Sessional_Paper_1949 — Page 121

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CHAPTER XIV.

Organization.

SUNDRY CLERICAL SECTIONS

383. The organization of the clerical sections not previously mentioned in this report is illustrated on Appendix Y.

384. It is recommended that the staff of these sundry sections should be reorganized as shown on Appendix Z.

OFFICERS' SECRETARIES (W.C.A.'s)

Duties and Allocations.

385. The duties of women confidential assistants when employed as officers' secretaries, comprise of shorthand note-taking, typewriting and minor clerical func- tions.

386. The present practice is to allocate a secretary to each administrative officer or two officers if they are occupying the same room. There is considerable variation in the type of work produced by a secretary as will be seen from the results of a test over eight working days which were as follows:

Number of lines typewritten from

Shorthand Notes

Secret and Confidential

Drafts

Non-confidential Drafts

Secretary No. 1 Secretary No. 2

1,928

26

Secretary No. 3

122

575

568

2,094 519

714

3,026

3 extremes are quoted above to illustrate the wide variations and it will be seen that only Secretary No. 1 was employed for any reasonable volume of shorthand note- taking.

Designation.

387. It is recommended that women confidential assistants now employed as officers' secretaries should be known as stenographers to better describe their duties and to avoid any confusion with the titles of other officers.

Stenographic pool.

388. It is recommended that with the exceptions named below, stenographers should work in a stenographic pool and for preference in one room under a supervisor.

Duties of pool supervisor.

389. The pool supervisor should assist with the work of the pool and keep a record to ensure that work is evenly distributed and so far as it is possible, completed on the same day as received.

Duties of stenographers.

390. A pooled stenographer should, so far as it is possible, always take dictation and copy-type drafts from the same officers. This method will allow a stenographer to obtain a specialized knowledge of an officer's work, and vice versa, economize in the use of stenographers, equalise work distribution and provide an officer with a steno- grapher while his previously dictated notes are being transcribed.

Greater use of Open Typing Office.

391. It is recommended that stenographers should make greater use of the Open Typing Office for copying non-confidential drafts.