Fermilab Today

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

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Tue., May 29
12:00 p.m.
Summer Lecture Series - 1 West
Speaker: A. Kolb, Fermilab
Title: History of Fermilab
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

Wed., May 30
THERE WILL BE NO FERMILAB ILC R&D MEETING THIS WEEK
2:30 p.m.
Special Particle Astrophysics Seminar - Comitium (NOTE DATE & LOCATION)
Speaker: C. Lunardini, University of Washington
Title: The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4:00 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - Curia II (NOTE LOCATION)
Speaker: S. Mele, CERN
Title: Demystifying Open Access

Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

Partly cloudy 89°/61°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Secon Level 3

Tuesday, May 29
- Golden broccoli & cheese
- Cheesy greek squeeze
- Coconut crusted tilapia
- Spaghetti w/meatballs
- *Toasted almond chicken salad on croissant
- Assorted pizza slices
- Chicken fajitas

*Carb Restricted Alternative

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Wednesday, May 30
Lunch
- Pad thai salad w/shrimp & green onions
- Cabbage, red pepper & carrots
- Coconut flan

Thursday, May 31
Dinner
- Smoked salmon napoleon
- Veal saltimbocca
- Orzo w/pine nuts, arugula & parmesan
- Steamed asparagus
- Olive oil, orange & almond cake

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

Fermilab Today
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Fermilab Today
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www.fnal.gov/today/

Send comments and suggestions to:
today@fnal.gov

Fermilab fine-tunes salary review process

This fall, Fermilab managers and supervisors will have more flexibility as they award pay increases to employees as part of the Fermilab annual salary review. At the same time, they will take on the responsibility to balance the pay-increase budget allotted to divisions and sections. The foundation of the system remains "pay for performance" and focuses on the management of employees' salaries, keeping them competitive in the job market.

Each year the Department of Energy approves the total amount of money that the lab can distribute as salary increases. Individual salary increases are then based on the annual performance rating and the current salary that an employee receives.

Last year's individual salary increases were rigorously based on two factors: each employee's review rating and the pay zone (1, 2 or 3) within which his or her salary fell. (The compensation office provides more information on pay grades and pay zones here.) These factors precisely determined the percent of the salary increase.

Based on feedback received from managers, the old system was too rigid and did not allow for effective management of compensation at the laboratory. Fermilab is modifying the system to provide divisions and sections with more flexibility in awarding pay increases while requiring them to stay within the allotted pay-increase budget.

This year, performance rating and pay zone for each employee will be used to produce, in percent, a pay increase range rather than a rigid number. This table, accessible from lab computers, shows how the ranges are calculated from the target pay increase approved by DOE.

Within these ranges, individual pay raises will be determined by supervisors and managers based on the details of each employee's performance review. This allows managers to fine-tune pay increases while staying within the pay-increase budget, in dollars, allotted to the divisions and sections.

Employees will have the opportunity to learn more about the new salary review system at town hall meetings to be held in July (dates to be announced in Fermilab Today). Managers and supervisors will receive training on the new system in 45-minute training sessions scheduled for June 14, 15 and 25. Managers and supervisors can sign up for these training sessions here.

Busy bee

Although the dissapearance of the nation's bees has made press in recent weeks, this honeybee was busy at work among the flowers in front of the East Booster Tower during lunch on Friday. Image submitted by Greg Vogel AD/Controls.

From American Institute of Physics, May 18, 2007

Polar Ice May Yield Secrets of the Universe

ANTARCTICA, May 24, 2007 -- A $272 million telescope buried more than a mile-and-a-half below the ice at the "bottom of the world" is expected to provide new information about some of the universe's biggest mysteries.

"IceCube," which recently concluded its third year of construction at the South Pole, is a telescope for detecting mysterious high-energy subatomic particles called neutrinos. Traveling close to the speed of light, lacking electric charge and nearly massless, neutrinos can pass through ordinary matter -- such as planets -- almost undisturbed, making them extremely difficult to detect.

Neutrinos are produced by the decay of radioactive elements and elementary particles, such as in nuclear reactors, nuclear reactions in the sun, or when cosmic rays hit atoms. They are also formed during cataclysmic events, such as a star exploding or galaxies colliding. Scientists estimate that a majority of the neutrinos in existence were created around 15 billions years ago, soon after the birth of the universe.

Read more

Compensation

Pier Oddone

A critical component of a well-functioning organization is the compensation system, both the principles that underlie it and how it is carried out. Last year we took a significant step when we modified the compensation system at Fermilab. The previous system was difficult for peer reviewers to understand.

We are much better off as an institution to have adopted a new system of compensation that is transparent in its application to both employees and the DOE. The new system is tuned to the market, establishes a fair compensation for performance, and allows us to attract and retain the best performers.

Our process starts with a market analysis of salaries at comparable institutions. Based on this analysis we propose an average salary adjustment to the DOE each year. The DOE may accept this analysis or may substitute its own number.

Based on the final, approved dollar amount we establish guidelines for divisions and sections on how to distribute the raises so that we drive toward a fair compensation system. To do this we must manage salaries. Annual raises and promotions are tools we have to achieve a fair distribution of salaries for our people.

In years past there was a two-step process - a raise in October tied to the annual performance review and a "merit raise" applied by division heads and section heads later in the year to a subset of employees. In the new system established last year we make all adjustments in one step, once a year. The salary of an individual will be adjusted not only based on the annual performance but also on the salary the employee already receives. An outstanding salary will require an outstanding performance to stay near the top of the pay range for this particular job. For someone compensated at the lower end of the pay range, an outstanding rating in performance will lead to a higher percentage raise.

Our experience last year showed that the new system was too rigid. This year we have adjusted the system to have more flexibility and allow managers to deal with the many complex issues that arise when we try to achieve a fair compensation system. The accompanying article in this issue of Fermilab Today gives more details on the implementation for this year. In a few weeks we will have training sessions on the new system.

Compensating individual employees for performance is a difficult and important task. I hope that with your help the new implementation will make this task easier and more effective.

May 23 - 25
- Two stores provided 45 hours and 35 minutes of luminosity
- Lithium Lens develops leak
- LRF3 driver fails

Read the Current Accelerator Update
Read the Early Bird Report
View the Tevatron Luminosity Charts

Recycle old eyeglasses
May is the Lions' Club Recycle for Sight month, and your old eyeglasses and sunglasses (prescription or non-prescription) can help those in need. Reading glasses are also valuable. A donation box is located in the atrium near the elevators on the east side.

Retirement counselor onsite Wednesday
Fermilab's Fidelity retirement counselor, Rodney Weems, will be on site on Wednesday, May 30, 2007. If you would like to schedule a retirement counseling appointment, please call 1-800-642-7131. Rodney is available from 9:30 until 3:00.

Introduction to LabVIEW June 6
Gain hands-on experience with LabVIEW on June 6 from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Learn to build, custom test, measurement, and control powerful applications using the intuitive, measurement-specific graphical programming of National Instruments' LabVIEW 8 software. Learn to use LabVIEW graphical development to reduce development time and create flexible applications that easily integrate with thousands of I/O devices from hundreds of vendors. This is a complimentary session conducted by an instructor from National Instruments. Learn more and enroll.

Scottish Country Dancing today
Scottish Country Dancing will meet Tuesday, May 29, at Kuhn Barn on the Fermilab site. Instruction begins at 7:30 p.m. and newcomers are always welcome. Most dances are fully taught and walked through, and you do not need to come with a partner. The group will move to Ramsey Auditorium for the summer beginning June 12. Call 630-840-8194 or 630-584-0825 or email for more info.

Additional Activities