SUMMARY OF REPORT ON DEPARTMENT STORE OCCUPATIONS
The field covered in this volume is limited to the business of retail
selling as carried on in the department stores and some other stores
of Cleveland. The retail stores considered can all be assigned to one
of the three following classes: (1) The department store of the first
rank which draws trade not only from the whole city and the suburbs
but also from the towns and smaller cities of a large surrounding
district; (2) the neighborhood store which does a smaller business
within narrower limits, drawing its trade, as the name indicates, from
the immediate neighborhood; (3) the five and ten cent store, well
known by syndicate names, where no merchandise which must be sold
above 10 cents is carried.
DEPARTMENT STORES
The five largest department stores in Cleveland employ about 5,800
people distributed among several mercantile departments, and in a
variety of occupations that find a place in the industry. Of these
5,800 people approximately seven-tenths are women and three-tenths
are men; 90 per cent are over 18 years of age and 10 per cent are
under 18.
The entire force of a store is sometimes arbitrarily divided by the
management into "productive," and "non-productive" help. From 40 to 60
per cent of the employees were reported as actually taking in money,
while the remainder, the "non-producers," were engaged in keeping the
business going and making it possible for the "producers" to sell
goods.
The greatest number of opportunities either for employment or
promotion are in the selling force. This is often spoken as being "on
the floor." Both boys and girls may find employment here, though a
large majority of the sales force is made up of them. Speaking in
general terms, men are only employed to sell men's furnishings,
sporting goods, bulky merchandise, such as rugs, furniture, blankets,
etc., and yard goods which are difficult to handle, such as household
linens and dress goods. Positions as buyers and buyer's assistants are
not restricted by sex and boys and girls may both consider them as a
possible goal.
NEIGHBORHOOD STORES
A neighborhood store is that type of department store which draws its
trade from a comparatively limited area of which the store is the
center. The kind of goods carried are practically the same as in the
large department store and the variety of merchandise may be nearly as
great; but the selection is more limited because of the small stock.
Promotion to selling positions is more rapid in the neighborhood
stores than in regular department stores. One reason for this is that
a larger proportion of the force is "productive," _i.e._, selling.
This proportion may run as high as 80 or even 90 per cent, as compared
with the 40 to 60 per cent of "productive" help in large department
stores.
Employment in these stores is looked upon as desirable preliminary
training for service in larger department stores. This is the general
opinion held by those who hire the employees in the larger stores. The
selling experience gained in neighborhood stores is looked upon as
general, in that it gives an acquaintance with a variety of
merchandise rather than an extensive knowledge of any line of stock.
This experience makes the employee adaptable and resourceful. Another
advantage of neighborhood training for sales people is the fact that
they are brought into closer human relations with the customer and
thus learn the value of personality as a factor in making sales.
FIVE AND TEN CENT STORES
Cleveland had in the fall of 1915 six large stores where nothing
costing over 10 cents is sold. These belong to three syndicates or
chains. To show the extent to which this business has developed it may
be stated that the largest of these syndicates, which controls three
of the six Cleveland stores, has 747 branches in different parts of
the country.
The number of saleswomen in a single store ranges from 12 to 70. The
total number in the six stores was approximately 226. The shift in
this branch of retail trade is large, as there are continual changes
in the selling force. One store reported the number of new employees
hired in six months as being about equal to the average selling force.
The managers of the five and ten cent stores without exception stated
that they preferred to hire beginners who were without store
experience. The hours of work are longer and the conditions under
which the work is done are more trying than is usually the case in the
larger department stores.
The girl who expects her application for employment in the five and
ten cent store to be accepted must be 18 years old in order that she
may legally work after six o'clock. It is better for her to be without
previous selling experience (unless in other five and ten cent
stores), as employers in these stores prefer to train help according
to their own methods.
WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT
The wages paid beginners in the department stores are fair as compared
with other industries employing the same grade of help. Boys and girls
when they first enter employment receive from $3.50 to $7, depending
on the store where they get their first job. In addition to the salary
most department stores give bonuses or commissions through which the
members of the sales force may increase their compensation. The
Survey Staff worked out comparisons on the basis of data supplied by
the State Industrial Commission between the earnings of workers in
department store occupations and those in other industries. Diagram 3
shows graphically a comparison of the wages of women workers in six
different industries. An interesting point brought out by this graphic
comparison is that retail trade constitutes a much better field for
women's employment as compared with the great majority of positions
open to them in other lines than is commonly assumed to be the case.
This is brought out even more clearly in Table 15, which compares, on
a percentage basis, those who earn $12 a week and over, in all of the
industries of the city employing as many as 500 women in 1914.
