, such
as “demonstrated ability to address the public” or “ability to
make original investigations.”
11
Sixth, in some cases, the particular physical attributes
required such as “good eyesight” or “excellent physical condi-
tion.”
Seventh, the personal attributes desirable, such as “unques-
tionable integrity” or “tact and good judgment.”
\ Eighth, in some few cases, the age requirements.
5. The Suggestions regarding Lines of Promotion:
Following the qualiﬁcation requirements, and under the heading
“Principal Lines of Promotion” is to be found an enumeration
of the classes of positions from which candidates would logically
be sought for appointment to positions of the class in question,
and also an enumeration of those classes of positions for promo-
tion to which incumbents of positions of the class in question
would naturally be considered as eligible. With regard to these
suggestions, the following points are worthy of particular atten-
tion. '
In the ﬁrst place they are suggestions only and not intended
to be complete or ﬁnal. Numerous classes of positions to which
promotion might be made could be added, and the policy of
the Commission may be to extend rather than to restrict
eligibility. The theory and practice of promotions as an employ,-
ment function of the Civil Service Commission are treated fully
in part III of this report. The Commission should deﬁne
eligibility in the announcement of each promotional examination.
Second, the indicated ‘lines of promotion do not always
recognize departmental limits. Naturally, in many depart-
ments doing specialized work, such as the Post Ofﬁce Depart-
ment, promotion in regard to most classes of positions naturally
restricts itself to the conﬁnes of the department, but in the
generalized classes such as those of a clerical nature, the classiﬁ-
cation makes possible promotion from one class to a higher
class regardless of whether the vacancy happens to be in the
same or in other departments, provided the candidate shows
by an adequate test that he is qualiﬁed to perform the work in
another department. 4
Third, the suggested lines of promotion both to and from a
given class have been worked out at considerable labour as an
additional reﬁnement not hitherto attempted in classiﬁcation
work. It should operate to the great beneﬁt of the service by
stimulating the ambition of employees and showing them the
direction in which their opportunities lie.
(e) A Brief Explanation of the Method of Preparing the
Classiﬁcation Schedules:
In the months during which our staff and the Organization
Branch of the Commission have been engaged. in the detail work
Other
requirements.
Classes next
higher and
next lower are
enumerated.
‘ Suggestions
not complete.
Promotion
not conﬁned to
departments.
12
of classiﬁcation, the technique. has come to be familiar to all “
concerned. A resume of the principal steps in the procedure
is given here only for the information of those who have not
been in touch with the work.
As soon as the fundamental principle that the classiﬁcation
of positions be based on their duties had been agreed upon,
steps were taken to secure the basic data required. It was felt
that the three people who would know most about the duties
of any given position would be the employee called upon to
fulﬁll them, his immediate superior responsible for their assign-
ment, and the department or branch head in general charge.
Accordingly it was decided to send to all employees question-
naires calling for a statement of their regular duties, the
apportionment of their time to the several items of work, and
their place in the organization, and incidentally to obtain certain
personal data that would throw light on employment conditions
in the service both in the past and at the present time. It was
provided that these questionnaires should be scrutinized,
veriﬁed, and if necessary corrected by the immediate superior,
and ﬁnally approved by the department head.
The plan was to secure the pay-rolls for each department of
the civil service and send the questionnaire to each of the
employees named thereon. An exception to this procedure,
and it was an unfortunate one, was made in the case of groups
of those employees whose duties were considered by their
superiors to be substantially similar. As a short cut in such
cases, questionnaires were sent only to one or " two employees
in these groups, the idea being that the returns obtained in this
manner would be typical of conditions in the‘ whole group. A
recheck in the near future for the purpose of bringing the
classiﬁcation up to date and applying it to the personnel of the
service will, of course, eliminate any inaccuracies that this
method may have introduced. '
The process of issuing the questionnaires was ‘slow: ﬁrst,
because of the difﬁculty of getting complete pay-rolls; second,
because of the wide geographical distribution of the employees;
and third, because of the many and separate branches involved.
For similar reasons the collection of the cards consumed con-
siderably more time than was expected. Only in a few cases
was the work handicapped by a lack of interest on the part
of department ofﬁcers.
The organization of each department and branch was charted
after an investigation designed to deteramine the general arrange-
ment into branches, divisions, and sections. Valuable assistanse
was rendered by departments in detailing men to assist in this
work. These charts were usually discussed with the deputy
head or other proper ofﬁcer, amended where necessary, and ﬁnally
13
in every case approved by the deputy head concerned or some
' representative designated by him. An authoritative picture of
conditions in each branch of the service was thus secured.
The individual cards describing each position were then read
Over and discrepancies, ambiguities, exaggerations, and deﬁ-
ciencies investigated and adjusted in so far as time and facilities
would permit. Throughout the whole of this Work it has been
a Source of great regret to us that the time allowed for completion
and the extra cost involved would not permit your Commission
to authorize extensive ﬁeld investigation. Nevertheless, we are
certain that there has been no class of employees overlooked
and no serious deﬁciencies in the data upon which the schedules \
for classiﬁcation and compensation have been based. The only
effect of the limited opportunity for personal examination has
been to make the'recheck contemplated as a part of the work
of ﬁtting the classiﬁcation to the present personnel so much the
more necessary and more important.
After all the available information regarding a position had
been recorded, all of the data were carefully considered and a
tentative classiﬁcation adopted for each position in the service.
Step by step thereafter the classiﬁcation of positions in each
department was narrowed down to the minimum practical
number of distinctive groups. When this point had been
reached the tentative deﬁnition of the duties and tentative
suggestions as to qualiﬁcation requirements, and so forth, for
each of these classes of positions were drawn up.
At this stage departmental lines were eliminated from further
consideration and all of the classes in the various departments
were grouped in general divisions on a basis of the vocation,
profession, trade, Or line of work involved. Each one of these .
groups was then taken in hand by an expert in that special
ﬁeld of employment and schedules were drafted for each of the
classes in the service assigned to him. Each of these drafts
included a class title, a deﬁnition of the duties, together with
, examples when necessary, qualiﬁcation requirements, and sug-
gestions as to lines of promotion. After due consultation these
drafts were perfected and the ﬁnal schedules as they appear in
Appendix A were drawn >~T he preparation of the schedules of com-
pensation, as described in part II of this report, then followed.
(f) Recommendations regarding the Administration of
the Classiﬁcation:
The schedules contained in Appendix A hereto provide for
the classiﬁcation of every position in the civil service (except
in certain excluded departments and parts of departments)
as Of the time of the ﬁrst canvass of the service in September,
1918. All such positons were classiﬁed accordingly and their
Appendix A,
classiﬁes the
service.
14
Classiﬁcation
must be
applied to
the present
personnel.
Suggested
procedure for
maintaining
classiﬁcation.
Legislation
needed.
classiﬁcation is a matter of record. Since September, 1918,
however, there have been numerous changes in organization
and many positions have been altered, others abolished, and
new and additional positions have been created. There have
also been many transfers and substitutions in personnel and
consequently the lists of individuals occupying the positions
of the several classes and affected by the classiﬁcation are not
up to date. '
The next step before your Commission is therefore to apply
the classiﬁcation to the service as it exists today and thereupon
immediately to set up the machinery by which each new or
additional position will be promptly classiﬁed, each altered
position reclassiﬁed, each change in personnel recorded, and the
classiﬁcation of the service thus kept currently up to date. We
recommend the following procedure for the accomplishment
of these results.
1. Maintain a record for each position and employee in each
branch. Show the classiﬁcation, by use of the exact class
title, given to such position. The record should take the form
of a card.
2. Provide that departments shall report immediately all
additions and separations affecting their respective pay rolls and
all material changes in the duties of positions.
3. Provide that each report of an addition shall show whether
the appointee is (a) to replace an employee previously occupying
thle position without material change in duties and, if so, the
name of the last employee, or (b) is to ﬁll an additional position
newly created. A
4. In the case of an appointment to replace another employee
without material change in duties, enter the same class designation
on the new employee’s card as was recorded on the previous
employee’s card; this is a mere change in incumbency and calls
for no addition to or change in the vclassiﬁcation. ‘
5. In the case of an additional position newly created, require
a report ‘setting " forth the duties of the position and thereupon
proceed to classify it under the appropriate class schedule, or, if "
the position is different from any heretofore classiﬁed, amend
the classiﬁcation to provide for it.
6. Provide that departments reporting any material change in
the duties of a position of a nature to affect the classiﬁcation
thereof shall attach a statement of the new duties. Thereupon
proceed to reclassify the position if the change in duties is
found to warrant it.
The above procedure will serve not only to keep the classiﬁ-
cation of the service currently correct but will enable the Com-
mission to maintain “service records” that will show at all
15
times the names of employees in each department and branch, the
ofﬁcial classiﬁcations of their positions, their pay, and their service
histories. The necessary forms and the details of this record
keeping system will be laid before the Commission upon request.
We have discussed with your Commission, in the course of the
work, the nature of the legislation necessary in our opinion to
empower the Commission to maintain and administer the
classiﬁcation.
The staff necessary for the purpose should be part of the
Organization Branch of the Commission. There should be
at least one “classiﬁcation investigator” in this Branch for
each ﬁfteen thousand positions and at least two additional
“ organization investigators,” all under the Chief of the Branch.
Technical experts will of necessity have to be called in tempor-
arily from time to time to assist this staff in special studies
and installations. The functions of this staff should include
the following:
1. To examine into the duties and responsibilities pertaining
to additional positions as they are established and to classify
such positions.
2. To investigate positions the duties of which have been
materially altered and, if necessary, to reclassify such positions.
3. To make investigations necessary to the disposition of
questions raised regarding the classiﬁcation or reclassiﬁcation
of positions. ,
4. To propose such additions or amendments to the classi_
ﬁcation or compensation schedules from time to timeas may seem
necessary or desirable. _
5. To keep an accurate record in graphical chart form of
the plan of organization of each department.
6. To keep lists of the classes and numbers of each class
of positions authorized for each department and branch.
7. To make recommendations regarding. the estimates of
departmental requirements.
8. To suggest improvements and economies from time to
time in the organization and methods of procedure of depart-
ments.
(g) A Discussion of the “Considerations involved in
Fixing the Status, " under the New Classiﬁcation, of
Employees now in the Service:
Ordinarily a person appointed to a position in the civil service
by the authority of the/Civil Service Commission is at the time
of appointment either expressly or impliedly given certain
rights as to position, salary, future right to transfer or promo-
tion,~~or any or all of these while in the service. Prior to the
passing of the Act of 1918 employees appointed to the Inside
Service if appointed permanently were given rights to practically
any position provided the salary came within the salary limits
of the grade to which their qualifying examination applied.
The staff
needed and
its functions.
Meaning of
“Civil Service
Status.”
16
How status
is determined
under new
plan.
_ Fixing status
of present
temporary
employees.
Persons appointed temporarily presumably were given no rights
except to the particular positions to which they were appointed
pending such time as a permanent appointment might be made.
There has in the past been no uniform rule with regard to the
status of employees appointed to the Outside Service in the
absence of any comprehensive civil service legislation covering
that ﬁeld.
The procedure proposed under the new classiﬁcation reported
herein is that employees shall hereafter be examined for, and
appointed to, positions of a speciﬁed class and shall assume by
reason of their certiﬁcation all of the rights (and only the rights)
prescribed for that class as to salary, transfer, promotion,
and other working conditions and opportunities.
The problem we wish to present and discuss here has to do
with the ﬁxing of the civil service status of employees now in the
service if schedules similar to those submitted in the Appendix
A are adopted and each position in the service is ofﬁcially
classiﬁed in one of the classes thus approved.
It is understood that this question is subordinate in importance
to the larger problem of determining the real need for the
positions in which the employees are found at the time of
reclassiﬁcation.
Let us consider ﬁrst the temporary employees in permanent
positions. There are three possible plans.
1. Continue to consider them as temporary and ﬁll their
places as soon as possible by appointment from
eligible lists resulting from regular competitive
examinations.
2. Give them permanent status in the positions in which
they happen to be found at the time of the taking
effect of the classiﬁcation; that is, “blanket” them in,
to use the customary civil service term.
3. Authorize the Civil Service Commission to determine
their qualiﬁcations to hold the positions in which
they happen to be found at the time of the taking
effect of the classiﬁcation—a non-competitive exam-
ination being emplpyed for this purpose—and to
replace those not qualiﬁed.
We are inclined to recommend against plan 1 on the grounds
of impracticability. (It must be admitted, however, that,
if the merit system were to be applied retroactively it would
be the correct method.) The expense of examinations, the
unfairness to outsiders (many of whom would be competing
with little chance of success against men already familiar
with the duties of the positions for which the examination was
being held), the disruption of the business of departments,
and the disturbance to the service generally if large numbers
17
of employees were to be replaced, and other practical consider-
ations should probably control.
We also recommend against “blanketing in” all temporaries
as likely to burden the service with people selected at‘ a time
when the choice was limited and many perhaps selected for
reasons that should not govern if only the good of the
service were to be considered. It has, however, the advantage
of being simple.
We would be inclined to recommend plan 3 and provide that
the ﬁtness of temporaries be ﬁrst ascertained. It has the merit
of ﬂexibility and it does provide that the interests of both the
service and the employee will be taken care of. We have had
an opportunity to peruse an able brief by a member of the
Commission on the subject of temporary employees in which he
arrives at practically the same conclusion by a different route,
basing his ﬁnding on legal precedents and an» interpretation of
parliamentary intent.
The case of permanent employees is we think more simple.
Of these there are two kinds, at least as far as the problem
herein discussed is concerned: (1) those who are now holding
positions of a grade corresponding to that of the examination
that brought them into the service; and (2) those who are
holding positions that are, as it were, out of grade. Our opinion
would be that regardless of which of these groups permanent
employees are in they should be given status by ruling of the
Civil Service Commission (or perhaps by Parliamentary enact-
ment) in the class of position in which they are found as at
the time of the taking effect of the classiﬁcation. It should
be provided, however, that they should not suﬂfer a reduction
should their salaries be higher than those pertaining to the posi-
tions in which they are to be reclassiﬁed under the new salary
schedules. We admit frankly that this policy is based on the
common ‘law of “possession” and crystallizes the results of the
good or bad fortune of employees under the old conditions.
A fresh start must, however, be made some time. Such exper-
ience as we have had in attempts to trace back the civil service
histories of employees and to ﬁt their present standing to the
circumstances of their original appointment leads vus earnestly
to advise against the plan.
Temporary employees in temporary positions do not con~
stitute a problem. The temporary positions themselves do
however constitute an acute situation which calls for con-
stant viligance on the part of your Commission. We see no
way in which the unjustiﬁable multiplication and unnecessary
continuance of so-called temporary positions and hence of
temporary employees can be discovered and checked, except
through the activities of the Commission’s Organization Branch.
Fixing status .
of present
permanent
employees.
/ 18
The programme of departmental reorganization work
outlined by the Commission calls for (1) the ascertaining of the
requirements of each branch and ofﬁce, (2) a measuring of a fair
day's work for each class of employee and (3) after comparison
of these two quantities, a determination of the staff needed.
Only in this way can efﬁciency and economy in‘ departmental
business be secured.
19
PART II
THE STANDARDIZATION OF COMPENSATION
IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
OUTLINE
(a) A description of present conditions with regard to
the compensation of positions.
(b) A discussion of the considerations that led to the
standardization of compensation at this time.
(c) The principles and policies adopted as a basis for
the recommended schedules of compensation.
(d) A description of the schedules of compensation.
(e) Recommendations for the administration of sched-
ules of compensation.
(f) A discussion of the considerations involved in
determining the salary status, under the new schedules
of compensation, of employees now in the service.
0.
‘0&0
21
PART II
THE STANDARDIZATION OF COMPENSATION
IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
(21) A Description of Present Conditions with Regard
to the Compensation of Positions:
The state of affairs with regard to the compensation of
positions discovered in the course of the classiﬁcation work
was exactly that which invariably develops in any service
administered under a decentralized system and without regard
for sound and scientiﬁc employment principles. In fact,
we cannot more accurately describe the situation than by
quoting the remarks on this same phase of the subject made
by the Public Service Commissioner of Australia in reporting
on the classiﬁcation of the Commonwealth Public Service
effected by him in conformity with the provisions of the Common-
wealth Public Service Act, 1902:
“ It was found that the conditions of employ-
ment, the rates of pay, and the special emoluments
and concessions granted, were so diversiﬁed that an
immense amount of time was absorbed in ascertaining
and critically analyzing the many questions which
necessarily arose in the preparation of a properly
related scheme of classiﬁcation.” “ To have classi-
ﬁed the Service on the assumption that an ofﬁcer’s
existing designation could be accepted as an indica-
tion of the nature of his duties and responsibilities
would have created serious anomalies and injustice,
and have made confusion worse confounded. Before
the actual work of classiﬁcation could be entered
upon, a large amount of information bearing upon
the diverse conditions existent had to be
collated, and some semblance of order evolved out
of what was practically a chaotic condition of affairs.”
We will indicate the more serious types of injustices, extrava-
gances, and anomalies that were found to exist.
Numerous cases of an incorrect relation between the work
and the pay were discovered—many affecting individuals,
many affecting whole groups. We have discovered large groups
of faithful, industrious, competent, and in some cases highly
qualiﬁed employees who are as a class underpaid. In many
cases among these classes, the securing of the necessary quali-
ﬁcations has entailed a long course of study with its attendant
expense, or close application over a considerable period of
years in mastering the details of specialized departmental
Chaotic
conditions.
Certain
classes
underpaid.
22
Results of
seniority
advance.
Serious lack of
uniformity.
