- And, you know, one of the things that I wanted to mention is when we're talking about roles and responsibilities of our team members of this orchestra that we have, it doesn't matter if you're Andy Page and the CEO, or if you're an intern who's joined us for a few short weeks, you are valuable to the success of our mission. We all have a very important role to play here. So I think that is where our culture has morphed through transparent communications. And, you know, we have so many mechanisms for employees to learn, and hear, and be involved with what's going on, whether it's day-to-day operations, or where we're going strategically into the future.

- [Announcer] You're listening to "Further Together," the ORAU podcast. Join Michael Holtz and his guests for conversations about all things ORAU. They'll talk about ORAU's storied history, our impact on an ever-changing world, our innovative, scientific, and technical solutions for our customers, and our commitment to the communities where we do business. Welcome to "Further Together," the ORAU podcast.

- Welcome to "Further Together," the ORAU podcast. As ever, I'm your host, Michael Holtz, in the Communications and Marketing Department at ORAU. And we have a big topic to talk about today. And joining me for this episode is my partner in crime, my coworker Bryan Campbell. Bryan, welcome back to "Further Together."

- Great to be here, as always. Enjoyed the last time and I'm looking forward to this one today.

- So how are things? It's been a little busy for ORAU these days. It's year end, which everybody loves, and we're cranking out work like crazy, and everything is good. I mean, weekly, everything is good.

- Yeah, we get lots of great news from all corners. In our weekly get together, that we call "Take 3," I get to hear a lot of news and information, and it just seems like there's just an unlimited supply of good things going on, which is always great to hear. And we try to keep it real. It's not always perfect, but there is just so much positivity and growth right now with the company. It's a good time to be at ORAU.

- And I have to say, you know, this podcast too, like suddenly we're producing one of these puppies a week, which is not what we intended, but there's so much to talk about.

- Yeah, everybody's putting up their hand saying, "Can we be on the podcast? I'd like to be on the podcast."

- Let's talk about this, let's talk about this, which is great because one of the things that I love about this company is ORAU has great stories to tell, we haven't always been great about telling them, and this is an opportunity for us to do that, and we do that in so many ways. But we have guests today, we have three guests today. We're gonna talk about some awesomeness about our company that we love so much. I have Andy Page, president and CEO. We have Keri Cagle, who is over all things peer review. And we have Lauren Shaffer, from our employee relations group. Andy, Keri, and Lauren, welcome to the podcast. I think everyone's been here before, so welcome back to "Further Together."

- Absolute all-star lineup here.

- Absolutely.

- Well, thank you, Michael, thank you, Bryan. It's great to be here, and it's great to be able to be associated with great people like Keri and Lauren, so I'm happy to be here this afternoon.

- Ditto, thanks for having me again to talk about such a great topic.

- Right?

- I'm very glad to be back, like Keri said, to talk about such a great topic and one that I'm very passionate about. So very happy to be here.

- So we're talking about lots of positive actually, which is always a good thing. We're talking about ORAU, we're talking about our corporate culture, our employee survey. Lauren's bringing a bunch of data about how employees feel about our company, our corporate culture, and the positivity. And where we wanna start though is with this idea that folks around the company hear us talk about a One ORAU. And, Keri, Andy tells me that you express this the best, so that's why you're here to talk about One ORAU. So I wanted you to start with talking about, from your perspective, the notion of what it means to be One ORAU.

- Ah, that's a great notion. And I'll ditto Lauren's comment on passion, because I am very passionate about One ORAU. So the listeners who may not realize, but ORAU is a very complex organization, but we're an integrated organization that's made up of a variety of business units and departments, but really what we are is an orchestra. We're an orchestra of individuals with unique skill sets and perspectives all working together for the greater good of our nation, you know? And just because we may work in a different department or have a different skill set, we're all unified working together to fulfill ORAU's mission.

- I love that notion actually very much and it makes perfect sense. And as you said, we're a very complicated organization and I know we wrestle, you know, often with the notion of what's our elevator speech and how do we describe what it is that we do? And, you know, we often start with phrases like, "Well, it's complicated and if you got a couple of minutes, let me tell you about what we do 'cause we do so much." But I like that idea. Andy, why is it that the notion of the orchestra kind of struck you as a great way to talk about who we are and what we do?

