NAS holds second round of all-hands meetings

  • Published
  • By Bob Pullen
  • NAS Transition Public Affairs
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  National Aerospace Solutions held the second round of all-hands meetings for AEDC employees May 10, 11 and 12 to explain the interviewing and hiring process, and to inform people about the benefits that have been finalized, as well as those that are still in the works.

The transition period hit the halfway point mid-May as NAS moves toward assuming responsibility for the AEDC Test Operations and Sustainment contract.

"We've come a long way in the five and a half weeks since transition began and we couldn't have made it this far without the help of the people here at AEDC," said Cynthia Rivera, NAS general manager. "We are confident, that with your continued help, we will have a successful transition that will enable improvements in the test mission as we move forward."

As with the first all-hands meetings, the main theme of the presentation was People, Processes and Places. Rivera explained how the transition team has been working to ensure that employees at AEDC will have a better understanding of where they fit within NAS through mapping of current positions to the NAS organizational structure.

A large portion of the briefing was spent discussing the interview and hiring process for personnel and what to expect, as well as how people would receive official offers from NAS. Most of the interviews are underway at the Manchester Coffee County Conference Center and will continue until June 1.

Ben Souther, NAS transition manager, gave the briefing on hiring and benefits.
"We want to address some rumors we've heard," Souther said. "We've heard many people think NAS is going to bring in a lot of workers from outside AEDC to run these facilities, but that's just not the case. Less than two percent of the NAS workforce or 20 people will be from other locations. The rest will be hired from the incumbent workforce." 

Employee benefits were also explained to the groups. Many of the benefits, such as health insurance, employee assistance, holidays and more have been settled and will be very close to what employees have now. During the meetings Souther explained that two benefits were listed as "in progress." However, as of May 13 the details of the 401k and paid time off were finalized. Brochures explaining all benefits will be given to people with their offers of employment.

The Processes part of the briefing explained how NAS transition staff are currently reviewing thousands of operating instructions and guidance material to ensure operations continue without impacting mission execution, even though the organizational structure will be different. This action known as "blue sheeting" will most likely continue into July.

Tom Currie, mission execution director for NAS, talked about adjustments in the organizational structure and Jeff Monahan, NAS Engineering functional manager, explained to current engineering employees about the NAS job posting titles compared to existing position titles.

"We have established a mission execution organization to ensure we position the workforce to support AEDC objectives and stream-line operations," Currie said. "We realize these job descriptions will look different to many of you, but we will help guide you in the right direction so you can apply for the position that best suits what you do today."

After the main briefing, smaller breakout sessions were held with the attendees so the various functional managers could better explain to people what positions to apply for under the NAS organizational structure. Handouts were also provided so people would know what to bring to the interviews.

The entire briefing is available in the NAS Announcements folder in the AEDC Contract Transition site on the employee homepage.

NAS will assume responsibility for the TOS contract on July 1.

-AEDC-