Salary
grading a
cause.
procedure with the resulting unﬁtness for any other kind of work,
practically enslaving the employees to this particular underpaid
specialty. The disproportion to other classes is very evident.
The practice of advancing employees on the grounds of
“long and faithful service” year after year although there
' is no change in the nature of the work to be performed has
led to a disproportion of striking character between the salaries
of positions and their duties. It is common to ﬁnd highly
qualiﬁed professional men with years of practical experience
in their particular departments in receipt of less than half the
salary paid to many employees engaged in routine clerical work
that has not at all increased in importance and diﬁiculty during
twenty years, while the fortunate incumbents of such positions
have by dint of longevity and the exercise of only average
industry seen themselves advanced to the highest ﬁgures
on the salary roll.
It is among the positions held by such employees that the
most conspicuous examples of overpayment are to be found.
In a certain group of eleven employees whose salaries range from
$2,600 to $3,500 there is not one who from the very nature of
his duties is not precluded—admitting that he has the will and
the highest personal qualiﬁcations as an individual—from
returning to the government in service even a reasonable fraction
of the value received in the way of compensation.
The lack o.f uniformity in pay for the same work is a most seri-
ous condition from the standpoint of civil service morale. It is by
no means exceptional to ﬁnd groups of employees engaged in
work which, both from our personal observation and the state-
ments of the employees themselves and of their superiors, is
evidently identical for all, and is at the same time paid
for at widely differing rates. In one branch is to be found
such a group of employees, two of whom receive $600, one $900,
one $1,200, two $1,300, and one $1,350. The replies to the
questionnaires submitted by each of those employees were in
all cases word for word the same, and careful investigation only
served to establish their accuracy. In another branch are two
employees whose duties, responsibilities, hours of work, and
personal qualiﬁcations are identical. One receives $600 a year,
the other $1,800.
The practice of recognizing a salary grading rather than a
duties classiﬁcation has been responsible for many anomalies.
Many a competent civil servant has been appointed to a position
of importance and responsibility at a salary limited by his civil
service status determined at the time of his entrance examination.
Others have been assigned to simpler duties but have drawn
the same pay as before—too high for their work. Finally, changes
in economic conditions and the relative value of different kinds
23
of work have thrown the generalized salary grading schedule
badly out of balance.
The old grade to grade examination policy is responsible in Exammation
many cases for preventing an employee who exercises con-
siderable supervision and is peculiarly successful in and well ‘
ﬁtted for the performance of his duties from receiving the same
compensation as those under his immediate direction and
instruction. To get a higher salary he must have passed an exam-
ination—not on the work of the higher position as it should be———
but an examination of a certain academic character which he
could not negotiate, due very probably to the fact that his work
left him no time to prepare for it. We have one case in
mind where an employee earns $1,000, while of the 55 employees
under his supervision two receive $1,400, one $1,300, two
$1,200, and several $1,100.
Considerations of humanity are often a proliﬁc source of
overpayments. When it is not possible to retire a faithful
employee of advanced age on a pension, at least not in a way
commensurate with the value of services rendered by him in
the past, the only solution appears to have been to retain him
at the maximum salary attained by him in his ofﬁcial career.
We have in mind one case—an ofﬁcial of advanced age who at
present though practically incapacitated is still retained at a
very substantial salary and assigned purely nominal duties.
The instances cited above refer to employees who endeavour sinecures.
conscientiously to earn every penny of their salaries, and are
personally men of the highest moral calibre. It would, unfor-
tunately, be possible to multiply examples of ,appointees of
another stripe who have no scruples in holding sinecures and
drawing salaries, large or small, for doing nothing.
0
(b) A Discussion of the Considerations that Led to
the Standardization of Compensation at this Time:
When the work of classiﬁcation was undertaken the neces-
sity of developing recommendations as to individual schedules
of pay for all classes of positions was ﬁrst discussed. A close
examination of Section 52 of the Act and an appreciation of
the state of chaos into which the salaries of the service had
fallen, as brought out by the evidence secured through the ques- .
tionnaires, were the considerations that led to the early exten-
sion of the work to embrace the whole problem of uniform and
equitable compensation.
Section 52 of the Act reads in part:
“ The Commission shall, as soon as practicable after the
passing of this Act, ‘prepare schedules containing
lists of the positions and the duties and salaries
63135-3
24
Required by
section 52 of
the 1918 Act.
Necessity to
correct
injustice.
Essential to
Qi'vil Service
administration.
attached thereto and the salaries and increases or
other remuneration that in the opinion of the Com-
mission are necessary and proper. .”
This section was construed as calling for thew—ﬁxing of
adequate rates of remuneration for all classes of employment
and the preparation of schedules of compensation considered
proper to apply in future to positions in such classes.
Even had this express provision of the Act not made this
program mandatory, it is certain that the anomalies, injust res
and extravagances discovered in the compensation allowed for
certain employments, and the unjustiﬁable differences discovered
in the salaries attached to substantially similar positions, would
have led to the preparation of recommendations forgthe improve—
ment of these conditions.
Furthermore, it is generally conceded that no Civil Service
Commission can be expected successfully to recruit a service or
control promotion or transfer in a service unless salaries have
been standardized. The Commission must be able to announce
the pay of the positions for which it seeks applicants; it must
say to the eligible ﬁrst appointed that those lower on the list
will not be appointed at a higher salary; it must be able to pre-
vent unfair salary discrimination through transfer between
departments enforcing different scales; it must insure higher
pay to employees who qualify for higher places; and it must
deny higher pay to employees whose duties have not changed.
(c) The Principles and Policies Adopted as a Basis for
the Recommended Schedules of Compensation:
It was found to be necessary, in connection with the prepara-
tion of recommendations for the'schedules of compensation to
apply to the various classes of positions, to make certain prelim—
inary assumptions and to adopt certain principles and policies.
It was necessary to decide whether these schedules were to be
prepared on an idealistic or on a practical basis; to relate to
pre-war conditions or take account of present costs of living; to
conform to prevailing rates or provide the income theoretically
necessary to the best good of society. Those bases that were
. ﬁnally adopted and upon which the schedules are founded, are
set forth here. No fair consideration can be given to the recom-
mendations unless the bases be borne in mind. Those with
whom the ﬁnal decision as to the adoption or amendment of
these proposed schedules rests, knowing the basis upon which
they were prepared, will be able to make intelligent adjustments
if they disagree with the correctness of the principles and the
wisdom of the policies.
25
1. That rates of compensation should be uniform for the Uniform
same work. This means the same hours and the rates.
same pay should apply to all positions of the same
class and automatically to the incumbents of such
positions. The technical meaning given to the term
“ class ” under the classiﬁcation is fully explained in
part I of this report.
2. That rates of compensation should be relatively rig’ht Relatively
for different classes. In the case of classes involving right-
the same vocation, trade, profession, or line of work
this means that the relationship should take into
account the relative importance of the employments
as measured by the duties and the responsibilities
involved and the extent and degree of experience,
knowledge, and skill required for their fulﬁllment.
In the case of classes of positions in different ﬁelds,
this means that they should bear the same relation
to classes of positions in other ﬁelds that has been
established in the business world as between the
respective vocations, trades, professions, and lines of
work. ‘
3. That the pay for each class of employment should be Equitable
equitable, that is, fair to the employee and fair to rates.
the taxpaying public.
Fairness to the employee requires that the compen-
sation should permit him to maintain a standard of
living that will make for the good of society and
posterity. In the case of the lowest ranks of the
service, the compensation should be adequate to
attract into the service young men and women
without family responsibilities but of a training and
capacity‘ that will enable them to become of future
value to the service and to themselves.
The interests of the worker thus provided for, fair-
ness to the taxpaying public requires that the
compensation should not materially exceed that paid
for similar service by enlightened employers in the
general industrial and commercial world. Any
excess over such prevailing average is in the nature
of a special subsidy with which no group should be
favored. Furthermore, fairness to the public re-
quires that in comparing the compensation paid for
services to the public with those paid in the business
world for similar services, the relative advantages
and disadvantages of public and private employment, .
such as permanency and continuity of tenure,
hours of work, holiday and sick leaves, and related
factors, should be taken into account.
4. That the schedules of compensation should provide Salary
' for an absolute minimum and an absolute maximum muse‘
and intermediate rates in this range. The minimum
is to be that compensation to which an employee
should be entitled immediately upon his appoint-
ment, it being assumed that he is qualiﬁed for the
place. The maximum compensation is to be the
63135—3%
26
NO attempt“
to conform to
extraordinary
Conditions.
Bonus to be
added.
Relative
rather than
absolute
basis.
ﬁgure representing the limit of usefulness which the
employee, no matter how experienced or efﬁcient,
can reach by reason of the limitations inherent in
the employment. The intermediate rates are to
make possible a regular advance from the minimum
toward the maximum as an employee’s proﬁciency,
and consequently the value of his services, increases.
5. That the salaries proposed should not be based on the
depreciated value of the dollar of the present time
as measured by the abnormally high costs of the
necessities of life that have developed as a result of
the war. Conditions are now not stable, economic
Conditions the world over are in an unsettled and
uncertain state, and to found a salary revision on
what may prove, to be temporary conditions might
involve the necessity of a downward revision when
conditions return toward the normal. On the
strength of these considerations it was decided to
base the general level of the salary schedules on
what would have been normal conditions for 1918
had the tendencies of the period prior to the war
continued and had the war not occurred.
6. That, for certain classes at least, a special war bonus
should be paid to employees in addition to the
salaries provided by the schedules.
The application of the principles set forth in paragraphs
2, 3, and 4 above (namely, those providing that salaries should
be uniform and equitable and should permit a range between
a minimum and maximum) required not only the most careful
analysis of the work involved in each class of employment and
of the conditions in each department and in the service as a
whole but also of salaries prevailing throughout Canada and of
employment conditions in private and in other public services.
The ideas and suggestions of the department ofﬁcials, particularly
with regard to the relative importance of employments, were
diligently sought and given great weight. All of the resources
of our large staff and all of the data accumulated in the course
of previous undertakings in public and,private service were
drawn upon. The Department of Labour gave valuable
assistance and many industrial, commercial, and ﬁnancial
concerns throughout Canada provided statistics that were of
great use. In the appraising of any given position or class of
positions all factors were taken into consideration. The resulting
recommendations may be considered to embody not only all
available facts but the best professional judgment of the entire
staff engaged on the work.
There will be critics who will select one class of employment
and question the correctness of the schedule of compensation
proposed and in dealing with this one class it will be very
difﬁcult to prove that their opinion is wrong and that the
recommendation is right. Any really useful work that contrib-
27
utes to the welfare of man or the progress of the world can of
pourse through a plausible course of argument be shown to be
of a higher value than that at which the practical world has
appraised it. All that can be said therefore as to the correctness
of individual schedules is that the Whole classiﬁcation with the
recommended standards of compensation constitutes a con-
scientious attempt to appraise positions on a relative basis
according to the best facts available and in conformity with the
prevailing opinion of the economic world.
In connection with a consideration of the policies set forth in
paragraphs 4 and 5 above (namely, that the schedules should
not be based on the present abnormal costs of living) the
following facts will be of interest.
A curve drawn on the basis of statistics compiled by the
Department of Labour for the average weekly budget for a
family of ﬁve including items of foodstuffs, fuel and light, and
rent based on retail prices and showing the actual variations
in the prices of these commodities from 1900 to 1918 revealed
the following tendencies: From 1900 to 1908 there was a fairly
uniform advance in prices; from 1908 to 1915, although prices
continued to advance the rate of increase was somewhat less
than during the preceding period with a downward tendency
during 1914 which, for rent, was pronounced. By 1915 the
war had begun to be felt and‘ the curve showed a very rapid
increase. It was assumed that if war had not intervened the
curve would have continued after 1912-1913 at about the same
rate of increase as during the years 1908-1914. On this assump-
tion, the curve was extended with a uniform slope to its
intersection with the 1918 ordinate which point was taken as a
“normal” condition for 1918.
It is also interesting to note that while in the past statistics
show that the cost of living in the western provinces was con-
siderably greater than in the eastern provinces, since 1913 this
difference has become gradually less until in 1917 the two were
practically identical. It was therefore not considered necessary
to set up different rates of compensation for employees in these
respective sections of the country. In the case of very remote
points where the cost of living is out of proportion to that
obtaining in the rest of the country, a maintenance allowance
in addition to the regular rate of compensation or a special
rate of compensation was provided for.
(d) A Description of the Schedules of‘ Compensation:
For the great majority of classes, the proposed schedule of
compensation has taken the form of minimum and maximum
rates with a number of intermediate rates providing for the
advancement in pay of the incumbents over a period of years.
The number of the intermediate steps and the size of the intervals
Tendency of
cost of living
before the war
Range for
majority of
classes.
28
‘ Several forms
of set-up.
Short
ranges
Schedules with
no_maximum.
Flat
sates.
Prevailing
rates to apply
in certain
skilled trades.
Rates for
short periods.
Part time
positions.
have been determined after consideration of the amount of
compensation involved and the probable tenure of service of
the average employees in the class of employment. Both
monthly and annual salaries have been shown. The form of
the standard set-up of these data is as follows:
“ Compensation:
“Monthly:$ 150 160 170 180 190
“Annual: 1 800 1920 2040 2160 2280
This standard schedule has been in a number of special
instances varied in form as necessary to suit certain classes of
positions. “ In the determination of the form for any particular
class, consideration has been given to such factors as the scheme
of pay in use, the character of the employment involved, the
location of the positions, and the facts as to full time or part
time service, and as to allowances furnished in addition to
regular salaries or wages.
In a few cases the intermediate rates have been omitted,
only the minimum and maximum being shown. This form
of schedule has, however, been used only when a very short
range was necessary, as in the case of Junior Railway Mail
Clerk, where the incumbent learns the work quickly and is
then eligible for the next higher position.
In connection with a few of the high grade positions, as in
the case of Geologist, Civic Adviser, and so forth, the schedule
has shown a minimum only, the ﬁguresﬂbeing followed by the
words “ and up ”——-for example, “ $3,300 and up”. This form
of schedule was provided on the assumption that only certain
picked men could ﬁll positions of the class, and that greater
leeway than is made possible in the usual form of schedule should
be provided in order that the appointing authority might have
power to pay such rates as may be necessary to secure and hold
the desired talent.
In some few cases, merely a ﬂat rate has been prescribed.
This practice has been followed only in those classes where
information upon which accurately to appraise the work of
the position was not available. In such cases the salary received
by the present incumbent has been temporarily adopted. This
practice has been followed especially in the case of positions
in the Yukon.
For certain classes of positions especially in the skilled trades
no rates of compensation at all have been set. In these cases
it was provided that “ Prevailing rates shall apply ”.
Where employees are hired by the week, day, or hour, a ﬂat
weekly, daily, or hourly rate is given.
For certain part time classes, such as Dispenser (Indian
Reserve), where the positions are relatively unimportant and
29
the amount of time required in their performance depends
entirely upon the conditions existing at the Indian Reserve
in question, the compensation was set up as follows:
“Annual: 3525 to $120 per year for part time work,
depending upon the amount of time required.
In cases employees are called on for only occasional
service, the compensation is indicated thus: “ $4 per day as
required.”
In case only part time service is rendered by some of the
incumbents of positions in a class, a note reading as follows has
been appended to the schedule for the class:
“For part time service the compensation shall be in the
same proportion to the above rates as the number of hours
worked to standard working hours."
Where the importance of the position from a salary
standpoint was determined not only by the duties and responsi-
bilities but also by the class and size of the unit involved—-
that is, the ofﬁce, port, ship, diyision, district, or the like—it
was necessary to classify the units in order properly to work
out the salary rates. One example will sufﬁce—namely that
for Master (Patrolling Steamer). Whereas it is obvious that
the position of master of a patrolling steamer involves similar
duties and responsibilities in relation to other classes of positions
on the same ship, the importance of the position varies according
to the size of the ship and in this particular complex case,
according also to the body of water in which the ship is
operating. The compensation schedule is as follows:


“COMPENSATION:
“Monthly (during the season of navigation):
—— Minor Inland Great Lakes Coastal Waters
Waters '
1st class steamer... . . . . 125 130 135 140 145 150 160 165 170
2nd class steamer.. . . . . . . 110 115 120 120 v 125 130 140 _ 145.. 150
3rd class steamer. . . . . 95 100 105 100 105 110 120 125 130
4th class steamer. . . . . 80 85 9O 85 90 95 100 105 110

Allowance: Subsistence while aboard ship, or on non-subsistence boats
$35 per month for subsistence.
NOTE: During the closed season of navigation, 50 per cent of the above rates shall be paid.
So far as possible the schedules of compensation have
taken into account all the remuneration for the class of employ-
ment, including both salary and allowances. In cases where such
additional compensation has been furnished, the nature and,
where possible, the amount or value of this additional com-
Intricate
classiﬁcation.
Allowances.
Schedules to
control
salaries.
Appointment
at
minimum.
Increases.
30
pensation has been shown after the word “ allowance ” follow-
ing the compensation schedule. Most allowances, such as house,
subsistence, rations, and so forth, are given the employee in
addition to the salary rates set up. In some cases, however,
where the majority of the incumbents of the positions of a class
do not receive an allowance, the salary range has been set up
to provide full compensation and the schedule therefore pre-
scribes that the value of any allowance received by certain
incumbents shall be deducted from the salary.
(e) Recommendations for the Administration of Sched-
ules of Compensation:
In this section we will discuss the method of applying
standard salary scales in the regulation and control of the
pay of individual positions and employees. Such salary scales
have been worked out in dollars for each class of the service as
explained in this report and as presented in Appendix “A”
hereto, but whether these ﬁgures, amended ﬁgures, or substitute
schedules are ﬁnally adopted by Parliament, the principles of
their administration should be the same.
