May 17, 2009

Compa Information

Frank,
You may find this interesting as you read their web page you find LANS has struck again as they are former BECHTEL employees that own this company.
COMPA is an award winning, family owned and operated business. Its current CEO is Ms. Edna Lopez. COMPA was originally founded by Rene Laform Lopez in 1986. Rene was a nuclear engineer, who worked for the Bechtel Group on multiple national and international power plant projects, until he decided to start his own business in 1986. Based on the core value of family, the business was named COMPA. The word "COMPA" comes from the Spanish word "compadre," which literally means "co-parent." The original partners of COMPA were a tight group of friends, who celebrated major family events and holidays with each other and even served as godparents for each other's children, hence COMPAs. As the business struggled in the early years, Rene’s partners eventually bowed out and left the dream to Rene and Edna. Always wanting to return to their native Southwest, the family Lopez moved the COMPA's headquarters to Albuquerque where the business continues today.
Preliminary review will mean a reduction in compensation as their 401k retirement is less than half what COMFORCE has me on.
-Anonymous
http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/
Subject: Compa Information
Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 16:06:26 -0600
From: "Terry McCabe"
To: "daniel jensenlopez" , "David R. Lopez" , "Edna Lopez" , "Michael R. Lopez"
Cc: "Mary E. Elliott" , , "Chaires, Armando R" , "Elizabeth J. Auchampaugh (Liz)" ,

To all staff augmentation contract employees at LANL:

Wishing you a warm greeting form the staff at Compa Industries.

As you may have heard, Los Alamos National Laboratory has recently issued a new contract to COMPA Industries to provide Workforce Management Solution (WMS) for contract labor. All of the current staff augmentation contracts currently held at LANL will be consolidated under this one new subcontract. What this means is that at the contract transition, which is scheduled for the week of June 28th, your assignment as a staff augmentation employee will be transitioned to the new Compa contract.

To keep you updated on the status of the transition and general information, we have set up a Compa transition web page at http://web.compa.com/lanl/index.html Please reference this web page for updated information including upcoming events in the transition. As we get more questions from the contract employees we will be posting them on the web site for your reference. We recognize that this change in contracts may bring questions and concerns about your specific job and how it will affect your employment status. We will do our best to answer your questions and provide a smooth transition.

We look forward meeting you personally and working with you in the future.
Terry McCabe
Program Manager
Los Alamos Operations

COMPA Industries
1350 Central Avenue, Suite 201
Los Alamos, NM 87544
505.662.2500 Office
505.662.3500 Fax
505.550-5003 Cell
at

26 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/17/09, 8:56 PM

    Whatever happened to Sumner Associates? I thought that they were the ones performing contract services for LANL?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5/17/09, 9:26 PM

    8:56 pm, Compa also translates into "friends and family plan"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5/17/09, 10:35 PM

    In the end, all employees working at LANL, whether subcontracted or working directly for LANS, will be low-balled. The LANS setup only exists to benefit those at the very top -- Mike, his Dep. Director and the PADs and ADs. The rest are expendable and can leave if they aren't happy.

    In fact, Mike wants you all to leave so he can meet his new 5% attrition rate goal and satisfy the NNSA. As many others have said, it's all about the PBIs and nothing else. Get out if you can and make Mike's day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5/18/09, 5:34 AM

    and COMPA's 401K and vacation/sick benefits SUCK compared to what Butler and Comforce offered....

    So what's the kickback to LANS?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous5/18/09, 8:00 AM

    Does this mean the companies such as COMFORCE and BUTLER have lost their contracts?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5/18/09, 8:47 AM

    "Wishing you a warm greeting form the staff at Compa Industries."

    Form??? If this is their initial communication, scary as to the quality that is to come.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous5/18/09, 10:47 AM

    Forget about the mis-spellings in the initial letter of greeting to their new employees. The important questions is... will COMPA be helping LANS to reach their long sought goal of a lab-wide Work Free Safety Zone?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous5/18/09, 11:36 AM

    When you see creepy sounding corporate-speak phrases like this one from the COMPA web site, you know that you need to start worrying:

    =
    COMPA prides itself as being “an Employer of Choice.” It is our employee focused philosophy, family-like community, and commitment to customer service and project management that has allowed us to enjoy such success.
    =

    Translation: We will treat you like kids and reduce your monthly allowance. You have no other choice. Now, shut up and eat your lima beans. Oh, and Grandpa needs his toenails cut and his balls washed. Get to it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5/18/09, 11:47 AM

    Hmmm, where have I heard this name Bechtel before?...


