All this is part and parcel of the definite management policy of the
employment department, just as it is part of its policy to make sure
that the prospective member of the Macy family has more than one arrow
to his or her quiver. Alternate capabilities are assets not to be
scorned. And there is an obvious store flexibility in being able to use
its human units in a variety of endeavor that the management can hardly
afford to ignore. And it does not.
There is a function of the employment department of the modern business
machine that Macy's recognizes as second in importance only to that of
engaging its workers. I am referring to that moment when they may leave
its employ, either from choice or otherwise. If "otherwise"--in the
colloquial phrasing of the store being "laid-off"--there is the greatest
of care and discretion used.
"Remember the Golden Rule," says its general manager to his assistants,
and says it again and again. "Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you. And remember that there is never a time when this Golden Rule
is more necessary or applicable in business than in the moment of
discharge."
Translated into the terms of hard fact this means that in Macy's no
buyer, no department head, no department manager has the power to
dismiss one of his workers. He may recommend the "lay-off" but only the
general manager himself may actually accomplish the act. In which case
he first refers the case to one of his five assistants, for personal
investigation and recommendation.
When the saleswoman--or man, as the case may be--leaves of her own
volition the matter becomes, in certain senses, more serious. Why is she
dissatisfied? Are the conditions of labor more onerous at Macy's than in
the other stores of the city, the remuneration less satisfactory? Macy's
does not intend that either of these causes shall obtain beneath its
roof. So the retiring employee, before she may leave its pay-roll, is
carefully examined as to her reasons for going. The last impressions of
the store must be quite as good as the earliest ones--even upon the
minds of its workers. And a careful system of observation and of record
has been upbuilded to make sure that this is being obtained; which may
often lead to valuable opportunities for the correction of store system,
particularly in the relationship between Macy's and its employees.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account