Volume 2005, Issue 3
October 13, 2005

Working in IIa

How Does My Money Look?

From IIa Human Resources

Have you seen the show How Do I Look?on the Style Network?  The show’s premise is that a “friend” can request a makeover for you.  Stylists, and sometimes relatives, completely makeover the target to a more beautiful/handsome version who is thus better prepared to face the world.  Of course, thanks to the makeover, everyone apparently lives happily ever after.

Alliance Benefit’s Group’s (ABG’s) client web site (www.abgil.com) has also undergone a makeover.  The result is an easy-to-follow, extremely informative, user-friendly resource you can use to manage your 401(k) account.  Although they don’t promise “happily ever after” for your money, they do provide many new or enhanced features to give you better, more convenient access to your account, and to assist your investment decisions.

Some selections you should take advantage of on your personalized participant’s site include:

• Account Summary – enables you to view your account by source of funds (deferral, match, and safe harbor), investments, transaction history, loan activity, and personal contact information.
• Transactions – allows you to view your investment elections, to select automatic re-balancing of your investment types, to model a loan, and to view pending activity on your account.
• Personal Performance of Your Account – allows you to print a statement on demand, view your rate of return, to view your investment performance compared to the market, to see your cumulative returns, and activity summary by investments.
• Planning and Advice – gives you access to Guidance Plus and a retirement workbook, and allows you to make account projections .
• Reference Material – gives you a plan highlights page, additional information on fund performance, and the always-important fund prospectuses.

Take a look and see how the ABG web site has changed to help you and your 401(k) account look more attractive and better prepared to help you manage your finances.

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Employee Awards Program

In September, IIa recognized 11 employees for their work during the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Employees were nominated for awards by Executive Committee members. The full Executive Committee then met to decide on the list of awardees, which follows:

• June Crowe, Corporate Office, for excellence in project work leading to a contract award.
• Jim Doherty, Langley AFB, for superior customer service.
• Lorraine DiCecco, Langley AFB, for developing a new service for military staff in the Middle East.
• Elizabeth Dickerson, Corporate Office, for teamwork and innovation.
• Susanne Dupes, Corporate Office, for corporate image and excellence.
• Steve Freiherr, DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information, for outstanding performance.
• Nichole Kallas, USGS Office, for quality.
• Emily Moore, Arnold AFB, for dedication and willingness to tackle any assignment.
• Vicky Stever, Eglin AFB, for excellence in project management leading to Air Force recognition for IIa.
• Lance Vowell, DOE OSTI, for excellence.
• Kent Turner, Arnold AFB, for excellence.

Employee awards for 2005-2006 will be determined based on a criteria that will be distributed in early November.

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About That Time Sheet

Our Finance Department is pleased to announce that a ll employees are now using the Deltek Time Collection’s electronic time sheets and the process is running very smoothly. Time Collection replaced an Excel-based system that was phased in between February of 2004 and May of 2005. The new system has considerably reduced processing time, with a lower incidence of errors as well as direct download of hours into the accounting system. According to Heather Castleberry, senior accounting manager, e mployees seem very satisfied with the ease and convenience of the electronic system.

Time Sheet Tips:

• Fill in your time sheet every day. Daily time keeping is required by government regulations.
• Create a desktop shortcut for the login (https://www2.infointl.com/tc4/dhtml/tc4.html) and/or save the link in your favorites.
• Check your sick & vacation leave balances by going to “Options – Leave Inquiry” after you log in.
• Use the “Import Charges” button on the toolbar to copy last month’s charge codes to the new time sheet period.
• Use the “Comments” button to add a comment if you feel that it will provide clarification for you, your supervisor, or the accounting staff.
• You can record leave hours in advance on your time sheet .
• Create reminders in Outlook or any other method that will alert you that the due date for signature is approaching.
• Remind your coworkers when you realize that the due date is approaching. Work as a team.

Get time sheet questions or problems resolved early. If you have questions, you can send them to payroll@iiaweb.com.

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Listen Up!

Listening is a skill—and a very important one in work-life. Being a good listener can make or break a career. Here are a few thoughts and facts about listening:

• Television and radio have brought the importance of listening back to the world.
• In today’s world, listening is essential to the well­being and survival of the individual.
• Most people can’t seem to find the energy to listen to what you’re saying unless they already feel like you have listened to them.
• If a person feels like he’s being listened to, he will feel accepted and appreciated rather than isolated and rejected.
• Being a generous listener gives a person a sense of well-being.

