.

"The conclusion seems justified: 'The highest grade of judgment in the
hiring and discharging of employees is needed. The employment "clerk" of
to-day will have to be replaced by the employment "superintendent" of
to-morrow, not merely by changing the title and salary of the incumbent of
the office, but by placing in charge of this important branch of
management a man whose character, breadth of view, and capacity eminently
qualify him for the discharge of these duties.'"

It is probable that most executives and employers do not know because they
have not fully considered what this rapid ratio of change costs. This
cost, of course, varies over a very wide range, according to the kind of
work to be done and the class of employees. The sales manager of one
organization told us that it cost his concern $3,000 to find, employ,
train, and break-in to his work a new salesman. The employment manager of
one of the largest corporations in the world in-forms us that it costs him
$10,000 in actual money to replace the head of a department. The
employment manager of a large factory employing people whose wages ran
from $5 a week up, told us that the records of his department showed that
it cost $70 to get the name of a departing employee off the payroll and to
substitute thereon the name of a new permanent employee to take his place.
But these are only costs that can be computed. There are other costs
perhaps even greater, records of which never reach the accounting
department or the employment department. Let us tell you a story:

A COMMONPLACE STORY

Joe Lathrop, foreman of the finishing room, had a bad headache. It had
been along toward the cool, clear dawn of that very morning when, having
tearfully assured Mrs. Lathrop for the twentieth time that he had taken
but "one li'l' drink," he sobbed himself to sleep. His ears still range
disconcertingly with the stinging echoes of his wife's all-too-frank and
truthful portrayal of his character, disposition, parentage, and future
prospects. His heart was still swollen and painful with the many things he
would like to have said in reply had he not been deterred by valor's
better part. It was a relief to him, therefore, to take advantage of his
monarchical prerogatives in the finishing department and give vent to his
hot and acrid feelings.

With all his flaying irony and blundering invective, however, Joe Lathrop
never for a moment lost sight of the fact that there were some men