1. That each position, as it is established, be classiﬁed as
explained in the section of this report having to do with the
administration of the classiﬁcation itself. (See section (f,) part I.)
2. That the compensation of each position be determined by
the schedule of compensation prescribed for its class.
3. That whenever a vacancy in a position is ﬁlled, the salary
of the appointee be determined by the terms of the compensation
schedule applying.
(NOTE: In the next section (section f) we will deal exclusively with the problem involved
in adjusting the salaries of employees found in the service, at the time of the taking effect of
the classiﬁcation, to the new schedules.)
Considering the typical or standard schedule ﬁrst, the one
that shows a minimum and maximum and certain deﬁnite
intermediate salary rates—we believe that the laws and the
regulations of the Commission should provide:
First, as to the starting salary, that an employee appointed
to a vacancy in a position of a given class shall
receive the minimum salary prescribed for that class.
Second, as to advance in salary, that an employee in
' a position of a given class may be advanced from the
minimum salary to the next higher salary rate or
from any intermediate salary rate to the next
salary rate, provided he has served at his present
rate for such period as may be speciﬁed for the
class or all classes by the law or by the regulations
of the Civil Service Commission, and provided that
the advance is recommended by the deputy head and
approved by the Commisssion after the Commission
has satisﬁed itself by any method that it may deem
31
adequate that the employee has attained and
maintained a satisfactory standard of efﬁciency
and has increased his usefulness to the service.
In the case of a schedule of compensation that does
not provide intermediate rates or does not provide
maximum rates, the power should be given to the
Commission to determine in each case on the same
principles as set forth above whether the proposed
advance in pay is justiﬁed; whether it is made with
due regard for merit and does not discriminate
against other employees of the same efﬁciency and
seniority in the same class; and whether the time
elapsed since the last advance in pay is such as is
properly and customarily required.
Third, as to the maximum salary, that an employee
who has reached the maximum salary rate prescribed
for his class shall not be increased to a higher rate
while serving in that class.
Fourth, that an employee transferred or promoted from
one class to a class of different or higher rank (that
is, carrying a higher salary maximum) shall be
appointed to the position of the new class at the
minimum of the new class, provided that his salary
at the time of transfer or promotion is not higher
than such minimum, and if it be higher than such
minimum, then at the next intermediate rate of the
new class higher than the rate at which he is then
being paid.
Fifth, that the minimum working hours for each class of
position in each portion of the civil service be pre-
scribed by the Commission, to be approved by the
Governor in Council before becoming effective, and
furthermore that the Commission by regulation, also
to be approved by the Governor in Council, set
forth the conditions under which, and the rates at
which, department heads may compensate em-
ployees in certain classes of positions where it is
necessary for employees habitually to work beyond
the regular hours prescribed because of the nature
of the department’s business.
We have discussed with your Commission the statutory
clauses that, in our opinion, will be necessary to give the Civil
Service Commission authority to adopt regulations for the con-
trol of salaries along the lines proposed above. The Commis-
sion’s regulations and its ofﬁce rules should be sufﬁciently
detailed to make clear the time and manner in which the recom-
mendations for increase should be reported by the deputy heads,
thle forms to be used to give the Commission the necessary
information as to seniority and efﬁciency, the manner of advising
the ﬁnancial and auditing authorities of approved changes, and
the manner of recording changes on the records of the Com-
mission.
Maximum
limits.
Salary change
upon
promotions.
Legal
provisions.
32
Problem of
adjusting
present
salaries.
Three
phases.
Employee
at less
than new
minimum.
(f) A Discussion of the Considerations Involved in
Determining the Salary Status, under the new Schedules
of Compensation, of Employees now in the Service:
In this section we shall discuss the effect of the adoption of
the new schedules of compensation on the salaries of employees
now in the service. We will assume that the Commission has
adopted a policy based on some one of the possible plans dis-
cussed herein (See section (g) part I ,) for determining the status
of present employees under the new classiﬁcation. We shall
consider here in what cases, if any, and the manner in which,
the salaries of employees thus reclassiﬁed are to be adjusted
to the limits and schedules prescribed for the respective classes
in which they are placed. ‘
Employees may be concerned in any one of three ways;
their salaries may be less than the minimum prescribed under
the new classiﬁcation, their salaries may come within the range,
or their salaries may exceed the maximum.
In the case of employees who are now paid less than the
minimum prescribed for the class in which they are placed under
the new scheme of things, there are two possible alternatives
They ‘can be left where they are to work their way up to the
minimum in the course of months or years, or they can be imme-
diately advanced to the minimum rate. We unqualiﬁedly
recommend the second plan. The whole theory of the standard-
ization of compensation is based upon the assumption that if
an employee is considered as ﬁtted to hold a position, he is
deserving of at least the minimum rate prescribed for that
position. To adopt this principle and not to apply it to an
individual case would constitute an injustice. Nor do
we believe that any distinction as to the application of this
policy should be made as between permanent and temporary
employees. If the right to hold a position at all is granted it
should carry with it the right to the mimimum salary.
The only question involved in the case of employees whose
present salaries fall within the range prescribed under the new
salary scale is when and how their salaries shall be adjusted to
one of the speciﬁc intermediate rates provided by the schedule.
The third case covers those employees whose present salaries
are above the maximum prescribed for the classes in which their
respective positions have been classiﬁed. We believe‘ it would
be hard to defend any reduction in the salaries of such employees
and we would recommend against ‘ any such reduction. It
would be wrong in our opinion to ‘penalize an individual at this
time for the faults of an old system. We believe, however, that
it would be even more diﬁ‘icult to justify any future increase in
such cases.
33
PART ‘III
A DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM OF PER-
SONNEL IN THE CIVIL SERVICE OF CANADA
WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A COM-
PREHENSIVE EMPLOYMENT POLICY AND
PLAN
OUTLINE
(a) The place of the problem of Civil Service personnel
in the administration of government.
(b) A theoretical analysis of the problem of personnel.
(c) A statement of the essential features of a complete
employment plan for the Civil Service of Canada.
(d) The scientiﬁc selection of employees for original
and promotional appointments.
(e) The training of employees.
' (f) The ascertaining of the individual efficiency of
employees.
(g) The advancement in pay and promotion in position
of efﬁcient employees.
(h) The removal of ineﬂicient employees.
(i) The retirement of incapacitated employees.
(j) The lay oﬁ of unnecessary employees.
(k) The working conditions and welfare of employees.
(I) The establishment of a means of cooperation
between civil service employees and the government as
0 their employer.
\
PART III
A DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM OF PER-
SONNEL IN THE CIVIL SERVICE OF CANADA
WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A COM-
PREHENSIVE EMPLOYMENT POLICY AND
PLAN. -
Foreword: A classiﬁcation of positions and a standardiza-_
tion of rates of compensation are admittedly onlyathe foundations
of a complete system of Civil Service administration. The
two ﬁrst parts of this report deal only with the completion of
the plans for these foundations. In this third part we will
deal with the structure itself, and discuss those policies and
measures that seem best adapted for the solution of the employ-
ment problem in the Canadian Civil Service. In the course
of this discussion we shall also comment on existing employ-
ment conditions and practices with which we have familiar-
ized ourselves in the course of the classiﬁcation work. We
hope this synopsis will be helpful as presenting a picture of
the ﬁeld that must eventually be covered if the administration
of the Civil Service is to conform to the best modern practice,
Classiﬁcation
only the
foundation.
and as an appraisal, from an outside viewpoint, of what has '
been accomplished to date, what the present needs are, and what
should logically be taken up next. We have endeavoured
to support our proposals by concrete suggestions as to the method
of putting them into effect.
(a) The Place of the Problem of Civil Service Personnel
in the Administration of Government:
The development of the science of management in the last ten
years has done much for clear thinking on administrative problems
by standardizing terminology and clarifying concepts. Perhaps
we may be pardoned if we introduce this discussion of the
Civil Service employment problem with a brief statement of
the distinctions that have come to be generally recognized.
The term “ management ” is taken to mean the process
of directing and utilizing human skill and effort to secure a
desired result. The desired result naturally depends upon the
nature of the enterprise. In the case of the Government of
Canada, it is to administer the laws of the land in the interests
of the, people. We may assume that the ideal of management
.f is the attainment of the maximum efﬁciency and economy
' in this process, and we will endeavour in this analysis to set
forth speciﬁcally, and to set up in their proper relation to one
The
terminology of
the modern
science of
management.
Meaning of
management.
36
Meaning of
organization.
and system.
The
employment
problem .
another, those practical requirements that must be met if this
ideal of administration is to be realized. It will be found that
a distinct group of the requirements have to do with employ-
ment matters. I
From the above statement of the problem of efﬁcient and
economical administration it is obvious that it may be con—
sidered as having two distinct phases. The ﬁrst has to do
with the “organization” and the “system” through which
the human energy is to be directed and utilized, and the second
has to do with the securing of the “ personnel ” that possesses
the “skill” of the kind and can put forth the “effort " of the
quality needed to supply this energy.
As to the ﬁrst phase of management, by “organization ” we
mean the general scheme by which the functions of government
or any department or branch are distributed to divisions or sub-
divisions and further assigned to individual positions of pre-
scribed numbers and kinds in the form of speciﬁc duties and
responsibilities, and by which working relations and lines of
authority are established among branches, ‘positions, and
employees. By “system” we mean the routine method of
procedure by which a given function is to be carried out and
which speciﬁes the nature of the operations and activities and
their proper sequence. The plan of procedure or “system”
is the controlling factor in the determination of the internal
organization of a department or branch. If the system is
cumbersome and inefficient, the structure (the organization)
will naturally be unnecessarily large and expensive.
As to the second phase—the human element—when the
system of doing things that will best serve the interests of
efﬁcient and economical management has been determined upon,
and when the organization necessary to operate this system
has been deﬁned, the human agents must be secured to make
the organization a living thing. This is the employment
problem or the problem of personnel. To restate it, the problem
' is to man the organization (after its form and requirements
have been prescribed), from among all available candidates,
with those persons best qualiﬁed for the respective positions,
and to provide for their adequate compensation and just treat-
ment, for the advancement of the most efﬁcient, and for the
removal or retirement of the inefﬁcient.
In the following section this problem will be analyzed and
the elements of a comprehensive employment system will be
outlined.
(b) A Theoretical Analysis of the Problem of Personnel:
We will ﬁrst attempt to analyse the problem in its theoretical
aspects as a basis [for the determination of the practical step
necessary to its solution.

37
It is desired to provide the organization, and to keep it
provided, with a personnel that possesses the skill and that
will put forth the effort necessary to handle the work under
a predetermined organization. This task obviously has two
parts, “securing the skill” and “securing the effort.” Skill
is used in the broad meaning of proﬁciency in either mental
or manual pnrsuits.
The ideal solution of the ﬁrst of these tasks would be the
“economical” acquisition of the “maximum” skill. Three
distinct requirements are involved. The idea of economy
implies the relation between the remuneration to be paid and
the degree of skill required, and this presents the ﬁrst specific
problem, namely, the determination of the right compensation
for the positions to be ﬁlled. That is the ﬁrst problem.
The skill at the disposal of the organization is made up of
the skill possessed by recruits at the time of their appointment,
plus the subsequent development for which experience and
training in the service are responsible. The second and third
requirements are, therefore, (1) the selection of persons best
qualiﬁed to perform the duties of the position to which they
seek to be appointed and (2) the subsequent training of such
employees while in the service to the end that they'may become
progressively better ﬁtted.
Those employment problems that relate to the securing
of effort are more complex; they involve the systematic promo-
tion of the personal endeavour of the members of the organiza-
tion to the end that they will industriously and effectively
apply their skill. The agencies available for the promotion
of the efforts of employees are numerous, and an enumeration
of these agencies will serve as a basis for the analysis of this
phase of the employment problem. All methods will fall
under one of two general heads, the “ supplying of incentive”
or the “ removal of resistance.”
Incentive supplied by the management may take the form
of a reward or a punishment; the initiative of the employee
himself is the result of a combination of unselﬁsh motives best
covered by the word “loyalty.” Any advantage accruing
to the employee as a direct or indirect result of his application
to duty is a reward, and the incentive supplied by assured
reward for demonstrated merit is undoubtedly the most efﬁ-
cacious. The simplest form that such reward may take is
sure tenure of employment and assured participation in the
privileges of employment. The second form is advance in
pay, and the third is promotion in rank. Promotion should
be the most desirable form, because it carries with it not only
increase in compensation but opportunity for future greater
increase.
Securing the
skill.
Standardized
compensation.
Scientiﬁc
selection.
Training.
Securing the
effort.
Incentives to
eﬁ'ort.
Reward .
38
Punishment
Loyalty.
Reduction of
resistance to
effective
effort.
Welfare work.
Complete
employment
plan
recommended .
Hope of reward is a positive incentive; fear of punishment
is a negative one. The latter can of course be supplied by
depriving the employee to be disciplined of the opportunity
for a positive reward. The most drastic and most effective
form of punishment is permanent removal from the service, the
next is a temporary removal in the form of suspension, and the
least effective is the entry of a demerit or a charge against the
efﬁciency record of the employee that will tend to decrease
the likelihood of his receiving higher pay or promotion to a
higher rank.
The incentives that originate with the employee, which may
be collectively referred to as loyalty, can be strengthened
only in indirect ways: by leadership, inciting the employee’s
desire to emulate a good example; by justice and fair play,
encouraging the employee to give an honest return for honest
treatment; by the introduction of competition between em-
ployees, keeping up a spirit of enthusiasm that will naturally
be contagious; and by similar psychological inﬂuences.
Hope of reward, fear of punishment, and loyalty are all
incentives to greater effort on the part of the individual
in applying himself to his task. The amount of effort applied
directly on the task in hand may also be increased, however,
by reducing-the resistance that stands in the way of its appli-
cation. The measures that are employed to this end in modern
schools of management are ordinarily referred to as “welfare
work.” These measures have to do with the improvement
of the environment ‘and influences, both physical and mental,
that affect the working conditions of employees. Those things
that affect physical well-being include working space, light,
temperature, ventilation, noise, conveniences, bodily safety,
transportation facilities, opportunity to get good food, and so
forth. Those things that affect the employee’s state of mind
must also be considered. They include the relation between
working time and playing time; opportunities for recreation
and for mental improvement; and relief from fear of unemploy-
ment, of sickness, of the disability of old age, and of the effect
of death on dependent survivors.-
(c) A Statement of the Essential Features of a Com-
plete Employment Plan for the Civil Service of Canada:
The above theoretical analysis of the employment problem,
as it exists in any large organization, will serve to indicate the
things that a complete employment plan must undertake
to accomplish. We recommend that the Civil Service Com-
mission proceed to apply such a programme of employment
administration to the Civil Service of Canada.
Before outlining the steps in such a programme we wish
again to point out the essential difference between questions
of organization and questions of personnel. In the following
39
outline we will assume that the methods of doing business,
and the structure and the size of the organization of depart-
ments, have been decided upon and are considered satisfactory,
‘and that only the purely employment functions are to be
considered.
The essentials of the employment plan we recommend are
as follows:
1. The classiﬁcation of the service. (See part I.)
2. The standardization of the rates of compensation (pay and
working hours) for all classes of positions. (See part II )
NoTE.-—If the classiﬁcation and the proposals for its maintenance and adminis—
tration as set forth in this report are adopted, these fundamental require-
ments will have been provided and the Commission will be in a position
to proceed.
3. The adoption of practical and scientiﬁc methods of selec-
tion. Comments on the methods now in vogue and recom-
mendations for improvement are discussed in the next section
of this report. (See section (d), part III.)
4. The installation of a system to train recruits in the speciﬁc
duties of their particular positions and in the general work of
their department. This subject will also be discussed in a
separate section in its turn. (See section (e), part III.)
5. The adoption of a basis for measuring and a system for
keeping, or at least controlling the keeping, of individual efﬁ-
ciency records of employees. (See section (f), part III.)
Under the theoretical analysis in the preceding section, the
employment processes coming after selection and training
have to do with the supplying of incentive and the lending
of assistance to employees to enable them to use their skill
and knowledge effectively in the performance of their respective
duties. Obviously, as a basis for any system of encouragement,
reward, or censure, there must be a knowledge of the 'facts
regarding quantity and quality of the service rendered—that
is, of the individual efﬁciency of employees.
6. The enforcement of a policy of advancing the pay of
employees (within the limits set for their positions) on a basis
of increased proﬁciency and usefulness. (See section (g),
part III.)
7. The enforcement of a policy of ﬁlling higher places in the
service by the promotion of the best qualiﬁed employees in the
lower classes in the service as determined by open competition
with due credit for length of service and demonstrated efﬁciency.
It should be provided, however, that if there be no one in the
service who can meet the requirements of the higher place,
new blood will be introduced by throwing the competition
open to ‘the public. (See section jg), part III.)
8. The introduction of a system for the sure and prompt
removal from the service (after fair hearings) of employees
who do not maintain the prescribed standards of efﬁciency.
(See section (h), part III.)
63135—4
Only
employment
functions
to be
considered.
Classiﬁcation.
Selection.
Training.
Eﬂiciency
records.
Advance in pay.
Promotion.
Removal.
4O
Retirement.
Lay off.
\Vorking
Conditions.
Co-operation.
What is
necessary to
scientiﬁc
selection.
The
commission
is the
selecting
agency.
The ﬁeld of
applicants.
9. The inauguration of a plan for the retirement on annuity
allowance of employees who have become incapacitated (either
through the length of their service or through disability acquired
in the course of their service) and who can, for such reason,‘
(See
no longer maintain a satisfactory standard of efﬁciency.
section (i), part III.) .
