Far from solving the UK productivity and great resignation crisis – new research reveals that the overuse of collaboration tools like Teams and Zoom during the pandemic have led UK workers to make more mistakes with younger age workers finding the tools causing them to feel disengaged from their company and colleagues. The survey of over 1,000 British workers commissioned by Sapphire Systems reveals workers want employers to invest in helping them work faster, smarter, and simpler. The result could improve productivity, morale, creativity, and company loyalty. The Kantar Research question workers using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco Webex, and it found that 71% of workers stated that distractions caused them to make mistakes in day to day tasks – some of them so bad they couldn’t bear to recall them. Not necessarily new to the online world, 78% stated that they spent too much time in meetings. However, without the benefit of face-to-face interactions, meetings become more challenging on a screen. Bottom line, if remote or hybrid options continue, employers may need to rethink the overall structure.
Layoffs Impacting the Cleared Industry
Ford
Ford Motor company slashed 580 jobs this past week. While the company has not provided specific details about the jobs or whether they were all in the Detroit, MI area, they have confirmed that all reductions come from the “engineering function.”
“We continue to align staffing around the critical skills needed to deliver our products, services and the Ford+ plan,” Monique Brentley, a Ford spokeswoman, told the Free Press. “We are making adjustments in select U.S. engineering teams, which includes some reassignments as well as a reduction of approximately 350 salaried and 230 agency positions.”
Hiring impacting the Cleared Industry
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman expanded its satellite factory in Gilbert, AZ in order to keep pace with their growing spacecraft demands. Northrop Grumman has over 90,000 employees at different offices. This expansion adds an additional 120,000 square feet to their facility. With 850 employees already at this factory, Northrop Grumman says more will be joining them to support satellite design, engineering, manufacturing, and testing. Program managers will also be needed to keep spacecraft projects moving forward.
“We have manufactured and delivered over 100 spacecraft for NASA science programs, commercial communications and national-security missions since we opened this facility in 2004,” said Cyrus Dhalla, vice president and general manager of the company’s tactical space systems division. “This new expansion will help us meet the increasing demand from these customers.”
Apogee Engineering
Apogee Engineering plans to grow its Dayton area offices, with expansion to hire 150 additional personnel to support its work with its defense and civilian customers through 2025.
The drivers for its recent and projected growth include the continuation and expansion of the current contracts it has secured in the Dayton area. “As part of this growth, Apogee plans to hire 150 corporate and technical team members by 2025, an estimated $15 million in local payroll. The Dayton Development Coalition (DDC) and JobsOhio have been instrumental in navigating our expansion options and we are excited to grow in Greene County with an initial 20,000 square foot facility to include our state-of-the-art lab space. As an Ohio native, I’m proud to expand this culture-based company that focuses on its employees and the mission,” said Amber Scott, Apogee Vice President of Corporate Operations.
Founded in 2004, Apogee is a private, minority-owned firm, headquartered in Colorado with regional offices in Ohio, Florida, and Virginia. Apogee provides both defense and civilian customers with engineering & science, IT, software solutions, mission support, management, and cyber security services.
Cleared Employer at Work: CISA
Are you up for a challenge? As technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, the demand for an experienced and qualified workforce to protect our nation from cybersecurity risks has never been greater. That’s why we need you to take on the challenge and help make a meaningful impact. Submit your resume.
Opportunity to Watch
Peraton has appointed Andrew Hallman, former Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Principal Executive and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Deputy Director for Digital Innovation, as vice president, National Security Strategy and Integration, effective May 9, 2022. In this new role Hallman will lead the company’s efforts to build, test, and execute transformative intelligence programs from concept through operations.
Hallman will be a principal contributor to Peraton’s enterprise-level strategy for current and future intelligence business, specifically focusing on the creation of strategies to integrate intelligence missions and capabilities across organizations and agencies. He will also contribute to Peraton’s ability to support critical government needs related to technology-enabled intelligence operations and the transformation of systems across the Intelligence Community (IC).
“Andrew is truly a national asset,” said Stu Shea, Peraton’s chairman, president and CEO. “He is a rare breed with a tremendous command of the complex national security issues facing our nation and understands the critical interdependencies between customer mission, technology, government policy, and national budget priorities.”
A recognized national security leader, Hallman has spent his entire career at the forefront of global national security issues and innovation in intelligence collection.
“As he’s proven throughout his career, Andrew can create and lead broad, multi-disciplinary teams attacking emerging intelligence issues,” said Shea. “His contributions will be immediately accretive to Peraton’s continued success and help us to further differentiate ourselves from traditional competitors in the national security market.”
