Executives Must. Have Incentives
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vouR leading article of March 22, Industrial 1 Claustrophobia," is a realistic appraisal of today's problem of attracting suitable men to the commercial vehicle and transport industries. I wish one could be sure that it would be read in every boardroom and by every transport committee in the industry. A copy should also be nailed to the door of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The problemof maintaining incentives for technical and managerial executives is not, of course, confined to these industries. A good, start would be to raise the starting level of surtax, if not to the same real value of income as when it was first introduced (before I was born) but at any rate to £4,000. And why should notearned-income allowance apply to all earned income and salaries without limit? I suggest that the cost to the Exchequer of these changes would be trifling compared with the benefit to the nation which would result.
You also rightly draw attention to the situation that sales representatives are frequently better rewarded than qualified technical executives. This is a reflection of the present system under which to be in a position to draw expenses, however scrupulously incurred, is worth more than salary. Commission also generally keeps pace with the cost of the product, whereas salaries almost invariably do not.
A pointer which suggests that all is not well with the industry today is the 'extremely small number of • university graduates which it attracts. It must deter all but the-very unambitious and a dedicated few to learn that there are senior engineering executives of vehiclemanufacturing concerns and managers of transport undertakings who cannot even afford to have cars of their own.
The commercial-vehicle industry is one of the nation's principal breadwinners, and transport contributes to the cost of everything we produce. The leaders of these industries, and of the nation, must realize now that for key positions we need the best brains we can muster, and that to get them the rewards must be competitive with those offered in other industries and in other countries. One cannot buy good 'men cheap.
London, W.8. ENGINEER,