10. The enforcement of a policy of lay off of employees in
positions that are found to be unnecessary to the conduct of
the public business, or that can be temporarily left vacant
without material hindrance to the conduct of public business:
also the adoption of a ruling that lay off shall be without loss
of rights to reinstatement by appointment to the next vacancy
in a position of the class from which laid off; provided that
the employees were in good standing when laid off and had been
regularly appointed. (See section (j), part III.)
11. The establishment and maintenance of “working con-
ditions” that will make for the attainment of the maximum
individual efﬁciency. (See section (k), part III.)
12. The establishment of a means for co-operation between
Civil Service employees and the government as their employer.
(See section (1), part III.)
We will proceed to discuss these subjects in the order named.
In each case the general requirements will be outlined, the
present situation in the service commented upon, the deﬁcien-
cies noted, and constructive recommendations offered.
Items 1 and 2 have been fully treated in Parts I and II.
(d) The Scientiﬁc Selection of Employees for Original
and Promotional Appointments:
In any plan for the scientiﬁc selection of employees it is
essential that the duties of the positions to be ﬁlled and the
qualiﬁcations required of applicants be known, that there be
a qualiﬁed selecting agency, that there be a ﬁeld of appli-
cants to draw from. and that there be a method of determining
the relative ﬁtness of applicants. Theoretically there is
little difference in the essential requirements of a system for
the selection of an employee for entrance into the service and
of a system for the selection of an employee for promotion
in the service. Practically, too, the difference is compara-
tively slight.
The selecting agency set up by law for the Dominion Civil
Service, is of course, the Civil Service Commission and, more
particularly, the Examination Branch of the Commission.
The classiﬁcation, showing as it does the duties of the various
classes of positions and the qualiﬁcations required of applicants,
provides the selecting agency with sufﬁcient information on
which to base its examinations.
The size of the ﬁeld of applicants from which the selection
is to be made is largely within the control of the Commission.
41
The ﬁeld may be as wide as the Dominion, as in the case of
clerks to be employed at Ottawa, or it may be limited to a very
small group, indeed, as in the case of a promotional examination
with competition limited to employees in a particular class when
one of the higher supervisory positions is to be ﬁlled. In any case
the ﬁeld must be restricted to those who have actually ﬁled
applications, but this ﬁeld may be enlarged to almost any
extent desired through proper advertising and other publicity.
If selections are to be made only at the time vacancies occur
it will not, as a rule, be possible to secure a large number of
applicants. If, however, selections are made at intervals in
anticipation of vacancies, and if proper notice of examinations
is given, a larger class of applicants can be secured. The
proper practice undoubtedly is to maintain live lists of eligibles
for those classes of positions in which vacancies are of frequent
occurrence, and to hold examinations only at the time vacancies
occur in the case of classes including one or only a few positions.
Probably the most important element in the problem of
selecting employees is the method used to determine the relative
ﬁtness of the applicants. The process through which the
ﬁtness is determined is called the examination. While the
examinations for entrance to the service and promotion in the
service may differ somewhat, they both should take into account
the following considerations as determining the relative ﬁtness
of applicants:
1. Character, as shown by the applicant’s record and references.
2. Education and experience, as shown by the applicant’s
statements, veriﬁed by investigation if necessary.
3. Ability to perform the duties of the position, as shown by
a test. This test may take one or more of the following forms to
bring out the following types of qualiﬁcation :—
(a) Knowledge of the duties of the position sought,
ability to perform them, and to some extent, judgment,
discretion, and organizing ability as shown by written
tests.
(b) Proﬁciency as shown by a test in which the
applicant actually performs one or more of the kinds of
work required of an incumbent of the position.
(c) Physical condition, strength, and agility, as
shown by a medical or physical examination.
((1) Personality, manner, mental characteristics, and
other qualities, as determined by a personal interview.
(e) In some cases, education, as shown by academic
tests.
In very few cases will all of these different tests be applied.
In no case should an applicant for a position be allowed to enter
the Dominion Civil Service without sufficient investigation of his
past record to determine that he has such qualities as honesty,
sobriety, and morality, as otherwise he might bring discredit
upon the service.
63135—~4%
The bases for
determining
ﬁtness.
Process of
Minimum educational requirements for Selection
42
I each class are speciﬁed in the classiﬁcation, making academic
tests ordinarily unnecessary. The “qualiﬁcations” likewise
set forth the minimum experience required of applicants.
Ordinarily, the applicant’s own statement as to his education
and experience will sufﬁce. In the lower ranks the applicant’s
knowledge of the method of performing the duties of the posi-
tion sought should ordinarily be determined by a written test.
For some positions, notably the trades, the practical test will
be found more satisfactory. The prospective plumber, for
instance, may be supplied with appropriate tools and equip-
ment and asked, in the presence of the examiner, to “wipe a
joint,” and the prospective carpenter given a plane, saw, square
and pencil, and told to make, under the examiner’s eyes, a
riser for a stairway. The stenographer may be given dicta-
tion of ordinary business letters or other matter, and asked
to transcribe the notes on the typewriter. For the higher
positions, more frequently the examination will consist of a
statement of education and experience prepared by applicants
in their own homes, supplemented by an oral interview with
those who show in their applications that they have the minimum
_ qualiﬁcations required; in some cases a thesis on an assigned
technical subject may also be required. The record in the
service of those seeking promotion, as well as the length of
service, should, of course, be given considerable weight.
Existing As far as our knowledge of present conditions goes, the
t° existing situation with regard to the four essentials of a scien-
tiﬁc system for selecting employees is as follows:
1. The selecting agency, the Civil Service Commission, has
considerable information as to the duties and qualiﬁcations
required of incumbents of positions in the Inside Service, but
has been forced to rely on the statements of departments as to
the duties and qualiﬁcations of the incumbents of positions in
the much larger Outside Service. The classiﬁcation submitted
herewith will in a large measure remedy this shortcoming.
Limited 2. The ﬁeld to choose from has been much limited. Frequent
Publicity complaint is made that people living in and near Ottawa almost
entirely monopolize the positions in the Inside Service, and that
those at a distance know nothing about vacancies until after ap-
pointments have been made. Even more than has been done is
necessary to acquaint the people of Canada with the opport-
unities for entry into the Civil Service. The Canada Gazette,
in which all announcements are printed, although widely
distributed has of course a numerically limited circulation. But
considerable has been done through paid advertising, through
news letters, and through other avenues of free publicity. With
regard to promotional examinations, the ﬁeld has been, as a
rule, extremely limited, as the custom has been for the depart-
ment to recommend some person and for the Commission to give
its approval. In some cases undoubtedly the departmental
ofﬁcials have thoroughly canvassed the situation and recom-
mended the person best ﬁtted for promotion, though it would be
43
idle to claim that this is the rule rather than the exception.
Investigations made in the course of the classiﬁcation have led to
the conclusion that employees generally have the feeling that
promotions are made through favour as often as for merit.
3. The old examination plan has been found inadequate
since the passage of the Civil Service Act of 1918 brought the
Outside Service-under the Commission’s jurisdiction. When
selections were made for the Inside Service only, consisting
in the main of ~ clerical employees, academic tests met with
some degree of success, though very frequently eligibles who
had taken the general tests found upon appointment that
they lacked some essential qualiﬁcation such as proﬁciency in
mathematical computations, ability to operate a typewriter,
knowledge of ﬁling systems, ability to handle correspondence, or
knowledge of modern ofﬁce practice. The purely academic
tests never have met with a satisfactory degree of success in
choosing employees for other than clerical positions. In fact,
about the only honest opposition to the Civil Service system arises
out of a fear that an attempt will be made to select railway mail
clerks, watchmen, charwomen, engineers, customs examiners,
draftsmen, and other non-clerical employees through the pro-
pounding of such queries as “What is the longest river in
Canada?” or “Who was the ﬁrst man to cross the Rocky
Mountains? ” On the other hand, the modern system of prac-
tical tests in use by many municipalities and states for years has
been a pronounced success and is peculiarly suited to a mis-
cellaneous service such- as the Civil Service of Canada.
We submit the following recommendations with regard to
the selection of employees for original and promotional appoint-
ment:
1. That live lists of eligibles be continuously maintained for
all classes in which frequent appointments are made, and that
eligible lists for other classes be established only as need arises.
2. That the examinations to establish eligible lists be based
upon the duties and qualiﬁcations of the various classes, as set
forth in the classiﬁcation, and that in the main the present
system of academic tests be discarded; In each case the
examination should determine by the most direct and practical
method whether applicants possess the required qualiﬁcations
and are able to perform the duties, and if so, their relative
ﬁtness.
3. That a separate examination be held as need arises for each
class deﬁned in the classiﬁcation, and that the present system of
“ preliminary ” and “ qualifying " examinations be abandoned.
4. That for promotions in the service, competition in the
main be limited to those in lower ranks whose experience ﬁts
them to perform the duties of the higher positions, and that the
subjects of the promotional examinations be demonstrated efﬁ-
ciency, seniority (length of service), and questions on the duties
of the higher position.
5. That when the higher-paid positions are not ﬁlled through
promotions, the examination consist ‘of statements of
education and experience (career), veriﬁed in whole or in part by
the Commission’s investigators, supplemented by an oral inter—
view, and in some cases a technical paper on an assigned subject.
Academic
examinations
unsuitable and
inadequate.
Recommen-
dations on
selection.
Maintenance
of eligible
lists.
Examinations
based on
duties.
Separate ..
examination
for each class.
Eligibility
for
promotion.
Promotional
examinations.
M
Standards for
marking.
Method of
computing
average.
Immediate
preparation
44
6. That in all cases where the education and experience of the
applicant is a part of the examination, standards be established
in advance for rating education and experience.
7. That in all examinations where a written test on the duties
of the position or academic subjects is given, standards be
established for rating the answers of applicants.
8. That in all examinations, regardless of the number of
appointments to be made, every applicant receive a mark in
each subject on the basis of 100 for perfection, that the various
subjects be weighed, that a general average be determined for
each applicant, and that the eligible list consist of the names of
all applicants whose general average and whose mark on each
subject exceeds the required minimum.
9: That the Commission add to its permanent staff under a
and continuous thoroughly qualiﬁed chief with broad knowledge of modern ex-
maintenance
of eligible
lists.
Practical
tests.
Branch ofﬁces.
Publicity.
Safeguards.
Handbooks.
amination methods and with a high degree of organizing ability,
a sufﬁcient number of examiners to conduct with the aid of special
examiners appointed from time to time, the tests necessary to
maintain at all times the required eligible lists.
10. That additional temporary examiners be provided until
the work of establishing initial eligible lists is well under way.
11. That the Commission make wide use of special examining
boards composed of men of eminence in various lines to aid in the
selection of employees for the administrative and the higher
supervisory positions, and also for positions whose incumbents are
required to possess highly specialized knowledge and skill.
12. That until eligible lists are established for all large classes,
examinations be held at least weekly and preferably daily.
13. That the policy of conducting so called practical tests in
which applicants demonstrate their skill, which is now limited to
stenographers and typists, be extended, especially to skilled
trades such as those of plumber, carpenter, cook, chauffeur, and
barber. '
14. That branch ofﬁces of the Commission be established as
required at large centres in order to facilitate the dissemination
of information and application forms to prospective applicants.
15. That in order to extend the ﬁeld from which applicants
for entrance to the service may be drawn, the present publicity
programme of the Commission be extended and enlarged “until
every proper avenue is utilized in full, including news letters,
personal letters, other departments of the government, libraries,
citizens’ organizations, commercial organizations, employers’
organizations, trade unions, and schools.
16. That in all examinations every precaution be taken to
inspire conﬁdence in the examinations and examination methods
of the Commission by the most jealous safeguarding of questions
in advance of examinations, the concealment of the identity of
candidates in all examinations, the publication of eligible lists,
and in general by giving the public easy access at all proper
times to such information as ought not, from the nature of the
case, to be kept conﬁdential.
17. That the Commission prepare one or more handbooks for
distribution to persons interested in the public service, either as
citizens or prospective applicants, giving information par-
45
ticularly about the large classes of positions to which frequent
appointments are made and the methods to be followed by those
wishing to enter the government service either as a life career or
for less prolonged employment.
(e) The Training of Employees:
The importance of training of Civil Service employees is well
stated by a well~known authority who says:
N o greater constructive reform is now possible than
efﬁcient training for public service.
Practically all of the movements in our contemporary
political life deal with the machinery of government.
Improvement of the machinery of government without a
corresponding improvement of the personnel of govern-
ment is taking long chances on the promotion of public
welfare.
The money cost of inefﬁcient government is gr eat.
The human cost is incalculable. Can you conceive of the
possible results of the failure of inspection of a single
herd of cows infected with the hoof-and-mouth disease
whose supply of milk is sent to a large city? Can
you conceive of the daily toll of injured workmen through
inefﬁcient factory and mine inspection? Men must be
trained to perform these and the other services of modern
community life—men who have a civic conscience, a
social point of view, adequate knowledge and skill,
and who are satisﬁed with the pay of the civil service.
Administrators must be developed who can train in
service and guide such men.
When we select appointees who have the general qualiﬁca-
tions necessary to perform the duties of a certain class of posi-
tions, we do no more than to furnish the raw material out of
which a proﬁcient employee in any particular place can be
developed. This, of course, is not enough. The employing
and directing authorities must proceed to a more or less formal
training of the new employee in the work to which he has been
assigned.
In the Dominion Civil Service there are some positions which
require a greater amount of special training than others. In
general, these specialized positions are found in departments
the functions of which are peculiar to government service and
which have no counterpart in ordinary business and professional
employment. For example, the postal, customs, and inland
revenue services must select for the majority of positions in
the higher ranks persons who have had thorough training and
experience in the work of their respective departments. This
necessitates taking men into the service in the lowest ranks
and subjecting them to a careful training in order to provide
material for the more important specialized positions. The
same is true of certain positions in the House of Commons and
in the Department of Trade and Commerce. In certain other
departments there are positions requiring men with previous
Importance of
training for
public service.
Appointees
must receive
training in
speciﬁc
duties.
Examples of
positions in
the Dominion
Civil Service
requiring
special
training.
“a
a
46
Training
methods now
employed by
several
departments.
General
situation.
Recommenda-
tion.
~.
1
training or experience along technical lines but who, in addition,
must be trained in the particular‘work of the department before
they become of value. The Department of Insurance, for
example, may employ men with previous actuarial experience;
but if their previous experience has been conﬁned to one kind
of insurance, they are not of full value to the department until
they have made a study of all kinds of insurance. Similarly,
geologists in the Geological Survey Branch of the Department
of Mines, audit clerks in the Auditor General’s Department,
and chemical analysts in the Department of Customs and
'Inland Revenue, are examples of positions requiring men with
previous technical training or skill but who are of value to the
department only as they become familiar with the scope and
application of the work in their particular ﬁeld.
In some of the departments mentioned above, there is a
fairly well-deﬁned programme for the training of new employees.
Such training is usually conﬁned to the immediate duties of
the position, and on the principle of “learn to do by doing."
In other words, new incumbents are required to perform the
simple routine tasks of the position, usually under the guidance
of more experienced employees, ~ and are gradually given more
responsible work as they show ﬁtness and ability. Some
departments require that the actual work done be supplemented
by a prescribed Course of study, which is not, however, conducted
by the department, and must be followed outside of business hours.
Except for the few departments referred to in the above para-
graph, the general situation in the Dominion Civil Service
now is about the same as that unfortunately found in most
public bodies. There is no deﬁnite preliminary instruction
prescribed for new employees. They are told by their superior
in a general way what to do and then are turned loose to learn
by their own mistakes at the expense of the public and of the
time of their more sympathetic co-workers how to do things
and how not to do them. This condition is also common in
private employments, but of recent years all of the larger
concerns have introduced some system of training which in many
cases is extremely_ well developed and effective.
We believe it is properly a matter for the attention of depart-
ments to establish courses of study and practical training which
will have for their object the instruction of probationers, at
least in the larger classes of employment, in the work of their
positions. The counsel of the Civil Service Commission as to
ways and means should be given in this connection as the
improvement of the proﬁciency of employees is of primary
interest to them. A satisfactory completion of such a prescribed
course, together with a more or less informal oral or practical
test of the knowledge and skill thus acquired, might well be
47
required as necessary to the permanent appointment of such Suggested
probationers.
While it is recognized that this preliminary instruction must
be adapted to the particular needs of the department, there are new employees-
certain well-established principles in the training of employees
which may be mentioned here. To be of the greatest ultimate
usefulness to the department, it is desirable that employees in
addition to receiving careful instruction in their immediate
duties should have a broader perspective of the work of the
department and of the relation of their own function to that
of the organization as a whole. Such training should cover
about the following programme: the employee should be
informed: (1) of the departmental organization and of its
policies; (2) of the organization and functions of his own branch
and its relation to other branches; and (3) of the routine of work
as it passes through his department. He should then be more
speciﬁcally instructed in the functions falling to the particular
group of which he is a part, of the duties and tasks which he
himself is expected to perform, and of the relation of those
individual tasks to the general function of his group and to the
scheme of operation of the department as a whole. He should
ﬁnally be put under the guidance and close observation of
either his superior or an experienced co-worker of higher seniority
in order that he may receive the beneﬁt of the result of the
experience of such a tutor and thus be enabled to avoid mistakes
usual to beginners. This procedure should make him promptly
useful to the service. _
We have thus far dealt mainly with the training of the new
employee. It is equally important that the departments, with
the advice of the Commission, should plan and encourage the
training of all employees for the positions to which they might
logically aspire for promotion. Such a policy makes for better
administration by permitting the interchangeability or substi-
tution of employees in emergencies. It also works out to the
advantage of the employees in both the higher and lower ranks:
in the former, because it releases the incumbent for more
important workand makes it possible to promote him without
disturbance in the organization; in the latter case, because it
affords greater opportunities for promotion. There are many
instances in the Civil Service of employees now held in positions
which are below their capacity because no one has been trained
to take their place and the department cannot spare them for
more important work.