    Nuclear cleanup awards questioned

    Firms cited for errors get funding via the U.S. stimulus package

    Washington Post, May 18, 2009

    WASHINGTON - A private company was being paid $300 million by the federal government to clean up radioactive waste at two abandoned Cold War plants in Tennessee when an ironworker crashed through a rotted floor. That prompted a major safety review, which ended up forcing work to an abrupt halt, and the project was shut down for months. The delay and a host of other problems caused cost estimates to rise, eventually hitting $781 million.

    Now, President Obama's stimulus package is opening a bountiful stream of new funding, and the same contractor, Bechtel Jacobs, is slated to get $118 million to help complete the job.

    The Energy Department has begun releasing more than $6 billion in stimulus money to clean up 18 nuclear sites from New York to California, more than doubling the typical yearly funding for the program. Contractors helped shape the stimulus package and are lined up to get the work, including many that have been cited for serious safety violations and costly mistakes.

    The contracts -- along with much broader problems in the department's nuclear cleanup program -- have prompted rare, sharply worded warnings from some government officials and lawmakers who say the stimulus funding is ripe for abuse....

    www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30802203/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous5/18/09, 5:41 PM

    You mean no racist remarks? Let the new Obama Administration know what you really are!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous5/18/09, 6:44 PM

    You will be absorbed.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous5/18/09, 6:48 PM

    Speak, compadre, and you shall enter.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous5/18/09, 8:11 PM

    5:41 pm: "You mean no racist remarks? Let the new Obama Administration know what you really are!"

    You sound awfully disappointed. Was your tidy little world view disrupted? I guess the "new Obama Administration" will have to find it's self-validation elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous5/18/09, 10:55 PM

    Come meet EJ and the Lopez family clan:

    www.compa.com/index.php/
    compa-leadership-profiles.html

    Yeap, it looks like the ol' friends and family plan, for sure. Should fit like a glove at Los Alamos.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous5/19/09, 5:53 AM

    5/18/09 8:11 PM

    All they have to do is read previous comments on this blog. Although, since January you've cleaned up your act!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous5/19/09, 12:01 PM

    Perhaps NNSA and LANS should be closely monitoring the exodus of what's left of intellectual integrity at LANL like Google does with their innovative algorithms. Nah, who cares, right? It's all about cleanup and construction with Bechtel running the show...

    -----
    Google Searches for Staffing Answers

    Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2009

    By SCOTT MORRISON

    Concerned a brain drain could hurt its long-term ability to compete, Google Inc. is tackling the problem with its typical tool: an algorithm.

    The Internet search giant recently began crunching data from employee reviews and promotion and pay histories in a mathematical formula Google says can identify which of its 20,000 employees are most likely to quit.

    Google officials are reluctant to share details of the formula, which is still being tested. The inputs include information from surveys and peer reviews, and Google says the algorithm already has identified employees who felt underused, a key complaint among those who contemplate leaving.

    Applying a complex equation to a basic human-resource problem is pure Google, a company that made using heavy data to drive decisions one of its "Ten Golden Rules" outlined in 2005.

    Edward Lawler, director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California, said Google is one of a few companies that are early in taking a more quantitative approach to personnel decisions.

    "They are clearly ahead of the curve, but a lot of companies are waking up to the fact that there is a lot of modeling that can provide you with critical data on human capital," Mr. Lawler said.

    The move is one of a series Google has made to prevent its most promising engineers, designers and sales executives from leaving at a time when its once-powerful draws -- a start-up atmosphere and soaring stock price -- have been diluted by its growing size. The data crunching supplements more traditional measures like employee training and leadership meetings to evaluate talent.

    Google's algorithm helps the company "get inside people's heads even before they know they might leave," said Laszlo Bock, who runs human resources for the company.

    Concerns about a talent exodus have revived in recent weeks amid the departures of top executives, including advertising sales boss Tim Armstrong and display-advertising chief David Rosenblatt. Meanwhile, midlevel employees like lead designer Doug Bowman, engineering director Steve Horowitz and search-quality chief Santosh Jayaram continue to decamp to hot start-ups like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.

