The safety and the well-being of our workforce remain UCOR’s top focus as we deliver on our Cleanup Today for a Nuclear Tomorrow™ initiative. We maintain an open door policy and several communication channels to ensure all members of the workforce have options to provide feedback and raise concerns without fear of reprisal.
To enhance these efforts, UCOR is merging its Labor Ombudsman and Employee Concerns roles into a UCOR Workforce Ombudsman and Concerns
Manager position, effective immediately. Vanessa Holsomback will serve in this role, and she will continue to report to UCOR Chief of Staff Jamie Standridge to ensure program support within the Office of the President. This ombudsman role will be available to the entire workforce—not just the manual/labor side. By combining these two roles, we believe it will provide the following benefits:
- Streamlined employee support: Employees have a single, clear point of contact for a wide range of workplace issues, from informal to formal concerns. This change simplifies the process for employees seeking assistance and will reduce confusion about where to go for help.
- Holistic understanding and resolution of workplace issues: A single individual performing both roles has a more comprehensive perspective on the overall health of the workforce and can identify recurring themes or systemic problems that might otherwise be missed if the roles were performed separately. This view can lead to integrated solutions to address individual cases, mitigate conflict, and lead to effectively identifying and performing root cause analysis as well as proactive problem-solving.
- Increased trust, confidentiality, and credibility: Employees may feel more comfortable approaching a single, trusted individual with sensitive issues, knowing that their concerns will be handled comprehensively and confidentially within one office. This can encourage earlier reporting of issues, potentially preventing escalation.
- Improved data and trend analysis: This change facilitates better tracking of trends, identification of hot spots, and proactive analysis of workplace climate. This position will manage case intake, investigation, mediation, and resolution processes for a broader spectrum of employee issues.
- Efficiency in resource utilization: Rather than having two separate functions with potentially overlapping responsibilities or communication challenges, a combined role can lead to more efficient use of resources and processes.
- Consistent approach to conflict resolution: This structure ensures a consistent philosophy and methodology in addressing employee concerns and promoting fairness and consistency across the organization.
- Strategic insight for leadership: This role is uniquely positioned to provide strategic feedback to leadership on employee morale, potential risks, and areas requiring organizational improvement, drawing from a broad base of employee interactions.
- Faster resolution: With a single individual managing both aspects, there can be a reduction in hand-offs between different departments or individuals, potentially speeding up the resolution of employee concerns and workplace issues.
Please congratulate and support Vanessa in this new role. You may contact her at vanessa.holsomback@orcc.doe.gov, 865-576-1277 (office) or 423-667-3887 (cell).
Best Regards,
Ken Rueter
UCOR President & Chief Executive Officer
