PERSONNEL The national manpower shortage incident to the war effort as a whole has caused further depletion of the trained personnel force of the Veterans' Administration. Inability to secure and retain satisfactory employees has been felt particularly in medical, nursing, attendant, utility and clerical classes of personnel. The employment of women in positions ordinarily filled by men, the use of physically handicapped persons, lowering of age and physical requirements, modification of policies regarding the acceptance of allowances, etc., have been continued and have been helpful in meeting the serious recruitment situation. Additional methods of recruiting have been necessary and have been used with the approval of the Civil Service Commission. College and high-school students have been employed full time for summer months and part time during school sessions. Others have been recruited for part-time employment whose services were not available on a full time basis. These included women with household duties and family responsibilities. In accordance with the terms of an agreement with the War Department our medical officers have been offered commissions in the Army of the United States, and when accepted, have been placed on the inactive list and permitted to remain on duty with the Veterans' Administration. This same policy applies to medical personnel holding commissions in the Army Medical Reserve Corps. Nevertheless, certain of our physicians have resigned to enter active military service and others have resigned to accept employment elsewhere, or to enter private practice. Appointments of physicians have been made from time to time during the year, but not to the extent of maintaining the required complement of personnel. Since it was impossible to secure nurses through selection from centralized civil-service registers, managers of field stations were authorized to recruit locally. This procedure provided a sufficient number of recruits to relieve the shortage temporarily as it was found generally that graduate nurses, who were not engaged in their profession, were willing to resume such employment when offered assignment in or near their home localities. Further, as of June. 30, 1943, there were 29 nursing assistants and 286 volunteer nurses aides on duty. These appointees have contributed their part in furnishing nursing service, but there still are not enough nurses available to meet our needs. It is hoped that the passage of the act of June 15, 1943, "To provide for the training of nurses for the armed forces, governmental and civilian hospitals, health agencies, and war industries, through grants to institutions providing such training, and for other purposes, "will result in some cadet nurses taking the senior period of their training in the Veterans' Administration and remaining on duty after graduation. Facilities in some localities have been able to recruit and retain sufficient hospital attendants to meet their requirements. However, it has been found that a special method of recruiting in one locality would not suffice in another. Accordingly, unusual and individual methods for the employment of this class of personnel have been used for various facilities according to the circumstances obtaining. At six stations where there was extreme difficulty in obtaining an adequate number of hospital attendants, authority was granted to place selected employees of this type on a 12-hour tour of duty, pay ing them for overtime in excess of the regular work week, and thus providing coverage for wards that was not available otherwise. At other stations it was necessary to effect arrangements with the War Department whereby limited-service enlisted men were detailed to the Veterans' Administration to serve as hospital attendants, mess attendants, and in other similar positions. Refresher courses have been conducted for stenographers and typists as a means of relieving the shortage in these fields. Also, the greater use of dictating machines was approved and placed in effect. Even with the increase in the responsibilities placed upon it by law to veterans of the present conflict, the Administration generally has adhered to the policy of not requesting occupational deferment for its employees. Many of the 19 unofficial deferments previously in effect were canceled under the provisions of Executive Order 9309, dated March 6, 1943. Occupational deferments have been held to an absolute minimum and in most cases restricted to employees who are engaged in technical or specialized lines of work where extreme difficulty would be experienced in effecting their replacement. During the 1943 fiscal year, 3,291 employees entered military or naval service, and this number has materially increased since that time. On June 30, 1943, there were on the rolls of the Veterans' Administration 44,427 employees (exclusive of those on a per diem and per hour basis) whose aggregate gross annual salaries, including allowances but excluding overtime pay, totaled $75,740,783 as compared with 45,342 employees and $74,216,903 in annual salaries on June 30, 1942, a net decrease of 915 employees and a net increase of $1,523,880 in aggregate annual salaries. At the close of this year 58.46 percent of the male and 5.25 percent of the female employees on the rolls were ex-service, while 35.51 percent of the total personnel had such status. |