Money-saving ideas for the profit-minded supervisor.

More kids are having problems today than ever before. Emotional problems, attitude problems, peer pressure problems and a host of others with psychological implications. It takes no great Freudian insight to appreciate that when children are beset by problems, parents become frazzled by anxieties and -- human aspects aside -- experience difficulty concentrating on the jobs they're being paid to fulfill.

Some employers, NCNB Corp., the big bank holding company, for one, are convinced that counseling employees on available options in dealing with problem kids and, in some cases, offering help in accessing and participating in remedial programs, makes good business sense.

Quoting Fran Sussner Rodgers, president of Boston consulting firm Work/Family Directions, Newsweek states, "I'm talking economics here basically. Companies are not so much helping individuals but rather becoming the kind of place you have to be to attract the best and right kind of people."

Which adds up to a double barreled dividend of a recruitment and productivity plus.

Observers an NCNB teller who, steered to a program called SchoolSmart which gave her 12-year-old-son the kind of guidance he needed, with regard to the bank's counseling service, "It's one of those little touches that I think will make us better workers."

The employee took advantage of a toll-free number which allows workers to talk with education experts, child psychologist or social workers. Might an 800 help line make sense in your company?

Machine parts have to be cleaned periodically, rid of sludge, grease, sticky substances and particulate that tend to gum up the works. Beltway Automative Products Inc., a small Wisconsin supplier, found this procedure time consuming and laborious. Until an innovation-minded foreman decided on trying a switch from oil-based to chemical-based cleaning fluids. Nothing like using a new solution to solve a pesky old problem. The result was faster, less tedious cleaning, plus a 30 percent cost reduction.

According to New York City management consultant Edith Fiore, "It's not enough to train factory employees on the technical and procedural aspects of projects and programs involving their participation in paperwork chores. You have to take the time to make them understand why the paperwork is needed and how processing efficiency contributes to short- and long-range profits objectives."