I’
(f) The Ascertaining of the Individual Efficiency of
Employees:
The efﬁciency of the public service will depend on the
success of the Commission in bringing qualiﬁed persons
programme
for the
training of
Desirability
of the
systematic
training of
employees for
promotion to
higher position
h.
48
Measures
to promote
individual
efﬁciency.
Efﬁciency
records
essential.
Efﬁciency
records
promote
supervision.
into the organization and the success of the departments in
obtaining from them the best service of which they are capable.
The second of these two requirements introduces the problem
of individual efﬁciency. The various measures which can be
employed to promote the individual efﬁciency of employees are
discussed in succeeding sections under the headings: Advance-
ment in Pay, Promotion in Position, Removal, Retirement, and
so forth.
The policy advocated in every case presupposes a knowledge
of what the efﬁciency of each employee actually is and contem-
plates action on the basis of this information—the recognition
and reward of satisfactory service and the imposition of penalties
for unsatisfactory service. In fact, a system of ascertaining
and recording the individual performance of each civil service
employee is prerequisite to the adoption of most of the employ-
ment policies we recommend. The whole theory of the sched-
ules of compensation recommended in this report is that a
minimum rate for each position is to be prescribed (to represent
the salary that the appointee qualiﬁed to undertake the work
should receive), and that a range above that to the maximum
should be available to compensate the employee for efﬁcient
service and increased usefulness. There obviously must be
some systematic way of determining whether the employee's
usefulness has increased and his service has been efﬁcient.
Likewise, the recommended plan of promotion contemplates
the ﬁlling of higher positions from among those in the service
who have proved efﬁcient, full credit being given not only for
ability demonstrated in an examination to ﬁll the higher place,
but to meritorious service in positions from which they are to be
promoted. The Civil Service Commission, if it is to give
credit to this second factor, must have some authentic data as
a basis. Furthermore, if the inefficient are to be removed or
retired, the Civil Service Commission should be charged with
the control of such actions, and is entitled to know upon what
facts the charges of inefficiency are based.
It should be pointed out that the keeping of efﬁciency records
accomplishes a great deal more than merely the establishment
of a source of information for the employment authorities.
Its most direct value lies in the assurance that it gives to the
government and to the public, that supervisory officers will
actually supervise the employees under their charge and the
information it gives to higher executive ofﬁcers with regard to
the extent of the supervision thus given. It enables directing
ofﬁcers to record their estimate of the value of an employee's
services while the data are fresh in their minds rather than
at some future time while under the influence of some particular
act or omission of recent date which may have very little
49
relation to the employee’s general average. Knowledge that
an efﬁciency record is kept serves notice on the employee that
he is under scrutiny, and assures him that his efforts will
be appreciated.
In the main, little has been done with regard to the keeping
of real efﬁciency records. Throughout the Inside Service and
in parts of the Outside Service an attendance book is main-
tained. Though in the Inside Service, at least, there is some
meticulousness about recording the time of arrival in the morning
and departure at night, strangely enough no regard whatso-
ever is paid to the time of departure at noon and the time of
return in the afternoon.
In the Post Ofﬁce Department, and particularly in the
Railway Mail Service, the annual case examinations and ex-
aminations on postal laws afford a fair test of the progress made
during the year. Most departments maintain establishment
books showing service records of employees, though as a rule
these records indicate nothing with regard to efﬁciency ex-
cept time lost through sickness or otherwise, breaches of
discipline, and serious errors.
The reports made to the Civil Service Commission with
regard to the efﬁciency of employees are, with very rare excep-
tions, perfunctory; in fact, more than once it has happened
that an employee whose conduct has been such as to warrant
consideration of his discharge from the service has received
the rating in the returns to the Commission of “ Excellent ”.
In the course of the classiﬁcation work it has been apparent
that many departments are very anxious to undertake the
working out and installation of efﬁciency records. In the
main the proposed schemes are negative rather than positive
in character in that they contemplate penalties for mistakes,
breaches of discipline, or insubordination, rather than rewards
for good conduct or service. All the indications are that the
time is ripe for the Civil Service Commission seriously to under-
take a study of the problem.
We recommend that the Civil Service Commission provide
by regulation for the inauguration of efﬁciency records. We
recognize that this is a task of no small proportions, but a
beginning should be made, if only by bolstering up the methods
of reporting. Certainly simple records of attendance and
discipline and a judgment rating for quantity and quality of
work may be installed pending the development of more scien-
tiﬁc standards suitable to the needs of the various classes of
service.
Efficiency
records now
kept in
certain
Departments.
Recommenda-
tions.
50
Advancement
in salary
distinguished
from promotion
Efficient
service only
proper basis
for increase
in pay.
Present
practice with
regard to
salary
' increases.
(g) The Advancement in Pay and Promotion in Position
of Efficient Employees:
‘ Advancement in pay as used herein is to be taken to mean
an increase in the salary of an employee in a given position,
from one rate to a higher rate within the range of compensa-
tion allowed, without involving any change in position or duties.
Promotion in position as the term is used herein is to be
taken to mean a change in the position of an employee from
a position of one class to a position of another and a higher
class, that is, to a position for which a higher maximum salary
is allowed. A promotion is to be looked upon as a re-employ-
ment, and the pay of the employee promoted is expected to
conform to the scale prescribed for the new position to which
he is appointed. In promotion, the essential element is the
change in position; the change in pay automatically follows
as does the change in duties.
It will be conceded that advancement in pay is one of the
most effective forms of reward that can be offered to an employee
as an incentive to him to apply himself industriously to the
duties of his position. It is manifest that if an increase in
pay is given as a reward for and an inducement to efﬁcient
service it must be based on demonstrated efﬁcient service and
on no other consideration.
The conditions regarding the salaries of civil servants as we
found them in the course of the classiﬁcation work are described
in section (a), part II, of this report. The practice with regard
to increase in salaries that obtain to-day and that has led to
these anomalous conditions are substantially as follows:—
Annual increases of $100 for employees in the ﬁrst division
and $50 for other employees are now statutory, and such
increases are automatic unless the deputy head makes a report
in writing which is concurred in by the Commission that the
employee is not deserving of such increase. This means in
effect that only in very rare Cases indeed is the annual
increase withheld. Special increases may also be made “for
merit by the Commission on the recommendation of the
deputy head.” It is to the credit of the Commission that
special increases have been made in comparatively few cases.
_ As might be judged from the above description, the method
of making increases is simplicity itself; that is, the departments
simply report each quarter to the Auditor General the names of
employees entitled to the statutory increase and the operation
is complete. From the point of view of the public, however,
the method is not so satisfactory as this would imply for the
reason that the undeserving receive their increases along with
the deserving.
51
Our recommendations for the improvement in these condi-
tions and for the application of the principle of “increased pay
only for increased usefulness and efﬁcient service” are fully
set forth in Part II in a discussion of the administration of the
new schedules of compensation.
In section ((1) of this Part we discussed the selection of
employees for promotion appointment as one of the processes
involved in recruiting the organization. In this present connec-
tion we are considering the promotion of employees as one of
the forms of reward that are offered as incentives to good work.
It is clear that if appointments to positions that are to be ﬁlled
by promotion are based upon the relative ﬁtness of eligible
employees as shown by their record in the service, both the
service and the employee will gain. The same machinery will
serve both purposes; it will fulﬁll both a recruiting function
and a stimulating function.
We do not believe there is much need to discuss further the
correct principle to be observed in promotion. Nor have we
anything to add to the recommendations made in section (d)
referred to above with regard to the method by which this
principle can be applied. The present practice is admittedly
unsatisfactory. Sir George Murray, in his report of Sep-
tember 30, 1912, on the public service of Canada, wrote as
follows:
The Outside Service is, speaking generally, of no
less importance than the Inside Service. An efﬁcient
staff is no less necessary; and it should be recruited under
similar conditions. For the same reason promotion in
it should follow on the same lines; by which I mean that
the prizes of the service should be reserved for those who
have shown themselves capable of performing the highest
duties. At present such promotions as Postmasterships
and Collectorships are ﬁlled by the appointment of
persons who, whatever their other merits, have not had
the advantage of long training in the service, and are
consequently compelled to rely on their subordinates
in transacting the business of their Departments. Such
a system is fatal to an efﬁcient service in two ways: the
higher positions are ﬁlled, not by experts, but by ama-
teurs; and the best type of ofﬁcial is not attracted into
the service because he recognizes that its prizes are not
within his reach.
While some of the conditions that he refers to were remedied
through the operation of the Civil Service Act of 1918, it is a
fact that the initiative with regard to promotions is still generally
taken by department ofﬁcers, and that the Commission had
thus far been in no position to go against their recommendations.
On this very point Sir George Murray says:
Recommenda-
tions.
Promotion
as form of
reward.
Recommenda-
tions
previously
made.
Present
practice in
promotion
unsatisfactory.
52
The theory of
removals.
Two distinct
reasons for
removal.
Removal a
disciplinary
weapon.
Trained
employees a
‘valuable asset.
I must say that cases have come under my notice
which lead me to think that in some instances the recom-
mendations of both the Heads and Deputy Heads of
Departments have not been founded exclusively on
“merit” but that other considerations, or
perhaps I should say "merits ” other than those con-
templated by the Act, have been allowed to carry weight,
and that grave injustice has sometimes been done to
deserving ofﬁcers who have in consequence been passed
over. ' I should hope, however, that promotions of this
kind are becoming fewer, as a sense of the responsibility
for the selection of the ﬁttest candidate becomes more
real. Not only does the public service suffer if the ﬁttest
man is not promoted, but grave injustice is inflicted on
the‘ individual who is passed over merely because he is
unable to bring political or other inﬂuence to bear in
his favour.
In case of advancement in pay the report of the department
. head can, if necessary, be taken in lieu of an efﬁciency record,
as he need merely ‘say that the employee has maintained a
certain standard. In case of promotion where employees in
one department must be measured against employees in other
departments on the basis of past efﬁciency, some evidence or
record is needed that will be more useful for grading and com-.
parison than the respective statements of the department heads.
(h) The Removal of Inefficient Employees:
The process of removal may be considered as the reverse of
the process of appointment, and the same principles apply.
To reiterate the statement so often made in this report, the
problem is to man the organization with employees who have
the ability to do the work of the positions they are to occupy
and who will actually apply such ability in an efﬁcient manner.
The removal of an employee is therefore called for when it
develops that he lacks (1) the ability to ﬁll his place, or (2)
the will to render the standard of service demanded.
Removal on the grounds of unﬁtness during the probation
period is usually nothing more or less than a rectiﬁcation of a
mistake made at the time of the selection of the employee.
Such removals should be easy.
A removal made after the probationary period has been
successfully completed will ordinarily be based on grounds of
inefﬁciency rather than unﬁtness—on lack of effort rather than
lack of skill. A removal under these circumstances is one of the
forms of punishment to avoid which an employee is impelled
to apply himself to his duties. It is commonly looked upon
as the only really effective weapon at the disposal of the manag-
ing ofﬁcer for the enforcement of disciplinary regulations——
that is, the regulations that prescribe the time and place at
which, and the manner in which, the employee is to perform
53
his duty. To propose-to limit in any way the department head
in the exercise of the discharging power may appear to be a
radical suggestion. Any sound employment policy under cen-
tralized control is, however, based on the theory that the skill
and effort of employees are the assets with which the service
does business and belong to the service. With this idea in mind
it does not appear unreasonable that the service, through its
employment authorities, should demand some evidence that
these assets are not being needlessly squandered through the
indiscriminate discharge of employees whose selection and
training have cost the public much.
In a pamphlet by a prominent railway president entitled “A
Study of the Principles and Methods of Hiring and Discharging
Railway Employees” the author takes the following stand:
Management and direction are necessary but the
best results are secured when each individual employee
has the intelligence to comprehend and the ability and
the inclination to execute the particular detail which is
assigned to him. Intelligence and skill are different;
the former is acquired through education, usually before
employment, in school, and it should be a pre-requisite
to employment. A sound body is also needed. The
real problem is to develop and retain intelligence. The
difﬁculties in the way of doing this grow out of the rules
of discipline which put authority to dismiss or suspend
into the hands of petty ofﬁcers. This provides no
uniformity. Such discipline is to be condemned not on
sentimental grounds but on the grounds of common sense,
because the Company’s interest is involved. The Com-
pany must conserve the intelligence, interest, and loyalty
of the employee. There are strong objections to discharge
in any case except for the prime purpose of deliberately
weeding out clearly incompetent employees. Incom-
petency is to be deﬁned, not as occasional error even of
the “ unpardonable ” type, but rather as uniformly low
efﬁciency, unﬁtness, and undesirability.
While it is to be considered a breach of duty for the depart-
ment head to discharge an employee for any reason except
unﬁtness, inefﬁciency, or insubordination, it should be looked
upon as just as grave a breach for him to fail to remove an
employee who is manifestly unﬁt and inefﬁcient.
Our contact with the Canadian Civil Service has given us the
impression that employees are seldom removed except by the
hand of death. Unfortunately it is not the unﬁt or
inefﬁcient but rather the more ambitious who voluntarily
leave the service. In cases where employees are actually
discharged the action is ordinarily based on some
particular act having the nature of a serious mistake,
insubordination, or the like. Our acquaintance with' the
service may not be sufﬁciently close to give us- a correct
Present
practice.
54
Requirements
of a
scientiﬁc
system of
removal.
impression, but the impression that we have received is that
discharges on account of general unﬁtness or low standard of
efﬁciency are rarely made. Such cases of unﬁtness, of course,
are known by the minor ofﬁcers in the organization, but in the
absence of a system of efﬁciency records automatically to bring
them to the attention of higher ofﬁcials, the latter may never
hear of them. There is no particular incentive to impel the
subhead to call special attention to such cases. And what is
much worse, the department head himself often deems it in-
expedient to take action on cases he does know about. It is
Considered poor politics to arouse feelings of resentment in a
small group of employees and their friends in the abstract
interests of an apathetic public. The necessity for obtaining
an Order in Council for the discharge of an employee even of
the lowest rank throws another obstacle in the way. As a
result, inefﬁcient and unﬁt employees continue in the service
indeﬁnitely. The worst that ever seems to happen to them
is that they are passed over when increases in pay or
opportunity .for promotion are available. However, the
strong inﬂuence of the “seniority in service” tradition
usually brings them even these advantages. Conscien-
tious department heads recognizing this easy-going custom
and not wishing to attract attention by appearing as
stern and hard-hearted exceptions, will ordinarily adopt some
makeshift method of getting an inefﬁcient employee out of his
place and putting him where he can do “less harm,” They
are never adverse to ﬁnding such a place in another department,
if possible, and when not possible they take the next best solu-
tion and assign the employee to simpler duties. The employee
although performing simpler duties, retains his higher salary
classiﬁcation and, of course, receives pay according to that classiﬁ-
cation. Many of the best men in the service justify this policy
of dealing leniently with unsatisfactory employees on the
ground “that it pays to treat our people well.” It is a
grave question, however, whether this practice is “treating the
people well”; we are strongly inclined to the opinion that the
great majority of self-respecting employees want nothing more
nor less than that which is due them, and look upon the indul-
gence of an inefﬁcient employee rather as an example of unfair
discrimination than as a manifestation of generosity on the part
of the Government. ..
The requirements of a system for the removal of employees
are revealed by the above discussion. First, provision must
be made for the discovery of unﬁtness or inefﬁciency on the part
of the employees. Standards of efﬁciency must be established
for all positions. Cases of employees whose services fall below
such standards must be made matters of record, and action
separating such employees from the service should be taken
55
automatically on the basis of the record. In order that the
practice of removal for inefﬁciency may serve its purpose, it
is desirable that the efﬁciency standard, the efﬁciency record of
the employee, and the relation between the two, be kept before
the employee.
This procedure will protect the interests of the tax paying
public. In our opinion the policy in a case of proposed dis-
missal should also provide that no injustice is done the employe.
It is with this precaution in ‘View that plans have been
advocated in many jurisdictions and adopted in some by which
an employe recommended for dismissal is given an opportunity
to state his case.
(i) The Retirement of Incapacitated Employees:
In discussing the weeding out of employees who do not give
satisfactory service we have assumed that their failure to reach
the prescribed standard of efﬁciency can be attributed to causes
within their control. There is, however, a large and important
group of employees in every organization (and it so happens
that the more justly a service is administered the larger this
group becomes) who have grown old in the service or who have
suffered disabilities, perhaps by the very reason of a loyal
performance of duty. What is to be done with these employees?
There are obviously only three courses open:
1. They may be retained.
2. They may be arbitrarily removed.
3. They may be retired under some scientiﬁc superannua-
tion and disability annuity system.
To retain such inefﬁcient employees is wrong. Any
employee who cannot or does not, for any reason whatsoever,
render service of a fair standard should be replaced. This should
be an absolute rule. There are many reasons for this; among
which might be included:
(a) If employees are retained on the pay-roll who are
assigned to and paid for tasks which they no longer
perform with the same degree of efﬁciency that is
required of their fellow employees, this practice will
undoubtedly have a deteriorating effect on the
morale of the whole force. If the pay-roll is not
limited strictly to payment for services rendered the
Government’s reputation for fairness and good faith
will suffer among its own employees.
(b) If the obligations of social justice are to be met and
the principle is to be adopted that employees whose
63135-—-—5
Justice to
employees.
The problem
of incapaci-
tated
employees.
