And yet these men--the heads of the great merchandising house--are not
only accessible to their business family through the printed word. They
are not standoffish. On the contrary, they are most widely known
throughout the store; most reachable, both within their offices and
without. Take the single matter of grievances, for a most important
instance: A Macy worker may feel that justice on some point or other is
being denied him by a superior. In such a case he has immediate recourse
to any one of three expedients: he may take his case to the department
of training, to the general manager of the store, or to one of the
officers of the corporation. As a rule, however, the difficulty can be
straightened out in the first of these avenues of appeal, which is an
automatic clearing-house for all matters of personnel. The heads of this
department have been chosen as much as anything for the sympathy which
enables them to review any employee's case intelligently and fairly and
for the influence that makes it possible for them to see at all times
that full justice is being done. While the fact that the worker,
himself, may take the matter to the general manager or even to one of
the three members of the firm, is a practical guarantee against
persecution of any sort.
[Illustration: THE SUMMER HOME OF THE MACY FAMILY
Recreation in the modern store stands side by side with education in
perfecting the individual employee]
Just off the corner of the recreation room on the third floor is the
private office of the assistant superintendent of training. Her title
sounds rather formidable and does justice neither to her job nor to her
personality: for in reality she combines the qualities of a charming
hostess, an efficient manager and a mother confessor.
In the Macy book of information for employees there is a paragraph under
the heading, "Department of Training," which says: "It is the purpose of
this department to interest itself in all the employees of this
organization. Do not hesitate to go with your troubles to the assistant
superintendent of training, whose duty it is to interest herself in you:
both in the store and at your home. She will be glad to give you advice,
both in business and in personal matters."
And so she has her hands full, and sometimes her heart as well; for,
among five thousand folk of every sort and kind, there are bound to be
many perplexing personal problems and troubles, to which the very best
kind of help is the kindly and disinterested advice of a sympathetic and
understanding person. And when that person is a woman--a woman of rare
tact--the problem is generally apt to approach its solution. Which makes
for friendship, not merely between the worker and that woman, but
between the worker and the store. And so still another rivet is clinched
in the great morale bridge between the business machine and the human
units that enable it to function so very well indeed. And the Macy
spirit becomes an even more tangible thing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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