Training courses are conducted by many companies for their employees, who are sometimes permitted to attend on the company’s time. Often the training given in these courses is of great value, enabling the student to increase materially his earning capacity. Some of these training courses have been in operation many years and are now highly developed, thoroughly organized, and very effective. In them both theoretical and practical instruction are given.
Employment Departments
A number of the electrical manufacturing companies operate employment departments, which render valuable service to prospective employees. Such departments study carefully each man’s qualifications and endeavor to place him in the job for which he is best suited. Obviously, it is to the interest of both the employer and of the employee that the employee shall follow a line of work for which he is best fitted.
Constancy of Employment
Under normal conditions the demand for electrical equipment of all sorts is very steady, and this tends to insure continuity of employment. Furthermore, practically all of the electrical workers in the electrical manufacturing industry require special training, and for this reason employing companies use every means to insure continuous employment for each worker so that their organization may not be broken up. Finally, the call for electrical equipment will probably be exceptionally heavy in the immediate future to provide for reconstruction needs. All of these features tend to insure stability of employment.
Mutual Benefit Features
Many companies maintain associations, supported largely by the companies and partially by the employees themselves, whereby medical attendance and monetary benefits are afforded in time of sickness. Some of the concerns have building and loan associations through which employee members can borrow money at low rates of interest for the construction of homes.
PLAN No. 1070. ENGINEERING AND DRAFTING
Although the engineering department and the drafting department in an electrical manufacturing concern are usually distinct organizations, the drafting division commonly operates under the direction of the engineering department. In the engineering department are developed the designs and specifications for the electrical apparatus which the company produces. The engineers make the computations, prepare—ordinarily in the form of a sketch—the preliminary design for the device, and write out the specifications for its production. This information is submitted to the drafting department, which completes finished detailed drawings. Often a draftsman who matures a design or directs the work of a squad of junior draftsmen must be an engineer. Although a technical-school training and a number of years of experience are necessary for any man who is to assume responsibility for electrical design or drafting, there are frequently opportunities for those who have had comparatively little training to start in as assistants or helpers.