- Well, you know, Keri has a great way of associating what we do to an orchestra, because when the orchestra is tuned up and is playing in tune it makes beautiful music, it produces tremendous outcomes. And, you know, part of our current strategic plan emphasis is our number one guiding principle is empowering employees. And I really have thought that is our priority at this organization, because we are a organization of skilled knowledge workers, very smart people who bring a diverse set of ideas, and things that they want to accomplish, and things that they can do. And if we can find a way to kind of exploit all that native genius in a way that synchronizes it like an orchestra to achieve our goals, and to serve our clients and our customers, and to help the United States be more competitive in STEM education, or science education, or peer review in Keri's case, then, you know, we are achieving our mission for the public good in such a way that it's a unifying, cohesive outcome for our company and for all our stakeholders that we serve, to include, you know, the employees who are our stakeholders as well. So, Keri's idea of cohesively doing that in one culture in which everyone values, respects, and promotes one another is a great concept to be able to advance.

- I love that imagery of the orchestra. And, obviously, with a real orchestra, the analogy holds up that everybody needs to be playing the same sheet of music. So how do you get the same sheet of music in front of everybody, Andy, and how does that work to get everybody playing together?

- Well, so I think that it really kind of comes down to how our culture reacts to the things that we do, and how it rises up for challenges. I like to think that ORAU gang tackles problems, Bryan. When we have an issue in front of us, I like how everyone comes together to resolve it. So you can think about, you know, how we made it through Covid together. You can think about, you know, how we came back to work together in a very different way than before we, you know, left prior to Covid. And I think it's just that the nature of our culture how employees feel about it. I know that Lauren's here, and she can probably add some more perspective to this, but in a recent employee survey when we surveyed all of our employees, the number one favorability rating that we got across 10 dimensions of culture was organizational alignment. And that showed that employees understood our mission and they understood their purpose with it. And so I think that is how we, you know, we promote great achievements and great alignment behind our challenges and how we achieve things for our stakeholders. But I know that Lauren can provide some more perspective on that if you'd like.

- Yeah, absolutely. Lauren, let's dive in to the employee survey and the data that I know that you have, and how well it reflects really how strong our corporate culture is, how it's gotten stronger over time. And, you know, if you look outside the doors at ORAU, I mean, we're a company that's grown since the pandemic, right? So things must be going pretty darn well around here, right? So talk about that, Lauren.

- Yeah, so if you look at the data for the employee survey, which we conducted in April of 2023, things do look like they're going very, very well and continue to improve. And I really like the metaphor about the orchestra, because while ORAU is a very complicated organization and a lot of people are doing a lot of different things, we are all playing the same piece of music. And while people have different notes to play and people have different instruments to play, 96% of our employees say they understand how their work supports ORAU's mission and vision, 96%. So that is a huge number where they have a clear, clear understanding of why they're doing what they're doing and how it supports ORAU. And I think that is a great accomplishment for this organization because it gives our employees their own mission, right? It makes sure they know that they have value within the organization. And Andy mentioned that-

- Lauren, for context, how many are we talking about at 96%? We're not talking about five or 10 people. We're talking about hundreds, correct?

- Yeah, so we had 600 people take the survey, so 96% of 600. So yeah, somewhere in the 500s. So a lot of people, we had a 85% response rate on our survey. So again, the large majority of our organization takes the employee survey, we do it every two years. We have a phenomenal response rate. It shows that employees really do care about the organization, they wanna make sure their voices are heard. So we have a very high response rate. So yeah, when we say 96%, we're talking about 550+ employees who have a clear understanding of why they do what they're doing and how they're supporting the organization. And Andy talked about employee empowerment being our number one guiding principle and making sure employees feel valued and feel respected within the organization. And we also asked about that on the employee survey. And 93% of employees say that they feel valued, and say that employees within their department are respected. So those are things that we have going really, really well for us within our organization that really contributes to that One ORAU culture. And when we talk about One ORAU, One ORAU culture, it's clear in the data that we really truly do have one culture. Because when we have such high numbers of people agreeing on things like respect and being valued, and knowing how they support the organization, I think it's really clear that there truly is one culture within ORAU.

- Those numbers are just mind blowing in terms of, you know, how everyone really is, you know, not to beat the metaphor to death, but singing off the same page. I mean, we're all playing off the same sheet of music and we all understand where we're going. We all have a role. I'm, you know, in communications, whether we're in a support role or whether we're in, you know, Lauren in an HR role, or we're finance, or wherever we live, you know, where we're doing mission critical work, we all have a role to play, we're all committed to that mission in driving the success of our company. Andy, as the CEO, that has to make you incredibly proud of the company and the people that you lead.

