A Conversation With: Norm Gookins

Norm Gookins is Vice President of Human Resources and Administration (HR&A). Gookins was appointed to this position in January 2005 and is responsible for providing leadership for all Human Resources activities, including employee relations, staffing, compensation and benefits, training and development, and diversity and compliance. He discusses current and future HR&A initiatives.

UPDATE: Traditionally, most employees see Human Resources’ function as only benefits and staffing. What do you see as HR&A’s role at USA?

GOOKINS: Our primary role is to make sure managers have the tools necessary to attract and retain the talent they need. This ensures our ability to successfully perform the desired work for our customers. However, I envision HR as providing much more than this traditional function. It is imperative that Human Resources remain actively involved in achieving USA’s vision by aligning our initiatives and processes.

For example, we are currently implementing a heavy focus on customer service. The vision that I have set for the HR&A organization is to be a place where employees come to get their questions answered, no matter what the topic or issue. We commit to providing answers promptly, or doing the necessary research, and follow through for each and every employee. This frees our people to maintain focus on their own work, while we resolve their questions.

UPDATE: In the past, USA’s benefits package always scored favorably when compared to other companies. As we move to a new business environment, are we going to be able to maintain the same level of benefits?

GOOKINS: You’re right – our total benefits package compares very well against our competitors. But, as our work and industry role changes, we will have to stay competitive with those companies doing similar work. So, it remains to be seen if we will be able to provide the same level of benefits in the upcoming years. This is something we’re going to have to evaluate regularly, most likely on an annual basis. Depending on the outcome of this evaluation, we may have to modify our package to remain successful.

UPDATE: Rising medical costs is an issue that is frequently in the news. How is USA managing with those costs continuing to increase?

GOOKINS: This is definitely a challenging issue, but one that the entire nation is facing. At USA, we manage rising health care costs through a number of initiatives. First, we acknowledge the importance of wellness. This naturally reduces health care costs, as well as potentially increasing productivity. We are aggressively evaluating wellness programs this year to assist our employees in maintaining healthy lifestyles. In addition, we also offer several health management programs, which help our employees control current health issues and chronic problems. Over the years, we have found these programs to be very cost beneficial.

Finally, we always attempt to minimize health care costs through provider discounts and negotiations. One way we accomplish this is by condensing our provider networks, which, in turn, leads to greater discounts. Another less-preferred way is to pass more of these costs to the employees through increased premiums and/or higher deductibles and copays.

UPDATE: Tell me about career development opportunities at USA?

GOOKINS: We are facing a very exciting future with USA. The country’s new space exploration vision and USA’s new business pursuits will result in redefined opportunities in the upcoming years. The folks with us now are going to be in on the ground floor and be able to learn, grow and develop within this new vision.

Also, as more employees become eligible and retire, this opens the door for others to expand their skills and abilities.

UPDATE: How are the training programs at USA evolving?

GOOKINS: We continue to spend a lot of time and effort on technical training, and those requirements are pretty much driven by the Space Shuttle Program. We have also expanded our employee development programs that focus on interpersonal, managerial and administrative skills. This year we have a new manager of Professional Development, whose job is to focus primarily on successfully implementing these development programs.

The biggest growth area for the next couple of years will be the training required to facilitate the transition of USA’s culture from a one-program organization to a multicustomer, multiprogram company. I think we’ll have to learn how to deal with priorities and conflicts differently within that environment.

UPDATE: Compensation is obviously a very important issue as well. What are the compensation issues that your team will be addressing over the next couple of years?

GOOKINS: The biggest issue to face when dealing with compensation is balancing the need to pay an appropriate rate that keeps the company cost-competitive, while maintaining salaries that will attract and retain employees. HR&A participates in a number of surveys every year to evaluate and, if necessary, adjust our pay rates and salary ranges. We also adopt merit plans to maintain our position in the current market. We always strive to pay wages that help us to win and keep business, as well as attract and retain employees.

UPDATE: From your vantage point, how do you see USA changing over the next five years?

GOOKINS: The next few years will definitely be an exciting and challenging time. We are probably going to be a smaller company than we are now, and USA will have more diverse opportunities as a result of new business. Our current employees may soon have the opportunity to work on multiple disciplines and programs at the same time. This should certainly provide more job enrichment and employee satisfaction.

I view USA’s team as the best workforce in the world. Our employees are extremely professional, very focused, motivated and team-oriented. There isn’t any issue, question or concern we can’t resolve. It is, by far, the best workforce I’ve been associated with over my 30-year career.

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