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STAFF TRAINING During the year tuition was continued at the several departmental training schools. In all, about 594 employees passed through the schools during the year. All study courses for departmental examinations formerly issued to servicemen through the Army Education and Welfare Service have been revised, and these, together with eight new ones, are now available through the Post Office Correspondence School to all officers requiring them. Altogether sixteen technical and sixteen non-technical courses have been provided. The total enrolments for the year were 1,348 students for technical courses and 1,108 for non-technical courses. HEALTH OF STA^F The following table shows the average number of days on which employees were absent on sick-leave during the years ended the 31st March, 194S and 1949

Average Absences

The death during the year of 36 officers is recorded with regret. During the year an Industrial Nurse was appointed to the staff of the General Post Office. This forward step brings the Post Office into line with the best practice in the consideration of the health interests of large staffs of employees. The nurse will, in addition to her practical duties of attending to sick and injured officers, have the function of studying and reporting on the general hygienic conditions under which departmental officers work. STAFF WELFARE ORGANIZATION Functions of Staff Welfare Officers Staff Welfare Officers are now functioning in all offices and branches of the Department on a full-time or part-time basis, as the case warrants. Their function is largely to deal with problems affecting individual members of the staff which can best be dealt with on a personal basis rather than through official channels. They provide a measure of vocational guidance to junior officers; help in endeavours to solve accommodation problems of officers; take a personal interest in cases of sickness; and encourage social, recreational, and cultural activities amongst officers. Staff Welfare Fund The membership of the Staff Welfare Fund is now 11,500, an increase of approximately 1,500 during the year. The Fund is filling an important need in providing comforts and domestic help in cases of sickness, in giving financial aid in cases of illness or other misfortune, and in providing holiday cottages for the use of members. No fewer than 1,100 officers and their families have availed themselves of this holiday accommodation since the Fund was established in 1945.

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Year Ended 31st March, Each Sick Employee. Each Sick Employee, Excluding Long-term Absences of Over Eighty Days. Each Person Employed. Each Person Employed, Excluding Long-term Absences of Over Eighty Days. 1948 Days. Days. | Days. Days. Men .. 12-30 8-65 6-15 4-27 Women 13-23 9-72 7-85 5-70 1949 Men .. 11-87 8-25 6-21 4-26 Women 13-44 10-08 8-28 6-15 . : ,