. EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION
cost entailed by the employee representation plan. Whether borne
by the company or by the company and employees jointly or inde-
pendently, this is an important consideration with which both the
management and the employees should be familiar. It should take
into account not only the time, and the wages and salaries paid there-
for, of persons attending meetings, but the time spent upon investiga-
tions and adjustments with members of the management. In addition,
the incidental expenses involved in providing a place for meetings,
services of stenographers, reports, and the preparation of ballots and
other materials required for elections should be included. In the
Dennison Manufacturing Company there is a special joint com-
mittee known as the budget committee, which, on the basis of previous
experience, prepares an annual estimate of the time which should be
devoted to each class of subjects and to the meetings and investiga-
tions of each of the committees. A careful check is kept on these
points and when the allotted time is exceeded, the situation is investi-
gated and a report made to the works committee explaining the
reasons or calling attention to the apparent negligence. The com-
mittee on procedure in one of the plants of the Bethlehem Shipbuild-
ing Corporation asked the management to allow it to review regularly
the reports of the individual employee representatives respecting time
spent on duties related to the representation plan. This request
was granted, and the committee now keeps a watchful eye on the
activities of all representatives, aiming to avoid ground for suspicion
that representatives are loafing or benefiting personally from their
office.
Practices such as these suggest the desirability of having representa-
tives review jointly with the management periodically the workings
and results of the representation plan. This is done in a few com-
panies with marked success. The Standard Oil Company of Indiana
holds an annual conference attended by the employee and management
representatives from all of the plants and by the chairman of the
board of directors, the president of the company, and such other
officers as they may designate. In addition to reviewing the main
accomplishments at each of the plants, matters of general interest to
all plants are discussed and may be settled during the conference.
Special reports have been prepared on matters which have arisen, and
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