February 24, 192 1] 



NATURE 



843 



Scientific and Technical Workers in the United States Civil Service. 



Bv M.\jOR A. G. Church. 



THE work of our Civil Service National Council 

 in producing a scheme for reconstruction deal- 

 ing with the clerical and manipulative workers in 

 British Government Departments has its counterpart 

 in that of a Congressional Joint Commission appointed 

 by the United States Senate to investigate the 

 remuneration and conditions of employment and the 

 need for reform in the Civil Service of the Republic. 

 The Joint Commission commenced its inquiry in 

 March, 1919, and completed its report on reclassifica- 

 tion and readjustment of compensation In March last. 

 The report has now been published, and provides an 

 interesting and illuminating commentary on the 

 conditions which prevailed in the American Service 

 before the war, the bewildering and chaotic multiplica- 

 tion of class within class, the gross anomalies in 

 salaries, the absence of any just and sane retirement 

 scheme, and the accentuation of this unsatisfactory 

 state of affairs by war conditions. In this respect 

 Washington appears to have suffered far more than 

 London by the introduction of the " business man " 

 element into its administrative service. 



The findings of the United States Commission are 

 particularly interesting in those sections devoted to 

 the scientific, technical, and professional classes- 

 classes, incidentally, which are not yet being con- 

 sidered as a whole by our own National Council. 

 While recognising that the Government Service pos- 

 sesses distinct advantages for these classes, it con- 

 siders that the advantages are offset to some extent 

 bv certain personal restrictions generally unknown in 

 the academic and business world. It finds that " there 

 is serious discontent, accompanied by an excessive 

 turnover and loss, among its best-trained and most 

 efficient employees," and that "the National Service 

 has become unattractive to a desirable type of 

 technical employee." It emphasises the melancholy 

 fact that the advance in the rate of turnover among 

 the scientific technical employees has been three times 

 as fast as the advance for clerical employees ; for the 

 former class tte average advance in salary on leaving 

 the Government Service was 53 per cent. The 

 resignation curve at the Patent Office is still going 

 up so rapidly that this Department has almost ceased 

 functioning. 



To remedy this alarming state of affairs the Com- 

 mission urges that every effort should be made to 

 stimulate initiative and originality on the part of 

 scientific and other professional workers. " It is 

 peculiarly appropriate that the Federal Government 

 should take the lead in research work of all kinds, 

 but it cannot do so unless it is able to attract and 

 retain independent thinkers of the highest type. The 

 reduction of red tape to a minimum, the encourage- 

 ment of freedom of thought and action to a maximum, 

 and the direction of research by thoroughly trained 

 investigators would all assist to make this possible." 

 This passage might with equal justice and apposite- 

 ness have been written as a commentary on the posi- 

 tion of scientific workers in our own Government 

 Departments. 



For scientific and technical staffs under the re- 

 classification scheme the following titles of classes 

 have been adopted : — Junior, Assistant, Associate, Full 

 Rank (indicated by the absence of any adjective), and 

 Senior. The following table gives the salaries recom- 

 mended for the various grades in dollars and £ 

 sterling (calculated on an exchange value of £i = 

 3.5 dollars). The rates of pay for skilled mechanics 



NO. 2678, VOL. 106] 



In addition to the above, it is recommended that 

 the cost-of-living factor should be taken into account 

 in determining salary scales. 



For the senior-class administrative, scientific, 

 technical, and other professional workers no fixed 

 scales of salary are recommended. It is con- 

 sidered that " the incumbents of these one man or 

 woman positions are the real leaders of the Civil 

 Service of the Republic," and rigid salary scales might 

 prevent their entrance or retention in the Service. 

 The scales quoted apply to all scientific and technical 

 workers employed by the State except medical officers, 

 whose initial salaries are lower and increments larger, 

 but whose final salaries are also lower than those 

 quoted above. The qualification for appointment as 

 a junior scientific or technical worker is apparently 

 the same as that laid down for similar appointments 

 under the Government of this country. 



It is laid down as a principle that there should be 

 no discrimination on account of sex ; men and women 

 should receive equal pay for equal work, and the door 

 of promotion should be opened impartially to members 

 of both sexes. 



Among other noteworthy recommendations by this 

 Commission are the following : 



(i) The appointment of an Advisory Council of 

 twelve members to the Civil Service Commission : six 

 to be nominated by the President of the United States 

 and six to be elected by the employees. 



(2) The adoption of an efficiency rating system to 

 govern promotions, demotions, and increments. 



(3) Interdepartmental promotions. 



(4) Upon appointment to a position in a particular 

 class an employee should be paid at the rninimum 

 rate prescribed for such class. 



(5) Annual leave to be uniform throughout all 

 classes of employees, viz. 2J days per month. 



(6) Investigation as to the possibility of the adapta- 

 tion of psychological tests to the selection of candi- 

 dates for the Civil Service, 



It is improbable that the last two recommendations 

 would be likolv to find much favour in the eyes of the 

 British authorities. As for an efficiency rating system, 

 it is easy to predict the difficulty that will be experi- 

 enced in adapting any such scheme to scientific 

 workers ; in its report the Joint Commission recog- 

 nises this fact. 



In a detailed criticism of the Reclassification Report 



