35
Report of Interim Committee
(Continued from page 9)
"The outstanding advantages of a
merit system are:
1. State employees should be chosen
objectively, not personally.
Elimination of the vicious concept
that political groups either within
a party or in opposing parties, win
state jobs when their "man” is in
office. Trafficking in government
employment is not conducive to the
maintenance of a productive and
stable state.
2. Present personal selection is waste of
State’s time and energy and an un
just handicap to retention of honest
holders of elective offices.
Following election, the Governor
and heads of state departments lose
a great amount of our State’s time
and energy listening to, and trying
to find positions for the numerous
political companions, their relatives
and friends. The time consuming
and nerve racking necessity of lis
tening to thousands of applicants for
jobs causes untold waste of State
time and energy. One of the ma
jor contributions to the defeat of
good Governors in the State of Ore
gon, is the fact that they have not
yielded to the demands of incompe
tents who desire to be in the State
poyroll, displacing trained employ
ees. This wasting of time and energy
of our officials and handicapping
them when they are seeking re-elec
tion should not be tolerated and can
only be eliminated by the objective
non-personal selection of able em
ployees through a merit system.
3. A Merit System conserves govern
ment skills:
A fter the State has spent consider
able money training, developing and
acquainting one of its employees to
do a particular function, it is a
waste of efficiency and money to
needlessly remove him from this
position.
4. T/?c State in a labor market com
petes against private industry:
State employees receive very moder
ate salaries and can never look for
ward to the same inducements as
offered in private industry, such as
bonuses, large salaries, eventual
partnership in or ownership of the
business. Neither Social Security nor
Unemployment Insurance benefits
are available to State employees.
Some counter-balancing inducement
must be given if competent young
men or women are to choose the
laudable career of serving their
state. They should be assured of their
position as long as they are compe
tent to serve; otherwise, the State
will receive only those employees
whom private industry does not
want. After the State has invested
money training an employee to be
proficient in his work, he can read
ily change from precarious employ
ment with the state to private in
dustry with improved salary and
working conditions.
5. Merit System reduces cost of state
government:
The reports from established merit
systems, reveal that the sums of
money saved by efficient employees
exceed cost of merit selection. The
fact that private industry has seen
fit to establish personnel systems
for the selection, maintenance, and
discharge of its employees, testifies
that a merit system is a financial
advantage. Without a merit system,
each State department spends much
time in a varying and unstandard
ized fashion, selecting its employees
and conducting personnel matters.
The time spent is not charged as
such in the departments’ operating
(Continued on page 36)