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Sunday, July 6, 2014
Exodus. at LLNL
Can anybody comment on the continued exit of Lab employees a year after the Voluntary Separation? Have any numbers?
28 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Someone must have numbers for this. Parney talked about the continuing exodus shortly before he resigned last year.
How else are they going to reduce the head count to match the diminishing mission importance and poor future funding prospects? The exodus is a success for finance at LLNL.
I am willing to wager those who left were not managers. If so, the management bloat is getting so huge they may need to layoff more workers. Oh wait, that is not how it is supposed to work. Although I have not seen many leave in my division, I heard they were sending surveys to people about how to retain younger employees. So I gathered elsewhere people must be leaving in droves. My suggestion, add another layer of management, call them the younger worker retention division with an AD, PM, PL and APL. Have the APL's manage one employee. Seems to work for other APL's I have seen. Set up a separate division call office of strategic retention outcomes. Assign them to raise funds for employee retention. No worries, they don't actually have to raise funds to keep their jobs, they are just for show and someplace to spend lab resources. Now here is the brilliant part: this will cut the funds available for younger workers to do their projects which will give them new challenges in finding enough cash to do their work and support these new divisions. Younger workers love challenges so this should motivate them to stay : )
Younger workers are replaceable as long as you can attract them, it's the older experienced mid-career workers that the lab can't afford to lose. It would be interesting to see the breakdown.
"...Younger workers are replaceable as long as you can attract them, it's the older experienced mid-career workers that the lab can't afford to lose..."
LLNS can manage to maintain the head count for the revolving door of 401k (TCP2) young workers that seek greener pastures elsewhere. LLNL looks more like a day to day "worker bee" job shop now than a place for a stable long term prosperous and rewarding career.
The potential of a government shutdown and therefore possible Lab shutdown was a wake up and smell the coffee moment for the newer employees. The retirement plan for the post 2007 employee is not better than the real world. The fringe benefits are non existent. The great scientific challenges are more than counter balanced with the bureaucracy one must deal with daily. Job security is gone and the thought that your pay is tied to your performance is soon a victim to the patronage system of management. Mix all of that together and you have the recipe for a mediocre job shop.
Both TCP1 and TCP2 were for pre-transition employees, newer hires get only a 401K that is not nearly as generous as TCP2. And many get "at-will" status too. Who would want to come to LLNL, except maybe as a post-doc to gather experience before moving on?
Who would they work for, the best mentors are either buried in paperwork to ensure procedural compliance, broke and looking for jobs themselves, or gone elsewhere? There isn't much here anymore, NIF sucked the life out of most everything that is not GS, and then imploded itself.
I don't know how LLNL plans to compete. The salaries are not good compared to local tech companies. The benefits aren't even close to tech companies. And as I learned this year you are not paid for performance. Nothing motivates employees like not paying them for exceptional performance. I am quitting myself soon and I simply can't wait. I think the others that quit were for similar reasons, or so they said. I guess LLNL thinks it is a privilege for you to work here and you should be happy with whatever scraps they give you. And for those of us with options, we are voting with our feet. The older employees are locked in, big pensions etc means they will take any abuse heaped on them and will never leave. The younger employees have none of this, so why stay at a place that treats you with contempt? Answer? They don't.
No surprise you have an exodus of valuable employees when LLNS leadership encourages them to step out the door. The 3 stooges approach to "that solves that". "Hey Moe, where did all the golden geese go?".
Milestones can be redefined to compliment a changing landscape, and the need for new employees (churn) creates fresh brokering activity and new "accomplishments" for the multifaceted and colossal hiring organism. Everybody wins! Sorta...
I would rather dig ditches with a shovel than work at the Lab. Oh wait! I am digging ditches now for $5.50 an hour and it is a hell of alot better than listening to whining b*t*hes.
28 comments:
Someone must have numbers for this. Parney talked about the continuing exodus shortly before he resigned last year.
How else are they going to reduce the head count to match the diminishing mission importance and poor future funding prospects? The exodus is a success for finance at LLNL.
I am willing to wager those who left were not managers. If so, the management bloat is getting so huge they may need to layoff more workers. Oh wait, that is not how it is supposed to work. Although I have not seen many leave in my division, I heard they were sending surveys to people about how to retain younger employees. So I gathered elsewhere people must be leaving in droves. My suggestion, add another layer of management, call them the younger worker retention division with an AD, PM, PL and APL. Have the APL's manage one employee. Seems to work for other APL's I have seen. Set up a separate division call office of strategic retention outcomes. Assign them to raise funds for employee retention. No worries, they don't actually have to raise funds to keep their jobs, they are just for show and someplace to spend lab resources. Now here is the brilliant part: this will cut the funds available for younger workers to do their projects which will give them new challenges in finding enough cash to do their work and support these new divisions. Younger workers love challenges so this should motivate them to stay : )
Younger workers are replaceable as long as you can attract them, it's the older experienced mid-career workers that the lab can't afford to lose. It would be interesting to see the breakdown.
