Nov 27, 2007

SUBJECT: Phase I of Workforce Restructuring to begin November 28

To/MS: All Employees
From/MS: Jan A. Van Prooyen, A100
Phone/Fax: 7-5101/5-2679
Symbol: DIR-07-339
Date: November 27, 2007



SUBJECT: Phase I of Workforce Restructuring to begin November 28

This note updates the November 19 memo from Mike
Anastasio and his All-Employee Meeting about workforce restructuring.

The Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has formally approved our specific plan for workforce restructuring. Accordingly, we will open the self-selection window Wednesday, November 28. Below is a table of key dates associated with the Phase I Self-Selection Program (SSP):

Table of Key Dates for Phase I

Event Dates
SSP application open November 28 through December 6
Employee rescission period December 7 through December 13
Employees receive notice of acceptance December 20
Employee Departure meetings January 2 through January 8, 2008
Accepted employees separate from Laboratory January 10, 2008

When the window opens, each LANS employee will receive by interoffice mail a notice of his or her eligibility to apply for this program. Likewise, each employee in an excluded category will receive a notice by interoffice mail that he or she will not be allowed to participate in the Self-Selection Program. If you are a LANS employee and have not received one of these notices by close of business on November 28, please contact your line management. Additionally, tomorrow (Wednesday), the Human Resources Web site associated with Phase I will be activated. The web site will have resources and information regarding Phase I.

Also as noted last week, we will hold manager briefings and employee pre-application information sessions. The schedule for those meetings is as follows:

Manager Briefings for SSP

Date Time
Location
Wed., 11/28/07 9:00 am - 11:00 am NSSB Auditorium
Wed., 11/28/07 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Physics Auditorium
Thurs., 11/29/07 3:15 pm - 5:00 pm NSSB Auditorium

Employee Pre-application Information Sessions for SSP

Date Time
Location
Wed., 11/28/07 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm Physics Auditorium
Thurs., 11/29/07 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm NSSB Auditorium (live) with Physics Auditorium simulcast
Fri., 11/30/07 9:00 am – 11:00 am Physics Auditorium
Mon., 12/3/07 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm LANSCE Auditorium
Tues., 12/4/07 9:00 am – 11:00 am NSSB Auditorium

The main difference between the plan that we submitted (as discussed by Mike Anastasio on November 19) and the plan that DOE-NNSA just approved is the timing of our assessment of our flexible workforce populations. Concurrent with the Phase 1 Self- Selection Program, we will be designing and implementing a process for assessing our flexible workforce.

Further, we have amended Policy 114 (Reduction-in-Force) of the Laboratory’s Administrative Manual to remove a provision prohibiting a Self-Selection Program.

As noted in the Director’s All-Employee memo and his All-Employee Meeting, the decision to reduce our workforce is a very difficult one. It directly impacts people’s lives—not only those of our employees, but also their families and the communities of Northern New Mexico. Given the impact on these communities, we also will hold two community information sessions on our specific workforce restructuring plan next week. On Monday evening, December 3, we will hold an information session in Pojoaque from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Cities of Gold Conference Center. On Tuesday evening, December 4, we will hold an information session in Los Alamos from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Duane Smith Auditorium.

We will continue to post questions and answers and other relevant information on our Restructuring Web site. If you have questions, I encourage you to attend one of the pre-application information sessions regarding the Self-Selection Program and/or the community information sessions mentioned above. I also ask that you use our Workforce Restructuring Web site. Finally, I urge you to engage your leadership chain with your issues and questions. Laboratory managers realize that this is an extremely important decision for our employees and will help you get the answers you need. Managers will be receiving information that will prepare them to best support you as you make your final
decision.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS. Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Anonymous said...

Strange how LANS even now releases information in tiny pieces. We have to wait until tomorrow to find out a few more details.
Reminds me of the pension plan choice fiasco where they still haven't told people what TCP1 is, let alone how its financed.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS.

Our annual award fee is your ticket out of here.

Anonymous said...

Typical LANS. Send out the email at 5pm, don't give details, and give people a one week to decide.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS. Now, 750 of you leave.

Anonymous said...

LLNL, get a looky lue of what you too are about to recieve. Can you say 1700 before Oct 2008 and then a few thousand FTE's after that by 2010 or 2011. Lets hope like hell some of those FTE's are ULM or LLNL's going to become one big bloated management cat house.

Anonymous said...

So the original plan didn't look at the flexible workforce - is that contractors and limited term folks?

Anonymous said...

I guess we decide based on how disgusted we are with LANS since we don't have any other information.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS.

Who's your daddy now?

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS.

Here's your free daycare.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS.

Still think Ewoks are cute?

Anonymous said...

Bechtel is our name, downsizing is our game!

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS.

Thanks for everything. But hey! How about that Fall Festival?

Anonymous said...

LANS Haiku *borrowed from Anon, 12/21/2005 01:50:00 PM on LANL, The Real Story)

Cold winter morning
Los Alamos announcement
Merry Christmas, y'all

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the blog:

The world's greatest whining protecting entitlements.

Sorry, I couldn't resist:)

Anonymous said...

I'm not leaving since LANS promised me Marie would save the lab!

Anonymous said...

Mikey's presentation said that they would look at the "flexible workforce" (contractors and LIMT's) immediately *after* the self-select. Today's announcement pulls up the timeline to "concurrent with."

Anonymous said...

Hey, it could be worse - The current LLNL structure has Bechtel as the top dog. At LANL we have UC as the top dog!!

Anonymous said...