Wrong in
principle
and costly
in practice
to keep on
pay-roll.
56
Arbitrary
dismissal
not to be
considered.
Scientiﬁc
retirement plan
recommended .
forces have become exhausted and earning power
reduced in the service of the Government, should
be provided for by the Government, then the
expense involved should be assigned to its proper
place in the budget and not distributed among, and
buried in, the departmental operating costs.
(c) The expense to the Government in retaining an
employee on the pay-roll who is not ﬁtted for his
place is not to be measured by the salary actually
paid but rather by the contribution that an efﬁcient
substitute could make to the public service. It is
this loss that is serious, and the loss unfortunately is
greater as the position involved is higher in the
organization. The fact that most employees of long
service have worked their way toward the top and
are usually to be found in supervisory places aggra-
vates this evil. A lack of energy and alertness on
the part of a higher ofﬁcer affects all his subordinates.
The second possibility mentioned for dealing with super-
annuated employees is that they be arbitrarily removed. The
injustice of such procedure is generally admitted. Aside from
altruistic considerations, it is an undoubted fact that the assur-
ance that those who have been long in the service will be cared
for supplies an incentive to continuous service and stimulates
loyalty. The possibility of abrupt dismissal or actual cases of
such dismissal without provision for future welfare produces the
opposite effect.
We strongly recommend the third plan enumerated, namely,
a scientiﬁc system of retirement.
A quotation from Sir George Murray’s report, previously
referred to, will be found pertinent at this point.
“ Some system of securing retirement is absolutely
essential if the public service is to be maintained in
a satisfactory condition. It is necessary, on the one
hand, in order to prevent ofﬁcers continuing in the
service after they have ceased to be efﬁcient; and it
is equally necessary in order to provide a ﬂow of
promotion as to insure that men of capacity should
reach the higher positions at a period of life when
they are able to make the best use of their powers.”
The central objective of a modern, sound, scientiﬁc retire-
ment annuity system is to make sure that for each employee
having permanency of tenure there will be on hand at the time
when he is overtaken by old age inefﬁciency a fund for an annuity
sufﬁcient to make possible his retirement from the service.
Existing pension systems throughout the world have grown
up in haphazard fashion, have not taken into account the varying
entrance ages, varying salary scales, the varying retirement ages
57
of different employees. They have failed to make provision for
the accumulation for each individual employee, while he is
rendering service, of the amount that will be required to provide
a sufﬁcient allowance when the needs of the service call for his
retirement. They have, as a rule, been established on the
petition of a handful of aging employees when, as a matter of
fact, they should be established on the basis of conditions as to
those to enter the service in the future, with proper modiﬁca-
tions to take care of present employees. ‘
We understand that the three pension funds applying to
the Civil Service in Canada are in this same category.
All the questions involved in the design of a pension system
are intricate and technical, and there is a difﬁcult popularization
problem involved in the replacement of an unsound retirement
system with a sound plan. The best method therefore calls
for a careful study by experts, preferably under the direction of
a commission representing the various points of view, 'to develop
a scientiﬁc annuity plan to take into account sound actuarial
, principles, provide for a system on a reserve basis, and show
clearly what the actual cost to the Government will be. The
conclusions of such a commission, on the basis of the ﬁndings of
its experts, should be presented in a clear non-technical form to
win the approval of employees, their supervisors, the public,
and members of Parliament. The Commission could be greatly
assisted by the reports of several comprehensive investigations
recently made in the United States. The most notable were
those of: (1) the state of Massachusetts, under an act of 1913
providing for “ a commission to devise a just and comprehensive
system of state, county, and municipal pensions”; (2) the 1916
commission on pensions of the city of New York, which investi-
gated the nine pension funds in operation in that city; and (3)
the state of Illinois which, by an act of the General Assembly of
1915, constituted a commission to investigate the funds under
the ﬁfteen pension laws of that state, and in 1917 created a
second commission for the further investigation of the same
subjects.
(j) The Lay Off of Unnecessary Employees:
The opprobrious name “spoils system ” has been given to the
doctrine which maintains that those who have been successful in
a political campaign are entitled to use the emoluments that
pertain to the public ofﬁces coming under their control in the
payment of their personal political debts. There is practically
no man in public life to-day who dares defend this immoral
practice. It has been astonishing to us, therefore, to ﬁnd
that in the Canadian Civil Service there are men who are not
63135—5%
The spoils
system.
58
A strange
view of
public
employment.
No such thing
as a vested
right in a
job.
A policy of
lay off
recommended.
spoilsmen in any sense of the word but who, nevertheless, seem
honestly to feel that a public ofﬁce is something that enables the
Government or the head of a department to give employment
to some individual and that this employment, being a gift,
should never be taken away. It seems to us that this is an
inverted way to look at public employment. The salary
pertaining to a position is no gift. It is payment for services
rendered. Services for which the Government has no need
should not be purchased.
The people of Canada, through their authorized representatives,
enact certain laws. A certain administrative organization
is necessary to carry these laws into effect. Certain work
must be performed. This requires that certain positions be
established. Only to carry out the duties of these positions
and only for such time as the work involved is necessary to
the carrying out of the department’s functions need anyone
be employed.
An employee, no matter how he came into the service, has
only a right to a position while that position exists or for the
period during which it is necessary to keep it ﬁlled. Because
he sought and obtained the privilege of serving the Government
at a stipulated compensation is no reason why he should expect
the Government to purchase his services when it does not need
them.
The logical conclusion of the above argument is that the
employee who, regardless of his standing, is so unfortunate
as to occupy a position that is to be abolished or vacated because
of lack of work, should be laid off. The expression “ lay off ”
is in general use in civil service terminology as meaninga separa-
tion from the service in good standing solely because of lack
of work. Its meaning is to be clearly distinguished from that
of “ dismissal.”
It is almost a uniformly accepted practice in civil service
administration to provide that employees thus laid off shall retain
full rights to the class of employment in which they were last
serving, and that subsequent vacancies in other positions of
the same class or the resumption of work in their previous
positions shall lead to their reinstatement. The exact pro-
cedure is to place the names of employees laid off from positions
in any given class at the head of an eligible list for appointment
to subsequent vacancies occurring in such classes in the reverse
order of their lay off (usually the .“ seniority ” order but prefer-
ably “ efﬁciency " order)./ Seasonable employees laid of at the
end of the season of employment should of course have the
opportunity to resume their position at the beginning of the
next season under this plan, in the interest of the Government
as well as justice.
59
We advocate the adoption of this principle of lay off in the
Civil Service of Canada in the ‘interest of economy in govern-
ment.
We urge the adoption of the plan for the reinstatement of
laid off employees, outlined in the last paragraph, as conserving
the rights of employees under the merit system.
(k) The Working Conditions and Welfare of
Employees:
That phase of the employment problem that relates to The welfare~
the improvement of physical and mental conditions affecting 2‘ (221211311888 "
the personal efﬁciency of employees is too broad and complex employment_
for detail treatment in this report. It involves consideration Pmblem- '
of all those things that affect directly or indirectly the welfare
of employees; particularly those conditions that have a bearing,
on their ability to give continuous and contented attention to
the tasks that they are employed to perform.
Those considerations that affect mental well-being are Considerations.-
largely of a negative character—freedom from worry or fear. fig?“
Assured tenure of employment during good behaviour, reason- we11-being__
able leave in cases of illness, provision for old age, and also
provision for disability or death are all things that will conduce-
to an employee’s peace of mind.
We have advocated a plan of retirement annuities for Annuities
old-age inefﬁciency, and a comprehensive pension plan could and Demim-
well include provision for old-age inefﬁciency, death, and
disability from sickness and accident as well.
The matter of sick leaves is now in the Commission’s hands. sick 16am,
Leaves with pay are, we believe, abused. We believe that a Sickness
system of sickness beneﬁts would be a much more satisfactory beneﬁts‘
and certainly a more businesslike method than the present plan
of long leaves with pay. Lack of uniformity, encouragement of Defects of
the malingerer, and penalizing of the conscientious, are bad leaves with
features of the present practice. In)"
Holiday leaves are now amply provided for.
The other welfare activities common in well-ordered
industrial concerns are hardly called for in the Civil Service.
Facilities for social, recreational, and educational activities
are in most instances ample. They are available to the great
majority of civil servants.
60
Human aspect
of employment
not lost
sight of.
Representa-
tion of
workers.
Suggestion
for plan.
(1) The Establishment of a Means of Cooperation
between Civil Service Employees and the Government
as their Employer :
The impression might be gained from a hasty reading of
the more or less technical discussion of employment problems
in the foregoing pages that the natural human interest of
the man in~his work—his industrial life—had been lost sight
of. That is not in any measure true. In every recommen-
dation_made it has been assumed that the justiﬁable require-
ments of both the civil servant as an ambitious human being
and worker and of the public as a model employeriwould be
served only by the application of certain principles of social
justice. ~ It has been recognized, however, that the acceptance
of a principle is a very different thing from its application and
that too often the application’ fails because the practical working
details of appropriate measures of enforcement are not worked
out. Hpwever a discussion of practical details of system inevit-
ably take on a cold, seemingly unsympathetic tone.
The human aspects of employment are the all-important
ones and it will, we believe, be appropriate to include a few
suggestions regarding one of the most important, and until
recently least considered, of these, namely, the desire of the
worker to have a voice in the ﬁxing of the conditions under which
he works. The world has disregarded the old theory expressed
by the time-worn expression “ if the man doesn't like his job let
him get another.” The world has said that if a man has demon-
strated his peculiar ﬁtness for certain work—if that has become
his life work—he and his fellows have an interest in the terms
of that employment that must be recognized.
As we see it, it would be desirable to develop a plan for securing
the representative views of employees prior to decisions affecting
their working conditions. The things that affect the employee
and which should be decided with due regard to his interests
range all the way from the important questions of compensation
and working hours to the minor regulations that determine the
conditions under which he does his daily work. Some of them
are matters of general employment, control over which has been
delegated by Parliament to the Civil Service Commission;
others are matters upon which action is ordinarily taken by the
deputy heads of departments. An adequate plan must therefore
provide for the securing of the composite point of view of all
employees for certain general matters and the special viewpoint
of departmental employees on matters affecting their respective
departments alone. Furthermore, certain working conditions
relate to departmental groups, while others relate more particu-
larly to vocational, professional, trade, or occupational groups.
The plan of employees’ representation must therefore provide
61
- /
for the obtaining of an expression of opinion of workers in
certain lines of endeavour as well as of those in certain depart-
ments. We believe that all of these requirements can be met
through a development of a plan along the following lines :—
First, an employees’ advisory council would be organized,
made up of representative employees from all departments
and all lines of work or occupational groups. There should
probably be a minimum of one representative of each depart-
ment (department being deﬁned by the Civil (‘Service Com-
mission) and additional representation for employees in excess
of a certain total for large departments. Similarly, there
should be at least one representative for each occupational’
group (also deﬁned by the Commission) with additional repre-
sentation for the larger groups on the basis of the number of
employees.
This employees’ advisory council, when organized, would in
effect he made up of a number of sub-committees, one for each
department and one for each occupational group, and by calling
in such sub-committees the Civil Service Commission and the
department ofﬁcials would at all times be able to get the point
of view of the members of ‘any department or trade or profession.
In order that the collective expression of ‘all employees on
certain matters of general concern may be readily secured it
would be well to have the employees’ advisory council elect a
smaller group, say ﬁve or perhaps only three, from among its
' membership, which might be termed the employees’ central
committee.
For theselection of employee representatives we would be
inclined to favour, at least for eventual adoption, an election
carried on under the auspices of the Civil Service Commission.
At the start, until the plan had proved itself to be workable
the Commission would select members of the council giving
weight in its selection to the preference of the employees as
expressed through their own organizations.
The functions of the'employees’ advisory council should be
to crystallize the employees’ point of view, to make constructive
suggestions, and upon request to advise and counsel the respons-
ible authorities, with regard to matters affecting the welfare
of the,‘ service. It should not in any sense of the word be a
grievance committee. Its existence should operate to preclude
the development of causes for grievances.
The Civil Service Commission, certain designated representa-
tive deputy heads, and the central committee might meet
periodically, say once every three months, to discuss matters of
common interest relating to the welfare of the service; deputy
heads, with their ofﬁcial assistants, might meet monthly with
the member or members of the employee’s advisory council,
62
representing the department, to consider departmental problems.
The Civil Service Commission could consult members of the
employee’s advisory council, ordinarily the member or members
representing the occupational group concerned, whenever it has
under consideration regulations, rules of procedure, or any ad-
ministrative problems on which the advice and suggestions of
such employees might be helpful.
Interim discussions with special groups should be discouraged.
Matters for joint consideration should be presented in writing
and the discussions at the regular conferences should be conﬁned
to the speciﬁc subjects thus laid before the Commission and to
such matters as the Commission or the departments may wish
to have advice on.
NOTE REGARDING
APPENDIX A
The proposed schedules for the classiﬁcation of positions and the standardization
of compensation in the civil service referred to herein as Appendix "A”
have been bound under separate cover in a volume of 678 pages entitled :—
THE CLASSIFICATION
OF THE
CIVIL SERVICE OF CANADA
Showing all Classes, Alphabetically Arranged, with
Deﬁnitions, Qualiﬁcations, Principal Lines
of Promotion, and Compensation
Authorized by the Parliament of Canada and prepared
under the direction of the
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
by
ARTHUR YOUNG & COMPANY
Chicago—Toronto—New York
I JUNE, 1919
APPENDIX B.
Notes on recent developments in civil service
administration with especial reference to
the classiﬁcation of employments and the
standardization of compensation.
Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand,’ Canada, United States,
Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, New York State.
The history of civil service reform has been about the same
in all countries. There have been the same deplorable conditions
resulting from the patronagesystem to spur on the advocates of
better government, the same active opposition by the bene-
ﬁciaries of spoils’ methods, the same right-thinking public
opinion effective when aroused but hard to arouse, and the
same succession of victories and defeats. In recent years,
however, the advances made in administrative methods and the
technique of civil service examinations have been so striking
and the contributions to efﬁciency and economy in public busi-
ness resulting from a classiﬁcation and standardization of public
employments have been so substantial that the battle seems to
be about won. One after another the states of the English
speaking world are falling into line.
It may be thought by some that the work being undertaken
by the Canadian Civil Service Commission, part of which is
covered by this report, and the proposals made for more pro-
gressive civil service legislation for Canada are in the nature of
experiments and out of line with the dictates of experience.
This is not so. To bring out clearly that Canada is working
along lines that have been found to be the most effective,
practical, and representative of the best thought of civil service
specialists the world over, the following notes are appended
setting forth in brief the history of the civil service movement
in various jurisdictions.
It will be seen that the measures now under consideration by
the Civil Service Commission of Canada will, if adopted, place
the Dominion in the vanguard of progressive states with respect
to that part of. the administration of public business which
relates to the civil service.
The following notes take up in turn developments in Great
Britain, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of
New Zealand, the Dominion of Canada, the United States,
the City of Chicago, the City of Pittsburgh, the City of New
York, and the State of New York.
a...
Civil Service
reform
similar in all
countries.
Canada's
plans not
experimental.
Canada most
progressive.
66
Examination
and open
competition
originated in
Great Britain.
Report of 1853
epochal.
Early
statutes .
Reform billj
of 1832.
\
Authors of
report of 1853.
Fundamental
features
of report.
Promotion "
unrestricted.
Great Britain :*
As the system of examinatiori and open competition for civil
service positions had its inception and early development in
Great Britain, and as the reformed English civil service has had
a marked influence upon the civil services of some of the
great commonwealths embraced in the British Empire and of
the United States, it is ﬁtting ﬁrst to recount the experience
of Great Britain. It must be admitted, however, that there
are no very helpful lessons to be drawn in respect to problems
of classiﬁcation and standardization. The establishment of the
principle of competitive examinations is Great Britain’s greatest
contribution.
Any account of the evolution of the modern English civil
service might well begin with the epoch making report of
1853 by Sir Stafford N orthcote and Sir Charles Trevelyan but a
preliminary review of conditions prior to this time will be of
interest in showing a state of affairs similar to former condi—
tions in Canada.
Beginning with the year 1694 a series of statutes was passed
aimed at the disfranchisement of postal, revenue, and other
particular classes of employees. A desire to regulate admission
to the civil service was manifested in legislation in 1809 directed
against the brokerage of ofﬁces. The Reform Bill of 1832
did not affect patronage and civil service conditions went
from bad to worse.
Such was the state of affairs when Gladstone appointed Sir
Stafford Northcote and Sir Charles Trevelyan to investigate
the civil service. These two commissioners undertook to solve
the problem of combating all patronage, of reorganizing the
personnel of the service, and of raising the standard of clerk-
ships and attracting the best talent among young men to do’
the intellectual work of the ofﬁces. Their famous report of
1853 presents two fundamental features, open competition and
an academic examination of university standard. The civil‘
service positions should be grades, one division to consist of
university men to do the more intellectual work and destined
for the highest posts, and a lower division comprised of clerks
of ordinary education to do the lower and more mechanical’
work. Examinations designed to secure unusually qualiﬁed
persons for particular positions were recommended, and pro-
bation was to be made universal. They also recommended‘
the grading of all positions so as to'remove the barriers between’
different departments and stimulate the unrestricted course-
of promotion throughout the whole service. Promotions
were to be based on merit and promotion records kept. Further-
recommendations were for annual increments and a consistent-
pension system.
"' A thesis by Robert Moses on the English Civil Service is authority for many of the state~
ments in this account.
