Annual Report of the Surgeon General United States Army Fiscal Year 1961
CIVILIAN PERSONNEL
Faced with the ever-rising cost for labor, the Army Medical Service has been chiefly concerned with efforts to increase productivity per man-hour work. This has been done through better control and allocation of manpower, by the elimination of waste and duplication, and by the application of improved personnel management methods. As a consequence of the emphasis placed upon the aforementioned, personnel programs for the past year have been aimed at improvement of present procedures rather than upon the introduction of new ones.
Recruitment
Budgeting restrictions and a directed reduction of 10 percent in civilian employment throughout the Army imposed a recruitment and promotion freeze on departmental positions during the first 5 months of fiscal year 1961. This freeze limited considerably the recruitment activities of OTSG, during the period it was in force. However, OTSG was able to meet the drastically lowered departmental ceiling without instituting any reduction-in-force proceedings.
Prior to the recruitment freeze, difficulty had been encountered in obtaining typists, stenographers, tabulating-machine operators, and statisticians qualified in the option of health and medicine. During the past several months, this difficulty has not been alleviated completely, although representatives of the Civilian Personnel Division, OTSG, have visited secondary schools, commercial schools, and State employment offices in an effort to develop potential recruitment sources for needed categories of personnel. Other steps are being explored?communicating with colleges, medical secretarial schools, and even contacting several Army units which have statisticians on tours of active duty?in order to secure the needed personnel.
Public Law 313 and Supergrade Positions
In September 1961, direct communication was authorized between the Chief of the Office of Research and Development, DA, and the chiefs of the technical services for the resolution of problems incident to the positions and incumbents for research and development as authorized by Public Law 313 (80th Cong.).
One of the principal problems involved consideration of those Public Law 313 positions allocated to various technical services which had been vacant for more than 90 days. Since these positions are extremely limited, it is the departmental policy to withdraw the allocation given any particular technical service, if the position remains unfilled, and
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to transfer the space to some other DA agency which might have need of it and be able to fill the position. A review of the Public Law 313 positions allocated to the Army Medical Service resulted in the transfer of four such vacant spaces. The Surgeon General was assured, however, that, at such time as qualified personnel willing to accept positions within the Army Medical Service became available, the Chief of Research and Development, DA, would support a request for the return of such space or spaces to OTSG. As a consequence, vigorous efforts are continuing to be made to find suitably qualified personnel.
A request has also been made for the authorization of a supergrade space for the position of OTSG Comptroller. To date, this request has not been approved, but favorable action is anticipated in view of the validity of the justification which accompanied the request.
Wage Board Supervisory Pay Plan
Certain revisions have been made in the Wage Board Supervisory Pay Plan as a result of an Army-Air Force study. Major features of the revisions are: Reduction of step rates from four to three; abolition of step-rate advancement for the recognition of superior performance; and retention of the existing evaluation plan. The revised plan became effective with superiority rate schedules issued on and after 1 March 1961, and conversion was effected on a locality basis as revised rate schedules were applied. A revised pay plan for laundry employees became effective on 1 January 1961. This plan provides for the application of the $1 per hour minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Classification
The issuance of CPR (Civilian Personnel Regulations) P30, ?Position and Pay Management Basic Policies and Requirements,? inaugurated a new salary and wage publication plan to integrate into one series all instructions, standards, and guidance material related to position and pay management. The new regulation also stresses the supervisor?s responsibility, as well as that of the civilian personnel office, to bring to the attention of management factors relating to position and pay management which affect costs.
Memorandum 611-300, Office of The Surgeon General, 7 March 1961, ?Policy Governing Classification of Civilian Jobs,? was also revised to provide policies and procedures necessary to implement the provisions of the new CPR P30 and to train operating officials in their responsibilities in the salary and wage program.
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Employment of Handicapped
The Army Medical Service is a hearty supporter of the Presidential policy on the employment of the handicapped, and members of various AMEDS installations attended Presidential committee conferences at Tacoma, Wash., Berkeley, Calif., El Paso, Tex., San Francisco, Calif., and Denver, Colo. All of these meetings, as well as the meeting held in Washington, D.C., late this spring, were aimed at expanding the potential usage of the handicapped in governmental positions (both national and regional).
Middle Manager Training
Training in the past has been centered chiefly upon the extremes of the positional ladder?crafts, trades, and clerical skills have been improved by training as have been the basic supervisory skills necessary for the development of executives.