Yay! UC Won!

Anonymous said...

UC has been so beaten up and cowed by NNSA and DOE, that Bechtel is actually runnning the show at LANL. UC has decided its best course of action is to keep its mouth shut on LANL, and let Mikey speak for the company. We've got nothing on LLNL.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS.

Now Six Sigma *this*.

Anonymous said...

they don't have a fucking clue.... I've never worked at a worse run place... and what again were all those "efficiencies" LANS has put in place? The faked "incident" numbers?

and I still say under 100 voluntary..

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS -

Home, home on the range

where Bechtel and family play

where seldom is heard

a encouraging word

and the skies are cloudy all day

Anonymous said...

wow those "community information sessions" will be REALLY REALLY helpful as the U-Hauls pull out of town, leaving abandoned houses and boarded up businesses behind.

They can rename Santa Fe as Nueva Espanola.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to LANS.

Welcome to LANS.

Welcome to LANS.

Welcome to..WAIT,You're not a manager! Get the hell out of here.

Welcome to LANS.

Welcome to LANS.

Anonymous said...

11/27/07 8:49 PM - Try Nueva Los Alamos. I go to the Walmart and Lowes in Espanola almost every week.

Take heart, Metzgers in Los Alamos has finally decided to open on Sunday's!

Anonymous said...

8:01 PM ... "I'm not leaving since LANS promised me Marie would save the lab!"

Yeah, now that is f*cked up. A facility in search of a mission and funding. MaRIE has NO funding!!!

Anonymous said...

From the email:
> Finally, I urge you to engage your
> leadership chain with your issues
> and questions.

Yeah, that's been working out real nice, so far.

Anonymous said...

Assume 30 year employee with $120 K salary who is a double-dipper getting $10 K yearly LANS match to their 401K. Severence of 39 weeks would give them 72% of salary ($86 K cashout). That equals roughly 8 more years of working at LANL to achieve the same amount using the LANS 401K match. Their UCRP lock-in has already secured them a nice monthly pension equal to around 75% of their previous UC/LANL salary. They probably have a significant amount already built up in their 403b/401k accounts, say around $400 K. A modest 7.5% return on that $486 K cash horde would give them an extra $36 K per year to live on in addition to the current $90 K they get from UCRP. This comes out to $126 K per year, which is more than they are currently earning from their LANS salary.

Will they take the voluntary offer and begin living the stress-free easy life before the Grim Reaper arrives at their door?

I guess we'll soon find out.

Anonymous said...

"engage your leadership" maybe we need somebody like my old Sarge who explained to us grunts that the Captain didn't mean get married when he said engage the enemy. Wonder what LANS means?

Anonymous said...

11/28/07 4:51 AM, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it involves bending over with your pants around your ankles.

Anonymous said...

Intelligent comments seem to be hard to come up with when going on such limited information.
"Welcome to LANS...blah"

Anonymous said...

Flint Michigan.....

Anonymous said...

This voluntary RIF is nicely set up to assure that the only people who will volunteer are those who were going to retire anyway. All will have >20 years' length of service and will be at high salaries relative to their peers. This virtually assures that a maximum amount of severance and vacation balance will be paid.

Of course, most of these will be TSMs and TECs who are direct funded. So, we will have a higher proportion of people on overhead and thus increased ovehead rates.

So, as we can see LANS had done nothing with respect to:

1. Managing the makeup of the workforce such that we have a workforce that is consitent with the Laboratory's mission.

2. Implementing any efficiencies to reduce our obscene overhead rate.

3. Postion the Laboratory for diversification of it's work.

SO, then why in the hell is LANS being paid $70M more than UC was?

Gussie Fink-Nottle said...

$71 million more, 10:18, but what's a million or so, more or less, amongst friends?

-Gus

Anonymous said...

If you're deemed "ineligible" for the SSP, does that mean you're ineligible for the involuntary RIF to come?

Anonymous said...

11:15 am - Yep that's what it means.

By Directorate, the following list of exclusions (cannot volunteer):

DIR -

8 LAWYERS
3 PATENT SUPPORT GURUS

PADSTE -

12 (project leaders, tech transfer)

PAPWP -

None

PADOPS -

None

ADBS -

63 PROCUREMENT SPECIALISTS
4 DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MANAGERS

Anonymous said...

12:22 - Are these exclusions by actual job series classifications or working titles?

Anonymous said...

Are these specific/targeted individuals LANS has designated for retention or full groups of entire classifications?

Anonymous said...

SSP is Self SELECT Program!? Darn, I've gotten real bad with all these acronyms, I thought it was Self SUICIDE Program even though that would be redundant and repetitive, not to mention saying the same thing twice.

Anonymous said...

Well, did the letters go out? Were people notified of their status (re:eligible or not?). What are the terms of the severance? I was expected some big news from you guys today....what happened?

Anonymous said...

I bet $20 internet dollars that less than 1.5% of the workforce takes the SS. It only makes sense if you are a year or so from retirement, or are waiting for a excuse to desert ship. It just doesn't make up what is lost by waiting a few years for others. Run the numbers.

However, now that they've dropped the prohibition from voluntary separation incentives from Lab policies, a 3+3 will do the trick, freeing up 2.5%-3% early, preserving young talent and making happy campers of everyone.

For a lousy few $Million per year, less than a % of the current budget, all can be made well again.

Sounds pretty smart now doesn't it? Time to pony up NNSA.

For $2B/year you get a screwed-up situation that makes you look like fools. For $2.01 B/year you get bliss and a Public Service medal.