67
The recommendation made in this report met a storm of Report of 1853
disapproval from many quarters. In consequence, it was not di\Sapp‘°ved'
until ﬁfteen years later that competitions were thrown open and Long delay in
thirty years had passed before the other fundamental features of refmm‘
the report were adopted. The ﬁrst forward step was the estab-
lishment in 1855 of a central board of examiners—the Civil
Service Commission—independent of the departments.
Standards were arrived at in collaboration with the various
departments and examinations were held separately for each
ofﬁce.
From 1855 to 1870 the idea of open competitions, of expansion Order in
and change, gradually gained ground, and in the latter year the “of
Treasury, by a famous Order in Council, ended patronage and
established open competition. This Order, modiﬁed only in
unimportant details, is still in force. '
Although England escaped the system of rotation in ofﬁce, Extensive
the party in power had, nevertheless, an extensive patronage patronage‘
in the vacancies arising from discharges, resignations, dismissals,
deaths, and the creation of new departments. The character of
the appointees is‘ shown by contemporary comment. For ins-
tance, in 1873 the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that:
“ Under the.former system there never was such a
thing known as a man’s being appointed because he was
supposed to be ﬁt for the place.”
Again, an ofﬁcial of long experience divides the appointees Classesof
into three classes: First, those appointed from outside the apmmtees'
service, for merit, after being well educated; second, diligent
and faithful average civil servants, appointed through patronage,
but possessing a thorough education; third, those constituting
a majority—who had received little schooling and possessed
the qualities of industry and intelligence in an astonishingly
low degree. .
During the next twenty years various committees inquired as Further
to possible reductions in the expenditures for the civil service. pmgress-
As a result a number of reforms were instituted, involving the
abolishment of positions, a more equitable assignment of duties
and compensation, a further division of positions for examination
purposes, and an advance in standardization.
Coming down to present conditions, it is evident that unlimited Present
competition is not yet universal but is continually advocated. conditions‘
Limited competition is being steadily extended to include many
technical and professional positions. Although much insistence ‘Seniority Still
has been placed by various commissions, orders, and regulations Important‘
upon promotion for merit only, seniority still has much weight.
Investigation has demonstrated that undue inﬂuence is rarely
exercised in connection with appointments and promotions to
68
Feeling against
division
scheme and
restricted
promotion.
Recent report
by Haldane
Committee.
Technique of
classiﬁcation
and standard-
ization similar
to Canadian.
Civil Service
reform in
Australia.
Classiﬁcation
recognized as
ﬁrst essential.
the higher positions and that public opinion insists on a strict
observance of the civil service law. There is an increasingly
powerful agitation ‘Within the service against the division of
employees into a few arbitrary groups and the lack of free
promotion from the lower grades to the highest positions.
A committee, appointed in July, 1917, of which Lord Haldane
was chairman, and which included two eminent civil servants——
Sir George Murray and Sir Robert Morant—has just issued a
report. In commenting on existing conditions they state that
there is much overlapping and consequent obscurity in the
functions of the various departments, and they make some
important proposals for reorganization and improvement.
The Commonwealth of Australia:
The colonies have had the beneﬁt of the experience of themother
country to guide them in coping with the evils of patronage. They
have, particularly in the cases of the Commonwealth of Australia
and the Dominion of New Zealand, made remarkable progress
in establishing their public services in accordance with the
most approved principles of scientiﬁc employment management.
Their experience with the classiﬁcation of public employments
and the standardization of compensation is particularly interest-
ing in this connection. While their technique differs in some
important respects from that employed in the classiﬁcation
of the Dominion Civil Service during the past months, if we
allow for the advances in methods of civil service administration
which have been made in the years which have elapsed since
their classiﬁcations were effected, it will be evident to anyone
studying the records of their experience that the fundamental
theories upon which they proceeded are the same, and that
they are gradually evolving classiﬁcations very similar to that
now proposed for Canada.
The Commonwealth of Australia was established January
' 1, 1901, and under~ the authority of the constitution various
Commonwealth Departments, including Posts, Telegraphs,
and Telephones, were set up and the several State Depart-
ments merged therein. An act providing for the regulation
of the public service received the Royal Assent on May 5, 1902.
Under its authority a code of regulations was issued, which
are highly comprehensive and contain much original matter.
In this ﬁrst annual report of 1904 the Public Service Com-
missioner says:
“ Upon making a cursory survey of the condition of
the Commonwealth Service as a whole, and of its con-
stituent parts in particular—characterized as they were
by no kind of uniformity or similitude, but clearly
marked by utter heterogeneity—I was strongly impressed
that before anything like a satisfactory administration
could be achieved, the whole service must ﬁrst of all be
69
classiﬁed on an uniform basis . . . . The end
steadily borne in view has been the adoption of a scheme
which, while being fair to the ofﬁcers and allowing full
value for the work performed, yet will not press unduly
upon the ﬁnances of the Commonwealth." -
So far as practicable the work performed by each employee
or group of employees was minutely examined and in a period
of seventeen months the entire service comprising 11,661
ofﬁcials was classiﬁed and a report submitted to the Governor
General. In submitting his report on the classiﬁcation the
Commissioner says:
“In formulating the scheme of classiﬁcation an
endeavour has been made to provide that every ofﬁcer
. . . . . who gives efﬁcient and willing service shall
have a fair chance of advancement, and, at the same
time, the organization of the service has been effected on
such clearly deﬁned lines as will, it is believed, materially
assist in the economical and sound business administration
of the departments.”
Recommendations were also prepared regarding an up to
date system of examinations, the holding of practical tests,
the promotion of the deserving along scientiﬁc lines, and the
periodical investigation of government departments by in-
spectors under the control of the Public Service Commissioner.
Board of Appeal and Inquiry were constituted to pass upon
appeals from classiﬁcation and rulings of the Public Service
Commissioner. Additions to salary were only to be granted
on the recommendation of the Commissioner after full inquiry
and report by the permanent head of the department con-
cerned. The Commissioner also apportioned the number of
employees in each division, class, or grade established which
he considered necessary for the efﬁcient working of each depart-
ment or branch. . ‘
Greatly improved facilities were supplied for the transfer
and promotion between departments of efﬁcient employees.
Section 42 of the Act deﬁned efﬁciency as “special qualiﬁca-
tions and aptitude for the discharge of the duties of the ofﬁce
to be ﬁlled together with merit and’ good diligent conduct”.
The Commissioner announced his intention of seeing that
“all ofﬁcers shall have, so far as possible, equal opportunities
of reaching the highest ranks of service.” Deﬁnite lines of
promotion were set up and diagrammatically presented and
.the report goes on to say:
“ The scope for promotion . . .' has been largely
extended, the principle followed being to furnish . . . .
an avenue of promotion for all classes of ofﬁcers leading
to positions of responsibility and importance. The point
to be,‘ kept in view is that because an ofﬁcer through force
of circumstances, has been appointed to a particular posi-
tion, his future outlook is not to be permanently blocked.”
Seventeen
months to
classify 11,66 1
positions.
Recommenda-
tions.
Apportion
ment of
employees.
Transfer and
promotion.
70
Provisions
of Public
Service Act.
Classiﬁcation
the ﬁrst
essential.
Compensation
left to Com-
missioner.
Efficiency
requirements.
The Dominion of New Zealand:
In the Dominion of New Zealand the Public Service Act,
1912, combined under the control of a Commissioner and two
Assistant Commissioners all departments of the public service
except the Railways, the Legislative Department, the Police,
and the military staffs of the Defence Department. It also
empowered the’ Commissioner and his delegates to make
periodical investigations of departments and required him to
report to the Governor on the state of the public service once
each year. There were also provisions regarding promotions,
reductions or increases of salaries, the granting of increments
. dependent upon good conduct or the increase of importance
of work, minimum salaries, and dismissals and removals.
There were excellent clauses regarding the examination and
appointment of civil servants, the ﬁlling of vacancies, the
holding of promotion examinations, and the keeping of
employment records. 1
In his ﬁrst report the Commissioner says:
“The classiﬁcation of the ofﬁcers of the Public
Service thus constituted was to be amongst the ﬁrst
duties of the Commissioner.”
The 11,000 employees in the Civil Service ‘were accordingly
classiﬁed in a period of eight months. The schedules appended
to the Act contained scales of salaries for the Professional and
Clerical Divisions. In the Commissioner’s ﬁrst annual report
he stated:
“ The decision as to the divisions into which ofﬁcers
were to be placed and as to their grades of salaries within
such divisions was left to the discretion of the Commis-
sioner . . In regard to the General Division the
responsibility for ﬁxing scales of salaries is left to the
Commissioner, as is also the question of remuneration for
temporary ofﬁcers.”
Two very interesting reports were published embodying the
results of intensive surveys of the efﬁciency of government
departments, which unfortunately we have not space to treat
in any detail. The following quotations, however, are of
particular interest:
“In connection with the efﬁciency bars which the
Act places at certain points in the scales of salaries, it is
for the Commissioner to determine what are to be the
tests/required . . The Act provides for the setting
up of a Board of Appeal, to which ofﬁcers dissatisﬁed with
the ruling of the Commissioner or with their classiﬁcation
might appeal . . The Commissioner is further
required to Conduct investigations of departments, and
to report periodically upon the results of such investiga-
tions. Wide powers are given for the reduction or dis—
missal of ofﬁcers where this may be found necessary.’
71
Critics and opponents of the classiﬁcation of employments
and the standardization of compensation would do well to devote
some time to a sympathetic study of the course of civil service
reform in the antipodes. Though the forces of blind prejudice
and unthinking opposition to change of any sort were possibly
not so well intrenched there as elsewhere, it is interesting and
instructive to note how the very principles that are now advoca-
ted for the Canadian Civil Service have there been put into
effect and operated with general satisfaction, while a marked
tendency towards the adoption even in the same details of
classiﬁcation becomes continually more evident.
The Dominion of Canada:
The history of the Civil Service of Canada resembles that
of other jurisdictions in that it brings out not only the evils
resulting from the patronage system but also the slow progress
made by reform forces in combatting the strongly entrenched
spoils system and in establishing the service upon' a proper
basis. A complete account of the progress of Civil Service
reform in Canada is available in the report of the Civil Service
Commission of Canadaf or the year ending August 31, 1918.
We shall not attempt to give therefore here more thana brief
resume of the principal events.
In 1868’ the‘ ﬁrst of a series of Royal Commissions was ap-
pointed and as a result of its work the ﬁrst Civil Service Act
applying to employees at Ottawa was adopted. Because of
abuses another Royal Commission was appointed in 1880
which recommended extensions of the merit principle. Amend-
ments to the Civil Service Act were made but gradually the
statutes were weakened and the abuses became so pronounced
that in 1891 a third Royal Commission made an investigation.
This Commission made strong recommendations most of
which were not however embodied in law. In .1907 another
Royal Commission was appointed which agreed with previous
Commissions in recommending that appointments be made
by open competitive examinations and that a Civil Service,
Commission be established to hold such examinations. In
1908 these repeated recommendations were ﬁnally followed
and a statute enacted establishing a Commission with appro-
priate powers but with its jurisdiction limited to the “Inside
Service.”
The need for civil service reform became so acute with the
passing of time and particularly with the need for making
the best use of the nation's energy in winning the war that in
the general election in December, 1917, one of the parties
pledged itself to this reform in its platform. On the 24th of
May, 1918, a very advanced civil service law was enacted
extending the jurisdiction of the Commission to the large
63135—6
Lessons from
reforms in
the antipodes.
History in
Canada same
as in other
countries.
Series of Royal
Commissions.
The Act of
1918.
72
Activities
of present
commission.
Establishment.
of merit
principle.
Organization
work.
Further
progress
planned.
“Outside Service” and clothing it with broad powers with regard .
to examinations and investigations and making mandatory
an immediate classiﬁcation of the “Outside Service.”
_ Since May 24, 1918, civil service history in Canada has
been made rapidly. The Secretary of the Commission, who as
former President of the National Assembly of Civil Service Com-
missioners, was thoroughly conversant with the best modern
practice in Civil Service administration, took steps to see that
the work on the classiﬁcation presented herewith was begun
at an earlier date. The Secretary and the Commission should
be given credit not only for an early start on the work but also
for pushing it to completion in less time and at less cost than
was required for other classiﬁcations presenting fewer problems
and a smaller volume of work.
The Commission, during the prosecution of the classiﬁcation
work by its .Organization Branch, turned to other work. In the
past year it has established ﬁrmlyithe application of the merit
principle to the“Outside Service”and has applied the principle
of open competitive examinations to such diverse positions as
lighthouse keepers in isolated localities to the important position
of Purchasing Agent, War Purchasing Commission. It has con-
stantly insisted that the law means just what it says and applies
to all departments and portions of the Civil Service. It has not
shirked its duty by admitting that all sorts of positions are
“ professional and technical” and should be ﬁlled without exami-
nation. In fact it has conceded this exemption in the case of
only one position during the year the new Act has been in force.
The establishment of this principle alone would be a note-
worthy accomplishment in such a short time.
The Commission has also seriously attacked the abuses of
bad organization and overmanning upon which every Royal
Commission ‘and other investigating body has commented for
ﬁfty years and is now actively engaged in remedying some of
the‘ conditions so often criticized. A reorganization of the
Department of Public Printing and Stationery is now under
way with the idea of installing methods of procedure neces-
sary to carry on the work in the most efﬁcient and econo-
mical manner. The Commission has also worked out the
organization of its own administrative staff in a way to enable
it to have real employment control over the sixty thousand
or more employees in the Civil Service of Canada. ‘
The Commission is 1cady, as soon as the classiﬁcation is
adopted by Parliament and the necessary amendments to the
Civil Service Act made, to carry the classiﬁcation into effect,
to adopt the new regulations necessary to control examinations,
appointments, transfers, promotions, lay offs, resignations,
suspensions, and other civil service transactions in the entire
73
service, and to put into effect an examination policy which will
provide the departments with the proper personnel. It is also
ready to undertake organization studies in order to determine
the kind and number of employees needed by the various
departments and to work out, in co-operation with the depart-
ment ofﬁcials, proper methods of administrative procedure.
It is a noteworthy fact that although many committees and
individuals have investigated, reported, criticized, and general-
ized regarding conditions in the Civil Service of Canada known
to be subject to improvement, it remained for the present
Commission to settle down to the exacting, tedious, and thank-
less task of providing the foundations upon which actual _
improvement could be based.
The United States :*
Civil Service reform in the United States began when'the
general public awoke to a realization of the enormous waste
of public funds under the spoils system with its principle of
rotation in ofﬁce. The ﬁght against the patronage system
began to show as early as 1850, when efforts were made to
have laws enacted takipg appointments away from the control
of those who could use them to further their ofﬁce-seeking
ambitions. Results appeared in 1853 when the ﬁrst regulation
restricting the right of appointment was put into effect.
At that time the salary grading which is now in force in the
departments of the Federal Government was adopted. The
next noteworthy step in reform came in 1871, when Congress
aythorized the President to lay down general rules for admission
to the Civil Service.
In 1883, the passage of the civil service act represented the
climax of the reform movement of the preceding thirty years.
This act came as the direct result of the shooting of President
Garﬁeld by a.disappointed ofﬁce-seeker who thought he had been
‘ promised a position which he never obtained. The act provided
a staff to inquire, to advise and report, to prepare rules and
regulations, to hold examinations, to keep registers, and to
certify candidates. Judged by modern standards it, as well as
similar State laws, was of rather a negative character as they were
drawn primarily to combat the patronage system and did not
furnish any comprehensive program of employment control.
When the civil service act was passed, the need of a systematic
and coherent organization of the service was apparent, since the
various parts had grown up under different systems. It was
foreseen that the service could not be put upon a ﬁrm foundation
"A recent article by John T. Doyle, Secretary of the_United States Civil Service Com-
mission, is authority for a number of statements in this section.
63135—6§
Early ﬁght
against spoils.
Civil Service
Act of 1883.
Classiﬁcation
needed.
74
Growth
of seq/ice.
Congress
appoints a
‘.‘ Reclassiﬁca-
tion
Commission’ '.
until a classiﬁcation upon a uniform basis was effected. Accord-
ingly bills were introduced in both House and Senate to establish
a Commission to investigate and report a gradation of salaries on
the basis of duties and a uniform practice as to leaves of absence.
It was stated in a preamble to one of these bills that great
inequalities had arisen in salaries, due in part to the fact that
such salaries had been arbitrarily ﬁxed in individual cases and at
various times without any comprehensive standard. In a speech
in the House on March 30, 1886, on a bill to secure an equitable
classiﬁcation and compensation, the Honourable William R.
Cox said, in part: '
“ It would take away from the heads of the departments
a generous discretion, which in some instances would
be abused, and remove the temptation to extra-
vagance and favoritism by pointing directly to the
speciﬁc object of the appropriation.”
“ No attempt is made at grading the work by the pay,
and pay by the work and responsibility, and under
the present system it is impossible for Congress to
give its time and attention to correcting abuses.”
The civil service law remedied the more ﬂagrant abuses of
patronage but it did not furnish a basis which would enable
governmental operation to keep step with progress in the
business world. With the development of efﬁciency principles
and methods in private business, the public began to inquire
why public business could not also be conducted on an efﬁcient
and economical basis. This development in private business
brought into more glaring prominence the unsatisfactory
conditions in the public service and the average voter began
to ask why public ofﬁcials should adhere to out of date and
wasteful practices.
From 1883 on, it has been recognized that a prerequisite
to the establishment of a proper method of employment control
and the efficiency that goes with it is the classiﬁcation upon
a duties basis. The classiﬁcation of 1853-54 has long since
been outgrown. The number of employees in the district
of Columbia alone has grown from the 700 then in the service
to 104,000, exclusive of postal employees, and the work has
become so voluminous and complicated that it is no longer
possible to adjust salaries to duties from personal observation
on the part of those in charge.