- Oh yeah, absolutely, Michael. You know, I've been the CEO now for, can't believe it, 13 years since I assumed this position. But I think that one of the things that I am most gratified about was the culture at how it's come along, you know, since I've been privileged to be able to work alongside of all these fantastic employees and people that are so dedicated to our mission of advancing STEM education and advancing the competitiveness and the public good for the US. And so this is my second career in terms of public service, and I've never been more pleased and gratified to be able to work with such a great group of people.

- And, Keri, I know you've grown through the company, you've, you know, been in different roles throughout the organization. Talk about from your perspective, how you've seen the company change to where we are today?

- Wow, that's a great question. I'm not sure I was prepared for that question. I will say I've definitely seen, I think the culture's matured and matured in a very good way. But our organization has changed quite a bit through the years and we've changed along with it. I guess our world has changed. You know, we've been fortunate enough to have, you know, this culture of connectivity and trust among all of our team members. And, you know, one of the things that I wanted to mention is when we're talking about roles and responsibilities of our team members of this orchestra that we have, it doesn't matter if you're Andy Page and the CEO, or if you're an intern who's joined us for a few short weeks, you are valuable to the success of our mission. We all have a very important role to play here. So I think that is where our culture has morphed through transparent communications and, you know, we have so many mechanisms for employees to learn, and hear, and be involved with what's going on, whether it's day-to-day operations or where we're going strategically into the future.

- So, Keri, you, as a manager of people who are doing a lot of the frontline work, we know that the message has been coming through a lot in very recent years that everyone is an ORAU leader. That message of everyone has leadership responsibilities and capabilities no matter what your job title is. How have you seen that be a catalyst to how people see their job and see their role in that orchestra?

- I honestly think, Bryan, that goes back to empowerment, you know, what Andy said about employees feeling empowered. If you feel empowered, you feel like you're a leader, you have a voice in what we're doing in the success of the organization. So giving them the tools, making our team, you know, our team members know that they have the tools, they're allowed to have the voice, someone wants to hear them and what they have to say is important and will be helpful, you know, moving forward.

- Lauren, does the employee survey data reflect that same attitude that sort of, you know, every employee's a leader understanding?

- Yes, it absolutely does. So we specifically asked on the survey if employees feel empowered to make decisions regarding their work. And 90% of employees agree, they say, "Yes, I do feel empowered to make decisions regarding my work." So the survey and the data definitely reflects that we do treat employees as leaders within, you know, and we hire subject matter experts. Andy said at the beginning, we hire very highly skilled, highly intelligent people and we empower them to make those decisions, and they feel that, and that comes out clear in the survey. And talking about open and honest communication and transparency in communication as well, we asked about that on the survey. And 93% of ORAU employees think we have very good communication channels, internal communication channels at ORAU. We've really strived within the past few years to improve those channels, specifically during Covid, when getting information out was critically important. ORAU really focused on that and it's had a very positive effect on our employees of having those very strong internal communication channels.

- Andy, I know that you have access and relationships to other people in businesses at your level, presidents, CEO types. When you talk about what is going on inside the walls, virtual and real, at ORAU and what other folks are seeing, where do you see, or what are those conversations like as far as what you can report and what you hear from some of your peers in this whole aspect of a unified culture, a growing sense of empowerment among the employees, and so forth?

- Well, I think, you know, because my position allows me to sit on other boards and be part of the management team of other Department of Energy contractors, and it's all business sensitive, I can't really talk about the specific aspects of it. But I see the challenges that they struggle with sometimes internally within their organizations. You know, I kind of walk out of there thinking, you know, "Thank God I work at ORAU." Because of the, don't get me wrong, we have our challenges and we have things that we have to work on on a daily basis. But I am so gratified to have the type of culture, and to have the type of diversity, and the type of collaboration at this organization that I think really helps us achieve great things. And you see it, I mean, you look at all our key performance indicators and, of course, any CEO watches his KPIs, right? You look at performance, you look at retention, you look at recruiting, you know, you look at how well are you respected in the community, you look at how well you're giving back to the community, and in all aspects of that, I think this organization does a tremendous job. And, you know, Michael, we were talking on another podcast about how we are a very humble organization. We don't put this type of thing out there on the city billboards or advertise a lot about what we do and what we achieve. You know, but there are times I just think that we should be able to have an outward-facing conversation about this. Because I know that there are young people and others that would like to come to work in this company at some point. And I think Lauren will tell you from a employee relations standpoint, right now, young people that are coming to work are not necessarily looking at how much does the job pay, or how much benefits it is, it's, "What kind of culture am I going to be in? What does the workplace revolve around? What is this environment? And what are my coworkers gonna look and act like?" And I think that's a tremendous recruiting tool for us. So, yeah, Bryan, I am very gratified, because I do get to see that comparison and I do get to talk with other leaders. And I've got, you know, leaders who come up to me, presidents of community colleges and other heads of DOE contractors asking us, you know, what we have done and so that they can learn and that they can position themselves to be more like us, and I think that's great to be copied, you know? The best compliment you can get is people stealing your ideas to make their organizations better.