[Illustration: Diagram 3.--Per cent of women earning each class of
weekly wages in each of six occupations]
TABLE 15.--PER CENT OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE EARNING
$12 A WEEK AND OVER
Office employees, in retail and wholesale stores 31.8
Employees in women's clothing factories 22.5
Saleswomen in retail and wholesale stores 21.0
Employees in men's clothing factories 13.3
Employees in hosiery and knit goods factories 7.9
Employees in printing and publishing establishments 7.7
Employees in telephone and telegraph offices 6.3
Employees in laundries and dry cleaning establishments 4.4
Employees in cigar and tobacco factories 3.9
Employees in gas and electric fixtures concerns 3.2
If the data were for retail stores only and did not include wholesale
stores, then office work, which now stands at the head of the list,
would probably not make so good a showing, although the superiority
over the selling positions is, from the wage-earning standpoint, so
marked that there seems to be no escape from the conclusion that on
the whole women office workers are better paid than women in the sales
force. On the other hand the proportion of saleswomen earning $12 and
over is from nearly seven times as great to not far from twice as
great as it is in the factory industries, if we except the workers in
women's clothing factories, whose earnings per week are better than
those of the saleswomen.
With respect to the men employed on the sales force of the department
stores a somewhat different situation exists. In Diagram 4 a
comparison is made of the wages paid in sales positions with the wages
paid in clerical positions. Here it will be noted that men who sell
goods in retail and wholesale stores earn more on the average than men
occupying clerical positions, such as bookkeepers, stenographers, and
office clerks. This comparison does not include traveling salesmen. A
further comparison of the earnings of the men in stores with the
earnings of male workers (omitting office clerks) in the different
industries of the city employing the largest number of men is given in
Diagram 5, which shows the per cent in each industry earning $18 a
week and over.
[Illustration: Diagram 4.--Per cent of salesmen and of men clerical
workers in stores receiving each class of weekly wage]
In comparing wages in stores with those in the manufacturing
industries it must be not forgotten that the working day and week in
the larger stores is shorter than in most of the factories. Hence a
comparison of earnings on the basis of wage per hour would show a
still greater advantage in favor of both sales persons and clerical
workers.
[Illustration: Diagram 5.--Per cent of male workers in non-clerical
positions in six industries earning $18 per week and over]
REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT
In department store work and in nearly all branches of retail selling
there is a marked fluctuation in the number employed during the year.
Sales work in the department stores is seasonal in the sense that a
large number of extra sales women are taken on during the Christmas
season for a period of temporary employment, usually lasting from one
to two months. The proportion of the total working force for the whole
year employed in such transient jobs is approximately one-fourth. How
selling positions in retail and wholesale stores compare with other
fields of employment in this respect is seen in Diagram 6.
[Illustration: Diagram 6.--Per cent that the average number of women
employed during the year is of the highest number employed in each of
six industries]
OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT
In regard to promotion in department stores it should be noted that as
a rule the executives are made in the business and are not, as in some
industries, brought in from the outside because they must have some
special training which the organization itself does not provide. Not
only in Cleveland but in other cities where studies of the same kind
have been made it has been found that practically all the people
holding important floor positions have come up from the ranks. The
various lines of promotion through the different departments are
analyzed in detail in the report.
THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING
That vocational training for department store employees is both
desirable and possible is proved by the fact that most of the large
stores in Cleveland make some provision for the instruction of their
workers. Some of these classes are carefully organized and excellently
taught with every promise of increasing in usefulness. Others employ
methods of instruction which belong to the academic school of an
earlier decade and give evidence that the problem of vocational
training with which they are presumably concerned is not even
understood.
From the standpoint of the school there are two well recognized kinds
of training possible for department store employees: trade preparatory
and trade extension training. Eventually it may prove practicable to
organize instruction of both kinds, but it is the opinion of the
author of the report that under present conditions the surest results
can be expected from trade extension training. In trade extension
instruction the members of the group to be dealt with have already
secured their foothold in the industry; and having mastered at least
the rudiments of their job they have acquired a basis of experience
which may be utilized for purposes of instruction. These people are
responsive to teaching organized with regard to their needs, for daily
experience is demonstrating to them their deficiencies.
The success of the proposed training will largely depend upon the
employment of simple and direct methods that shall place this
knowledge in the hands and head of the person or group needing it. The
application of this instruction must be immediate and practical and
must not be dependent upon the working out of a complicated course or
schedule.
The organization must be flexible enough to admit of bringing together
a group having a common need, although they may come from different
departments of the business. Since the unit of class organization is
not previous school experience or similar employment, it will be seen
that this class should be held only until the need is fully supplied
and should then give place to another organized on the same basis.
As in all vocational teaching, the size of the class should be
limited. To make this work really effective, the instructor should
come in sufficiently close contact with all pupils to enable him to
obtain a personal knowledge of their needs and capabilities. A further
necessity for small classes and individual instruction is found in the
fact that there is a constant shift of employees in the industry as
well as frequent accessions from the outside.
It readily can be seen that this is not a problem of the regular
school and that it cannot be met by ordinary classroom methods. Part
time or continuation classes, such as have already proved feasible for
other kinds of trade instruction, are the most practicable methods of
doing this work.
