(ghostwritten for NSD President Mike Fraser by Laurie Stahl)

When someone who helped you with an issue gave that extra 10 percent of support, did you thank him or her for it afterward? Quite often, we go about our daily job responsibilities and forget to recognize people for their contributions and successes. There are various ways that a company can recognize an employee for working those extra hours to meet a deadline, or for keeping a positive attitude through a particularly stressful situation with a customer, or for helping a fellow employee resolve a problem. Certainly a monetary award is the first thing that comes to mind, and USIS has various methods for doing that, including eReward$ and the Special Recognition Bonus. There are also several non-monetary methods for expressing our appreciation to an employee for a job well done; don’t forget that a simple pat on the back or “Thank You” goes a long way toward making employees feel they are appreciated.

Recognition is a key piece of NSD’s effort to improve retention rates. We value our employees highly and want to make NSD a great place to work and build a career; in fact, our retention rates have improved by 50 percent over the past three years. You’ll read about the details of these efforts in this issue’s article on retention.

The Productivity Improvement Council (PIC) is working hard to continue to improve NSD’s processes and procedures by getting feedback directly from employees in all areas. Their latest initiatives have been met with enthusiasm, especially by Program Managers, whose needs were the focus of two recent working sessions. Read about all the PIC’s accomplishments to date in two separate PIC articles in this issue.

I am proud of the efforts that NSD employees have put forth to satisfy their customers’ missions while remaining focused on improving productivity and the processes that help make USIS a more efficient and competitive company in the marketplace. My challenge is to the Program Managers and other leaders in the division to be vigilant when it comes to employee recognition and to ensure that extra efforts never go unnoticed. As we strive to keep USIS ahead of the competition in terms of work environment and career opportunities, we must remember that our employees, due to their experience and security clearances, have many other opportunities.

I’m very proud to be leading an organization full of talented and mission-oriented individuals who give 110 percent every day they come to work. Implementing a fair and robust recognition and rewards program as a key retention strategy is critical to the future of our company.

© 2008 USIS