When we feel we are being listened to, it makes us feel like we are being taken seriously and what we say really matters.

Some listening gaffes to avoid:

• Interrupting.
• Avoiding eye contact.
• Rushing the speaker.
• Letting your attention wander.
• Rushing ahead and finishing the speaker’s thoughts.
• Not responding when appropriate.
• Use of negating phrases such as “yes, but…”
• Trying to top the speaker’s story.
• Forgetting what the speaker has already told you.
• Asking about too many details.

—adapted from the International Listening Association web site

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Some Tomfoolery

An April Fool’s Story

It was the spring of 2003. I n the previous year, IIa’s corporate staff had almost doubled in size, so there were several ‘relatively new employees’ working and interacting almost daily with the e xecutive staff. Heather Castleberry, accounting, began in 1999; Franciel Azpurua-Linares and Emily Medley, both NBII, came on board in 2000; in 2002, Shelaine Curd (Hetrick), NBII, and Elizabeth Dickerson, accounting, joined the staff. Everybody was busy...Shelaine was planning a wedding; Emily, Franciel, and Shelaine were often on the road with Bonnie Carroll; and Heather and Elizabeth were working to keep up with the new load of employees and projects. Even with all that, there was still a little time for scheming. While reviewing the executive calendar one March day, it dawned on them that Bonnie would be in the office on April Fool’s day. What an opportunity! So a little scheme unfolded.

You may have received an IIa birthday card signed by employees at the Corporate Office. We also sign cards for other life events. So, using that as their main tool, the five pranksters decided to hoax the executives by claiming to all be pregnant at the same time. They bought and got all the staff members to sign “New Baby” congratulations cards and put all five of them in a folder to be routed for signature to the executive staff on April 1...and they bravely started with Bonnie.

At 9:30 on April Fool’s morning, the whole office minus the executives, gathered in the hallway to listen for a reaction when Kathryn delivered a regular “sign these cards” folder to Bonnie with instructions that they had to get out right away. Kathryn stepped out into the hallway to wait with everyone else. In just moments, there were gasps, a pause, then the intercom “Kathryn, Kathryn ….”, and the whole April’s Fools gang burst into Bonnie’s office to take credit for their well-played prank. But it didn’t end there. Ms. Carroll herself is a bit of a prankster. Since none of the other executives were in on the joke, Bonnie personally took the cards to each of them and very seriously asked, “Have you seen these?”

But what started as a joke has now by and large come to pass. Four out of the five pranksters (Heather, Franciel, Emily, and Shelaine) have since become first-time moms. Emily left IIa last year to follow her military husband to Germany. She was in town recently and the April Fool’s Gang (and their offspring, pictured) had a reunion lunch at the office.

The Baby Fun Continues

In August, another opportunity for fun presented itself when we learned that Bonnie was expecting her in-laws for a visit, complete with a toddler and an infant. When Bonnie put out a request to borrow baby items, it was short work to decide to give her a surprise shower. But the surprise was on us.

The morning of the shower, Bonnie mentioned to Terri Lloyd, her assistant, that since they didn’t get any “loaners,” she and her husband Roy had purchased all the things they needed for the children the previous weekend. To cancel or not to cancel the shower? When we told Bonnie that she was pooping our party, she was delighted at the idea and the shower went forward. She came to the shower with her own surprise. (In case you are wondering, that’s a Mylar balloon under her shirt!)

Who Are They?

Have a little fun with our employee crossword puzzle. The employees included in the puzzle (last name only) are: Franciel Azpurua, Bonnie Carroll, Mischele DeVos, Lorraine DiCecco, DedeHaynes, Shelaine Hetrick, Maryhelen Jones, Uthra Rao, Daniel Redmon, John Rumble, Bob Rutkowski, Claudene Schaetzle, Jessica Smith, Kirk Stoye, and Crispen Wilson. Use last names only to fill in the puzzle answers.

Get your name included in the next crossword puzzle. Send us two or three bits of information about yourself to Infoedge@iiaweb.com and watch for your name to become a puzzle answer. Watch your IIa e-mail for answers to this puzzle.