Classes for the instruction of employees are already maintained in the
majority of large stores. The extension of this plan of separate
responsibility is one way of meeting the problem. But this method has
certain obvious faults. The unequal opportunity which it affords to
department store employees as a body is a conspicuous drawback. The
value of the instruction so given, moreover, will always depend to a
large extent on the comprehension of the problem by the firm
maintaining the classes. The method involves much duplication of
effort, which is particularly wasteful when the instruction of small
groups is involved.
Another possible method would be for the several department stores to
get together and coöperate in providing instruction. There would seem
to be no reason why stores should not unite for this purpose as well
as for any other. The advantages of this method are economy of
maintenance and administration, the ability to command expert service,
and the possibility of securing and sharing the results of a great
variety of such experiences as does not consist of exclusive trade
secrets.
The number of people whom it would be necessary to employ exclusively
for the purpose of conducting these classes would be small as
compared with the results accomplished. Collectively these stores now
have in their employ a body of highly paid experts in all lines of
merchandise. A large amount of the most accurate technical knowledge
covering the work of all departments is already available in the
several stores. These are valuable resources which should be utilized
by a coöperative school of this kind.
For the head of such a school, it would be desirable to secure a man
or woman of more than usual ability and discernment who, above all
else, could sense the business and routine of each contributing store
from the standpoint of the employee and of store organization. It
would be the business of this person to become familiar with the
available sources of knowledge in the different stores and then
arrange for the presentation of this knowledge to the various classes.
By coöperation with the floor men, heads of sections and departments,
as well as with the employees themselves, he should come into close
contact with the requirements of the workers and should gather from
the different stores those who, because of their common need, can be
made into a "school unit." It would also be necessary to employ
assistants of practical experience who would attend to the details of
routine teaching, and act as interpreters for those experts who have
the knowledge but not the ability to impart it even to a small class.
It is realized that a scheme of this kind would involve the overcoming
of many objections and difficulties of adjustment before it could be
put into actual operation. It would necessitate mutual concessions and
forbearance on the part of everybody concerned, but the results would
unquestionably justify the labor.
A third method, already in operation in Boston, New York, and Buffalo,
calls for the coöperation of the stores and the schools. This
partnership, it is claimed, makes certain that the needs of the pupil
are considered before the demands of the business. It insures equal
opportunity for all employees so far as instruction is concerned and
it divides the expense of maintenance between the industry and the
school. It is to be regretted that this scheme frequently results in
the employment of teachers who, although certificated for regular
school work, have no other qualifications, instead of persons of
practical experience. The employment of such teachers too often leads
to the following of ordinary school practices and academic traditions
rather than the methods and practice of business.
In some quarters it is maintained that this instruction should be
entirely taken over by the public schools, thus relieving the store of
any responsibility in the matter. It is probably not now advisable for
the school to assume full responsibility for such training. The heavy
expense involved and the physical limitations of the schools would
make it difficult, without the coöperation of the store, to reproduce
the trade atmosphere necessary for real vocational training. As a
result, the instruction would become abstract and theoretical, with
the major portion of the effort limited to a continuation of
elementary school subjects taught with reference to their application
to department store work.
CHARACTER OF THE INSTRUCTION
The analysis of the industry shows that in each occupation or job
there is a definite amount of knowledge which must be acquired by the
efficient worker. A study of this analysis and of the examples of
technical knowledge needed by the worker at different points in the
industry will show that no such thing as a general course is possible.
In every case the character of the instruction should be such that it
will answer a definite need of the employee. What this instruction
should be in specific cases can be settled only, on the one hand, by a
thorough analysis of the occupation to determine what demands it makes
upon the workers, and on the other, by a careful study of the workers
themselves to ascertain how far they have been unable to meet these
demands without assistance. Lessons can then be organized dealing with
such subject matter as individuals or groups have failed to grasp, the
lack of which limits their efficiency or restricts their usefulness.
It can readily be seen that this instruction will cover a wide range
of subjects, from the use of fractions needed by checkers and
salesgirls in yard goods sections, to the special technical knowledge
of fine furs required by the salesperson who handles this
merchandise.
The method by which this instruction can best be given is in a series
of short unit courses. In every case the length of the course is to be
determined by the subject matter. For instance, two one-half hour
lessons may be a "course," when this time is sufficient for the
necessary teaching.
The group or class to which this instruction is given might be made up
of those who need the same technical knowledge, although they might
expect to make a different application of this instruction. For
instance, the unit course on silks might be given to a group composed
of salespeople from the silk section, the waists and gowns section,
and the section of men's neckwear.
The report gives detailed examples of the kinds of technical knowledge
needed in the different departments of the store. It maintains that
such instruction cannot be successfully given by regular school
teachers. As in other industries the teacher needs actual experience
in the occupation for which training is given. Academic training and
teaching experience are desirable and valuable, but among the
qualifications demanded of a teacher of this kind they are of
secondary importance.
The final chapter of the report contains valuable instructions for
young persons who desire to secure positions in retail trade. These
instructions cover such matters as work papers, methods of securing a
position, and requirements for employment in various kinds of
department store work.