"...Younger workers are replaceable as long as you can attract them, it's the older experienced mid-career workers that the lab can't afford to lose..."
LLNS can manage to maintain the head count for the revolving door of 401k (TCP2) young workers that seek greener pastures elsewhere. LLNL looks more like a day to day "worker bee" job shop now than a place for a stable long term prosperous and rewarding career.
The potential of a government shutdown and therefore possible Lab shutdown was a wake up and smell the coffee moment for the newer employees. The retirement plan for the post 2007 employee is not better than the real world. The fringe benefits are non existent. The great scientific challenges are more than counter balanced with the bureaucracy one must deal with daily. Job security is gone and the thought that your pay is tied to your performance is soon a victim to the patronage system of management. Mix all of that together and you have the recipe for a mediocre job shop.
Both TCP1 and TCP2 were for pre-transition employees, newer hires get only a 401K that is not nearly as generous as TCP2. And many get "at-will" status too. Who would want to come to LLNL, except maybe as a post-doc to gather experience before moving on?
"...Who would want to come to LLNL, except maybe as a post-doc to gather experience before moving on?.."
Are we able to get "tier 1" or "cream of the crop" applicants anymore?
Are we able to get "tier 1" or "cream of the crop" applicants anymore?
July 11, 2014 at 8:01 AM
Look around at the new hires. Nope.
Who would they work for, the best mentors are either buried in paperwork to ensure procedural compliance, broke and looking for jobs themselves, or gone elsewhere? There isn't much here anymore, NIF sucked the life out of most everything that is not GS, and then imploded itself.
July 11, 2014 at 10:55 AM
Look around at the new hires. Nope.
---
It was entertaining reading this one, because this has all the hallmarks of a bitter, insecure, loser.
It was entertaining reading this one, because this has all the hallmarks of a bitter, insecure, loser.
July 11, 2014 at 10:46 PM
As opposed to a self-entitled, insecure newcomer?
"...Someone must have numbers for this. Parney talked about the continuing exodus shortly before he resigned last year..."
On or before the last SSVSP was announced, there was a multi-year workforce report in spreadsheet or PDF form in our internal web.
I don't know how LLNL plans to compete. The salaries are not good compared to local tech companies. The benefits aren't even close to tech companies. And as I learned this year you are not paid for performance. Nothing motivates employees like not paying them for exceptional performance. I am quitting myself soon and I simply can't wait. I think the others that quit were for similar reasons, or so they said. I guess LLNL thinks it is a privilege for you to work here and you should be happy with whatever scraps they give you. And for those of us with options, we are voting with our feet. The older employees are locked in, big pensions etc means they will take any abuse heaped on them and will never leave. The younger employees have none of this, so why stay at a place that treats you with contempt? Answer? They don't.
I am quitting myself soon and I simply can't wait.
July 12, 2014 at 6:39 PM
Surely suicide can't be the only answer.
Poster 9:38 pm, you are truly a pathetic person.
The bitter and angry "I hate everyone" B-program bomber is back.
The person who thinks everyone is "bitter and angry" is back.
I'm bitter and angry, and I'm back
OK, then. I'm mad and angry.
Geez, Scooby. You deleted the post that was required to make the punch line work.
The average employee is near or less to industry benefits.
Mangers are truly overpaid at LLNL for their responsibilities.
Bottom line, >$200k in industry has deliverables and pressure, not just placating the masses.
I'm bitter and angry, and I'm back
One letter shy of being racist, so close enough, racist.
No surprise you have an exodus of valuable employees when LLNS leadership encourages them to step out the door. The 3 stooges approach to "that solves that". "Hey Moe, where did all the golden geese go?".
With all these talented golden geese leaving, where's the evidence of LLNL not achieving milestones... not a single ladder fall last week.
Milestones can be redefined to compliment a changing landscape, and the need for new employees (churn)
creates fresh brokering activity and new "accomplishments" for the multifaceted and colossal hiring organism. Everybody wins! Sorta...
I would rather dig ditches with a shovel than work at the Lab. Oh wait! I am digging ditches now for $5.50 an hour and it is a hell of alot better than listening to whining b*t*hes.
POS
If you work at the lab, then you probably don't even have the skills to dig ditches.
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