Recently, however, a need has arisen for the development and training of middle managers?those who form a link between the executive levels and the direct supervisor of the worker. In order to improve the ability of the middle manager to cope with the special problems of his position, a 1-week course was conducted by the staff of the Office of Civilian Personnel, DCSPER, as a special workshop, at the Army Map Service, in February 1961. It was attended by a group of military and civilian officials from the Washington area, including two representatives from OTSG. On the basis of this initial course, a middle management workshop and institute training course has been set up for fiscal year 1962. This course will be designed to prepare representatives from various installations to arrange for and conduct 1-week workshops at their own installations.
Career Management
Throughout the Army as a whole, the promotion of career management and planning has been a prime objective, not only in the field of developing new and additional career programs but also in the improvement and operation of those career fields already developed.
Within OTSG and the Army Medical Service, considerable time and effort has been expended to complete the implementation of previously established career programs. With respect to the overall progress made in the area of career planning, it is interesting to note that, for a 3 months? period (January through March 1961), of 10 vacancies which existed in positions covered by established career programs, 9 were filled by candidates selected from career program referral lists.
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The general, overall AMEDS policy on civilian career management, Administrative Letter 690-6, was revised and published in March 1961 and has proved a much more explicit and helpful document than its predecessor.
Incentive Awards
Dr. Donald E. Gregg of the Walter Reed Institute of Research, who during the previous year had received the Department of the Army Exceptional Civilian Service Award, was the recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award on 19 April 1961. This award, the highest that the DOD can bestow upon a civilian employee, was awarded in further recognition of Dr. Gregg?s outstanding work in the field of physiology.
The highest award which the Secretary of the Army is authorized to give to a civilian?the Exceptional Civilian Service Award?was presented to Dr. John B. Youmans on 3 May 1961. Dr. Youmans received this award for his exceptional performance of duty as technical director of research for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command.
On 14 February 1961, The Surgeon General was pleased to bestow upon Miss Elizabeth M. McFetridge the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal Award, which is the highest honor he is empowered to authorize for a civilian employee. This award was given in recognition of the outstanding literary contribution Miss McFetridge has made, as both medical writer and associate editor, toward the preparation of the several volumes which comprise the surgical series of the history of the U.S. Army Medical Department in World War II.
Suggestion Program
During fiscal year 1960, attention was focused throughout the Army upon a special suggestion campaign known as Operation Searchlight which proved highly successful.
As a still further means of encouraging the development and submission of constructive suggestions, the month of May 1961 was designated by the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, as ?Suggestion Month.? During this month, one written constructive suggestion was solicited from each civilian and military member of the Army Medical Service, as one way of utilizing the ingenuity and initiative of civilian and military personnel to improve Army operations and increase efficiency. Although, for obvious reasons, a 100-percent record of suggestions was not possible, an extremely high percentage of both military and civilians did put
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forth proposals and suggestions many of which had considerable merit and will be implemented.
Civilian Personnel Conference
In December 1960, a 4-day conference of AMEDS civilian personnel officers was held in Dallas, Tex., for the purpose of mutual exchange of information relating to problems, accomplishments, and guidance on various program areas that are to be emphasized in the future. The two basic themes of the conference were: First, the increasing professionalism in the endeavor of the civilian personnel office staff members; and second, the evaluating of how others view civilian personnel officers in terms of the extent and value of their service and assistance to employees and to management officials.
Visits and Inspections
In view of the impending closure of the Louisville Medical Depot, and its relocation to another area as yet undetermined, the Chief, Civilian Personnel Division, along with the Chief, Supply Division, visited that depot in May in order to acquaint depot personnel with the reasons for the proposed closing of the depot and to advise them of the job opportunities which would exist after the depot operation was transferred. A visit was also made by the Chief, Civilian Personnel Division, to Fitzsimons General Hospital, in order to assist in the consolidation of the medical facilities of Lowry Air Force Base with those of Fitzsimons.
Inspections of the civilian personnel programs at Brooke Army Medical Center and Madigan General Hospital were conducted by the 8th and 11th Civil Service Regional Offices, respectively. Both inspections revealed that, except for minor processing errors, personnel actions were being properly executed and records were being well maintained by both installations.
Civilian Strengths
As of 30 June 1961, there were 8,581 civilians employed in the Army Medical Service. Of this number, 518 were departmental employees in OTSG, 7,830 were employed at class II installations and activities, and 233 were employed as civilian consultants.
Of the number of employed at the end of the fiscal year, 5,223 were classified employees, 3,100 were ungraded, and 233 were excepted appointments. Additionally, there were 5 Public Law 313 spaces and 20 individuals appointed under Public Law 330, 80th Congress, as medical technician students.