    Current and former Googlers said the company is losing talent because some employees feel they can't make the same impact as the company matures. Several said Google provides little formal career planning, and some found the company's human-resources programs too impersonal.

    "They need to come up with ways to keep people engaged," said Valerie Frederickson, a Silicon Valley personnel consultant who has worked with former Google employees. "If Google was doing this enough, they wouldn't be losing all these people."

    Google spokesman Matt Furman said the chance to contribute to "constant and often amazing innovation" keeps employees engaged. The company is determined to retain top product managers and engineers.

    Google wouldn't say how many people have left, but says it has managed to hang on to its most important staffers. "We haven't seen the most critical people leave," Mr. Bock said.

    http://online.wsj.com/
    article/SB124269038041932531.html

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous5/19/09, 4:00 PM

    Why does the lab STILL have contract employees at all? If a job lasts more than 6 months it should be converted to a regular position. I know many contractors at LANL who have worked at LANL for over a decade as contractors. And zero service credit!

    The infamous and worthless "Contingent Worker Project" was halted about a third of the way through (savings of $32M !!!! they screamed) by the Nanos Stand Down. It never started up again.

    Now, all these years later, LANS is still screwing around with contract workers who should have been converted YEARS ago.

    So what's the monetary incentive? What's the kickback from COMPA?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous5/19/09, 5:34 PM

    Anonymous at 5/19/09 4:00 PM asks:

    "Why does the lab STILL have contract employees at all?"

    There are lots of reasons for the continuance of contract workers. In fact, many prefer that. Those are the ones who work as contractors, taking their compensation almost entirely in salary while their spouse is a LANS employee in order to get medical benefits.

    Six months is too short a time for many contractor positions. LANL does have one to two year needs and
    contractors can meet them.

    And, like it or not, there are many
    individuals who are working as contractors but whom I certainly would not consider for permanent employment.

    The contractors often complain about thier lot, but they are all welcome to apply for regular employment. In fact, over a 25 year period, I hired about 20 contractors and ALL of them ended up as permanent employees, but not in my group as we did not have long-term needs.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous5/19/09, 10:53 PM

    "Google wouldn't say how many people have left, but says it has managed to hang on to its most important staffers. "We haven't seen the most critical people leave," Mr. Bock said."

    Meanwhile, back at LANL, no such luck. And with the local housing market beginning to heat up with sales, the little bit of top expertise that's still left may not be around for much longer. Mikey may well get his much hoped for 5% attrition rate.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous5/19/09, 11:21 PM

    Does COMPA hand out whole burritos or just half sized burritos to reward their best workers?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous5/20/09, 4:15 AM

    There are always exceptions, but the majority of contract workers, and I'm talking SSM series, probably would prefer regular employment with lab benefits. Five years, or ten, or more is a ridiculous term to serve without getting service credit. Funny how the KSL people were all "converted" a few months ago, but we still have about a thousand other contractors who now take cuts in benefits through COMPA.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous5/20/09, 6:47 AM

    Why are people upset about LANS "taking care of their own"? There have been many instances of GLs and DLs getting their buddies and former business associates business at the lab long before LANS came around. Most of the time this has just been taxpayer money going down the drain.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous5/20/09, 11:24 AM

    Implementation of LANL's policy regarding sub-contractor usage seems totally bizarre. There is no rhyme nor reason to any of it. What's the grand plan? It seems to shift with the winds with each passing month.

    Does anyone in LANS upper management truly know what they are doing in terms of adequately managing the lab's workforce? From what I've witnessed so far, it appears not.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous5/20/09, 10:19 PM

    "Does anyone in LANS upper management truly know what they are doing in terms of adequately managing the lab's workforce?" - 11:24 AM

    Sure they do. They want 5% of the LANL workforce to leave by the end of next year. The sooner the better. They don't seem to care too much about the nature of the skills of those who leave, just that they make that golden 5% number so they can claim they've meet the latest NNSA management metrics.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous5/21/09, 11:30 AM

    What this place needs is another one of those great LANS festival with free hot dogs and sodas to help cheer everybody up. Oh, and don't forget to bring in some of those famous half sized burritos, Mike.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous5/27/09, 4:27 AM

    Just the first step towards outsourcing your job and mine!

    Can you say "would you like some fries with that shake"?

    ReplyDelete

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