Recognizing the need for an improvement of employment
conditions the Congress of theUnited States early in 1919
created a Joint Commission on Reclassiﬁcation which con-
sists
“ of three Senators .
President of the Senate, and three Representatives .
to be appointed by the Speaker. Said Commission shall
submit its report and recommendations as early as
possible, and in any event, by the second Monday In
. to be appointed by the _
75
January, 1920 and the members of such Commission shall
receive a compensation at the rate of $625 per ~month
unless they are receiving other compensation from the
Government . . It shall be the duty of the com-
mission to investigate the rates of compensation paid to
civilian employees by the municipal government and the
various executive departments and other governmental
establishments . . and report by bill or otherwise
. what reclassiﬁcation and readjustment of com-
pensation should be made so as to provide uniform and
equitable pay for the same character of employment . .”
This Commission has been actively engaged on the work The
for several months. It is acquainting itself with the functions
of each unit of each department and the nature of the work
and responsibilities appertaining to each individual position.
It is classifying the 104,000 positions in the District of Columbia
op the fundamental basis of the character of the employment
involved and is not only keeping its records of the service
strictly up to date but it is providing for the recording in its
classiﬁcation of all changes of positions in the service in order
that the original study need never be repeated and the “uniform
and equitable” standards of compensation set up for each
class of employment may be readily applied to the service
in general and in particular at any time. It has, thus far, sent
out over a hundred thousand questionnaires to be ﬁlled out
by employees and immediate superiors to furnish the pre-
liminary data regarding the work pertaining to positions in
the service.
The Commission has organized departmental committees to
assist it in its work. It has retained experts, experienced in
undertakings of this kind, to direct its staff and to advise as
to the technical features of the undertaking. It is organizing
a staff which, according to present estimates, will include
at leat eight classiﬁcation investigators, sixteen preliminary
classiﬁers, twelve expert classiﬁers, an organization expert, a
schedule expert, a director, an assistant to the director, an
ofﬁce force of from ﬁfteen to twenty clerical and stenographic
employees, a research staff, advisory committees of citizens,
and advisory committees of civil service employees and super-
visory ofﬁcials (these latter committees comprising some seven
hundred people).
The City of Chicago:
While a thorough going civil service law providing for the
merit system in Chicago became effective in 1895, many years
passed before its application along modern scientiﬁc lines was
attempted. The grading of positions was based on compensa-
tion rather than on duties and responsibilities and salary
Commission’s
program.
Commission
retains
specialists.
Law of 1895.
76
Duties grading
recommended .
Classiﬁcation
completed.
, Classiﬁcation
adopted.
Classiﬁcation
applied."
\
appropriations were made without regard to the requirements
as to training and ability.
In 1900, the necessity of recording the individual efﬁciency of
employees, appears ﬁrst to have been recognized by the Civil
Service Commission. A plan for developing such records was
introduced but proved a failure because, without a proper
classiﬁcation based on duties and without uniformity of salaries,
it was found impossible to standardize employment.
Again in 1905, the Commission took up the problem of improv-
ing the methods of administering the civil service. By this
time, ‘however, the fallacy of a grading based on compensation
was well recognized and a “ system of grading worked out on
the lines of the particular duties performed” was recommended
by the President of the Commission in his annual report. It
was further stated that following such change in the scheme of
grading it would be necessary to establish a system of compensa-
tion having a direct relation to the kind and responsibility of
work in which employees are engaged.
It was not until 1908 that constructive work looking toward
standardization was begun. Early in 1909 a special efﬁciency
commission was appointed to study the problem. As a result of
its recommendations a special staff, called the efﬁciency division,
was appointed to work in the ofﬁce of the Civil Service Com-
mission. The functions of this staff were almost identical with
those of the present Organization Branch of the Civil Service
Commission of Canada. It was this staff which for the ﬁrst
time made an effective effort to classify a civil service on the
basis of the duties and responsibilities of positions in that city
or in fact in the United States. This classiﬁcation involved the
study of the duties of the entire service, including over 15,000
positions. After a period of eight months’ labour a report was
submitted providing a plan of classiﬁcation based on duties,
together with a set of charts indicating departmental organiza-
tion and lines of authority, and making recommendations on
many matters of organization and procedure. I
The principles and plan presented in this original report were
adopted. The new procedure, involving both original and
promotion examinations based on duties and qualiﬁcations, was
worked out and has ever since been successfully applied. The
city council has incorporated the most fundamental features of
the programme into the ﬁscal policy of the city, the most
important of which being that salaries are appropriated on the
basis of classiﬁcation and not otherwise. In addition, annual
increases are anticipated and provided for in the annual budget
and appropriations for such increases are made to departments
‘to be applied according to the provisions of the classiﬁcation
plan. - l ‘
77
There have been no material changes developed in the
principles of the Chicago classiﬁcation in subsequent work
in the United States. The plan of uniform salaries, minima
and maxima, increases within the range on proved efﬁciency,
promotion on merit, cooperation between appropriating, manag-
ing and employing authorities, in classifying and standardizing
positions as successfully and continuously applied in that
service has been generally accepted as sound and desirable.
The City of Pittsburgh:
An investigation of the employment conditions of the Investigation
municipal government of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was authorized in 1914 by the City Council. The primary objects tions .
of the study were to equalize salary rates for the same or similar tfg‘ffed
kinds of work and to formulate a deﬁnite civil service program Objects of
for the enforcement of entrance, transfer, and promotion regu- study-
lations by the Civil Service Commission. .
The defective conditions at the time of the study, from the Defects in
point of view of compensation and civil service control, may be Z’Izitlisfment
summarized as no ﬁxed entrance rates, no ﬁxed maximum rates, conditions-
no uniform basis of advancement, an inadequate system of
promotion, multiplicity of titles, and misuse of titles.
The report on standardization of salary grades and rates was Re'port
submitted October 1, 1914. Under date of May 20,1915, a Submitted .
. . . , and adopted.
resolution of the Council was enacted vlrtually applying the
principal features of the standardization program as outlined.
The close analysis made in the course of the study incidentally Incidental
revealed that a large number of positions could be abolished ?a",i“gS
without detriment to the service. Recommendations along this Indicated-
line were not contained in the report proper but the information
was used later and resulted in large savings.
Another indirect result of the standardization work, arose Information on,
from the accumulation during the study, of a fund of related information ‘on the organization and procedure of various secured.
bureaus and ofﬁces. This information showed inconsistencies of
procedure, duplication of work, antiquated methods, over-
lapping jurisdictions, and the possibility of important changes
in organization. This information was used as the basis of
subsequent improvement.
The City of New York :*
The need for standafdizing conditions of employment in the Need of
public service was ofﬁcially recognized by the City of New’iYork jilgnagfeisatim
in January, 1910, by a resolution of the Board of Estimate and 1910,
Apportionment.
Through the antagonism of the Board of Aldermen and the Opposition
hostile or indifferent attitude of department heads, the initiation imddlack of
un S.
‘Abstracted from the reports of the New York City Bureau of Municipal Research.
78
Beginning
made 1912.
Program
outlined.
Unsatisfactory
progress in
1913.
Reasons.
Creation of
Bureau of
Standards
1914.
Information
obtained on
situation.
Classiﬁcation
adopted.
First report
submitted
1914.
Discussion
on report.
Delays.
of the standardization work was delayed for over a year and
then the investigation was hampered by lack of funds. A start
on the work was made by a study of employment conditions in
the department of ﬁnance and a report of ﬁndings was submitted
under date of‘ July 26, 1912 , as a result of which the comptroller
urged the prosecution of the work throughout all the city
departments. To this end a sub-committee of the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment was appointed which on October
17, 1912, submitted to the Board a report describing what was
conceived to be the proper scope of the enterprise if undertaken
for the whole city and outlining a work program. This report
was approved and $25,000 allotted to ﬁnance the temporary _
staff until the next year’s appropriations could be made avail—
able. To put the work on a basis which would enable the Board
to complete it within a reasonable time an item was put in the
budget of 1913. This item was voted and during 1913 the work
was continued under the direction of the sub-Committee.
During 1913 the work lagged and much of it was ineffective.
This was due to lack of expertness of personnel, defects in
organization, lack of direction, faulty procedure, and difficulties
in dealing with department ofﬁcials and employees.
In April, 1914, a “Bureau of Standards” was created as a
permanent staff agency of the Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment, one of its functions being to take over and continue the
work of the sub-Committee.
Among the ﬁrst things undertaken by this Bureau was the
collection of accurate and up to date information concerning
the work and working conditions of each employee of the city.
From these data, a classiﬁcation was adopted based on the
relation of one employment to another, and speciﬁcations for
each kind ‘of employment were drafted, based on the work
requirements and the training and experience needed to meet
them. A deﬁnite scale of salaries based on work requirements
was also proposed. In November, 1914, the director of the
Bureau of Standards rendered his‘ ﬁrst report on salaries and
grades, containing in detail a plan for the classiﬁcation of
employments in the City of New York. N 0 action was taken
by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on this report.
The ﬁrst drafts of the classiﬁcation, speciﬁcations, and salary
rates were made the subject of discussion. Many inter-depart-
. ment and other conferences were held and a wide correspondence
wconducted. Finally, on March 20, 1915, the director of the
Bureau of Standards reported that his bureau was prepared
to submit for consideration deﬁnite work speciﬁcations and
compensation grades for the different kinds of service performed
by city employees. This report also met with delay and it was
not until July, 1915, after various urgent representations, that
79
the printing of the speciﬁcations for even one service was
forrnally approved.
During the last months of 1915 and the early part of 1916,
further progress was made toward standardization by utilizing
the results of the work of the Bureau of Standards. In June,
1916, the standard speciﬁcations including all but the police
and ﬁre services were published. The police service was issued
subsequently. a
The speciﬁcations were drawn with the idea that they should
be such as would lay the foundation for the administration of
appointments; salary advances within grades; promotions from
one grade to another; transfers; discipline, including suspen-
sions and removals; retirenrent and pension allowances;
developing efﬁciency in the civil service; provisions for improve-
ment and for the comfort and welfare of civil servants by
ofﬁcers who could be held responsible for the enforcement of
rules and regulations passed by the Board of Aldermen and
other controlling bodies. To do this, it was necessary to classify
employments according to the special abilities required and
clearly to deﬁne each employment and its requirements so that
appointments, promotions, and the rewards for service might
be based upon well understood standards.
The cost of preparing the “speciﬁcations" (the classiﬁcation)
during the four years exceeded $400,000. Between 60,000 and
70,000 positions were involved.
These speciﬁcations are now being used by the city ﬁnancial
authorities although they have not, it is understood, been
incorporated in the civil service system.
The State of New York :*
The Legislature of the State of New York in the course of its
1915 session created the Senate Committee on Civil Service to
take cognizance of all matters relating to the control and regula-
tion of the civil service of the State. This committee was
constituted primarily to study employment conditions in order
to formulate a basis for the reclassiﬁcation of positions and the
standardization of salary grades and rates. After the com-
mittee had made a preliminary report, the Legislature authorized
the continuance of the inquiry.
Under this authority the committee made a comprehensive
inquiry not only into employment conditions but also into the
Standard
speciﬁcations
7 published 1916.
Purpose of
speciﬁcations.
Principles of
classiﬁcation.
Cost of work.
Use of
classiﬁcation .
Senate
Committee on
Civil Service
created 1915.
Purpose of
committee.
Scope of
inquiry.
govermental machinery and the administrative procedure.
Their report was submitted on March 27, 1916.
The committee found what it considered convincing evidence
that the business of the State was transacted with a considerable
amount of waste, and laid) much of this waste to faults in the
‘Abstracted from the report of the Horton Committee.
Findings of
committee.
80
Irregularity in
rates of pay.
Causes of
irregularity.
Fictitious and
unnecessary
titles.
System of
advancement
and promotion
improper.
Organization
antiquated
and procedure
inefﬁcient.
existing system of civil service administration. Among the
most important ﬁndings reported by the Commission were the
following: ‘
Much irregularity in rates of pay, with many instances of over-
payment. The amount of excess of the old rates over the
maximum rates recommended for the standards of work involved
aggregated $380,082. The aggregate amount of underpayment
was $83,050. This irregularity of compensation arose par-
ticularly from two sources—the practice of making appointment
to the same line and grade of work at widely different rates, and
the practice of advancing and promoting employees without
proper reference to relative merit or change of duties.
The committee found a multiplicity of ﬁctitious and un-
necessary titles, causing confusion of work, friction between
employees, and administrative difficulties in assigning and
controlling the personnel. 943 such titles came to light. In
this connection the report says:
“ Employees performing miscellaneous clerical work
. which would reasonably warrant an annual
compensation of from $840 tov $1,200 per annum, and
which should be classiﬁed under one standard title, are
now receiving a variety of salary rates from $600 to
$2,700 per annum, under 98 titles.”
As regards advancement and promotion, the report states
that the system is inadequate and inequitable and has produced
conditions unjust to the employee and extremely costly to the
State. Advancement has been inﬂuenced often by accident or
considerations of personal preference. Little weight has been
given to demonstrated merit, efﬁciency, or length of service.
Promotion is permitted under the present civil service law from
one salary grade to another without change of duties and under
this clause employees have, with little or no increase in respon-
sibility, been indiscriminately advanced again and again.
Increase in salaries have been given without reference to relative
merit or length of service. Promotions have been administered
within narrow limits, largely owing to the restrictions of the law.
In the committee’s opinion, “Perhaps no factor has done as
much to lower the working efficiency of state employees as the
haphazard and irregular advancement and promotion system
which has given too little recognition of the competent and too
much protection and recognition of the incompetent.”
Concerning organization and procedure the report comments
as follows:
“ Antiquated forms of organization, duplication of
work, and unbusinesslike methods are closely related to
unstandardized system of employment control. Dupli-
cation of effort extends in all directions‘. .» . So
marked is --the lost motion, and so extensive the duplica-
tion of work and the overlapping of duties with respect
81
to similar functions of government, that very substantial
changes effecting considerable economies may be made
in some departments . ”
The committee found a lack of proper qualiﬁcations and
preliminary training of employees. Many employees engaged
in routine work of various kinds were not qualiﬁed to perform
properly their duties, due largely to a lack of adequate pre-
liminary training. Their entrance to the State service without
such training is explained by the fact that some of them were
subject to no examination before appointment and that the
examination taken by others as a basis for appointment. did not
contain practical tests which would insure ability on the part of
the successful candidates to perform properly the duties attached
to the position.
The committee found 1,616 “exempt” positions within the
so called classiﬁed service of the State administrative depart-
ments and other ofﬁces which were ﬁlled without examination
or other competitive civil service requirements. While ad-
mitting that appointment without competition does not neces-
sarily prevent the selection of competent employees, the com-
mittee points out that this policy does not insure the selection
of competent employees and almost invariably leads to retire-
ment by reason of change‘ of administration or other incident
before the best results are obtained—a condition which is
responsible for needlessly recurring waste.
A lack of standards to control the output of employees is
deprecated by the committee. Individual efﬁciency, for the
most part, has not been properly developed through systematic
supervision and control so that the individual performance of
employees is one-third less than that which would be expected
of them by private employers.
From its study of the existing conditions, the committee
recognized that the State needs a constructive employment
programme for its governmental agencies looking toward the
establishment of a permanent expert personnel. The com-
mittee concluded that this means a fundamental reorgani-
zation of the present practice and proceeded to prepare and
submit a constructive programme.
In pursuance of its programme, the committee prepared
a complete and comprehensive code of basic standards govern-
ing personal service (a classﬁcation) and submitted this code
with its report, under the title “Speciﬁcations of Personal
Service”. This code included 157 schedules governing a
corresponding number of distinctive lines of work. Each
schedule prescribed the basic conditions governing the appoint-
ment, promotion, and compensation of the employees engaged
in the line of work speciﬁed. These schedules contemplated
the introduction for each line of work of standard titles, standard
Qualiﬁcations
and training
lacking.
"Exempt"
positions.
Effect of
policy.
Lack of
efﬁciency
standards.
Constructive
employment
program
needed .
Classiﬁcation
submitted.
Contents of
schedules.
82
Purpose of
classiﬁcation.
Base salary
grades on
work.
Uniform
raises.
Establish
distinct grades.
Better
systems of
advancement.
Beneﬁt
employees
Statutory
positions.
Present
employees
protected.
Cost of work.
Present status.
work requirements and duties, standard minimum qualiﬁca-
tions for appointment,’ advancement, and promotion, and
standard rates of compensation.
This classiﬁcation was intended to have certain deﬁnite.
purposes :
1. To set up natural salary grades related to deﬁnite
standards of work and afford not only a basis for
standardizing compensation in relation to the value
of work rendered but also a ‘basis for proper pro-
motional control.
2. To set up a uniform standard schedule to govern
w salary increments.
3. To establish deﬁnite salary grades with related work
standards, under arrangement where advancement
from one grade to the nextv higher will necessarily
involve a change of duties and competitive examina-
tion, and will be possible only where an oppor-
tunity for such advancement is made by vacancy
of an existing position or the creation of a new
position.
4. To effect substantial savings in all services and at the
same time establish an adequate and equitable
system of advancement.
5. To confer deﬁnite beneﬁts upon the employee by
giving him greater opportunity to work out a career
on the basis of individual merit. .
6. To bring non-policy determining statutory positions
under the speciﬁcations for personal service.
The recommendation as to the manner and methods of
applying the basic standards set up a policy which was intended
to furnish adequate protection to present employees.
It is said that the total cost of the work was approximately
$200,000. Some 17,000 positions were involved.
The committee’s classiﬁcation report was adopted by the _
Senate but failed of passage in the House. The work is now
being brought up to date and has, it is said, the support of
the present State administration.


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