- Absolutely.

- And on that same idea, and I think all three of you could speak to this, we know that out there in American business culture the trend is that most people tend to think of themselves as climbing in their career by spending two to five years at any given stop, and then trying to ascend to the next level. Whereas ORAU tends to cultivate long-term relationships with employees. How does that factor into all this same conversation as well? Because some people might not see that as a strength, but I think it's actually played as a real strength for ORAU through the years.

- So if I can start there, Bryan, really to circle back about your statement about myself joining the company and, you know, I have been in a few different positions. So I've been with ORAU now for 18 years, 18 very short years. It goes by pretty quickly as does adult life, I guess. But ORAU you's actually offered me the opportunity to try different positions and learn more about the organization in a variety of different fields. So I brought my own initiative, but was given that opportunity. So while, you know, some individuals may wanna join a company, be there for two years and leave, ORAU has an opportunity where we are this complex, integrated organization that has a variety of different fields where an individual can come in and, you know, take advantage of learning and moving into different positions.

- Yeah, I'm constantly amazed at, we celebrate so many people's anniversaries within this organization. People who've worked here, not just 20 years, but 30 years, even 40 years. We've had employees here over 40 years. And the thing is is that you see, there are other family members working here too. So the greatest compliment that you can get is that, you know, to tell your family members to come work here, you wouldn't steer them wrong. You wouldn't steer them into a situation where you've gotta sit across the dinner table from these people. And so it's just I think a tremendous testament to the loyalty that people have to this organization and the love of this organization. And, you know, Keri's right, it's changed over the years, like any other organization. But I think the glue of our culture is one that has stayed, and I think that's what continues to attract people to this organization.

- And that's something that I have seen looking at, you know, employee surveys. And we do a big employee survey every two years, but we also do pulse surveys every quarter. We do stay surveys, we do exit surveys. We do all sorts of surveys. And something that I've seen year, after year, after year is the stability of our culture. It remains strong. Of course, we have some little ups and downs and things change, but the incredible stability of the culture is something that has really stuck out to me, especially through Covid, through this kind of life-altering, world-changing event that we all went through together. And our culture actually got stronger at that point in time. And a part of that is definitely that we have these long-term employees, they're the ones contributing to this culture. Sure we have new employees and we have a little bit of turnover and things like that, but when we're doing these surveys, the majority of the people we're asking are the same people we asked two years ago, and four years ago, and six years ago. So I think that definitely contributes to the stability and the strength of our culture at ORAU.

- And I wanna talk about that resilience, Lauren, because, you know, we did as a nation and as a world go through, you know, a pretty rough patch with Covid, but we did as a company come out stronger. You know, we're a flexible workforce, you know, in terms of where we're located. And because of that, we're able to add people to our workforce who aren't necessarily based in Oak Ridge or East Tennessee. And that makes us stronger too, because, again, going back to that, you know, being able to hire smart people to do the work that we need them to do, it can be anywhere.

- Yes, it absolutely makes us stronger. It is a great recruiting tool to be able to hire people from anywhere. And even with our current employees, employees that were working at ORAU kind of during the pandemic, before the pandemic, the flexible work environment that we have is a great stay tool as well. It keeps people at ORAU because of the flexibility that we offer as an organization. 92% of our employees appreciate and are satisfied with the amount of flexibility they're given within their work environment, with their work hours, whatever it may be, again, 92% are satisfied with what is offered to them. And we heard on the survey through survey comments, you know, "This is why I came to ORAU," or, "This is one of the reasons I stay at ORAU, because it allows me to have the flexibility to balance my work life and my home life. And it gives me what I'm looking for in my career and in my personal life."

- That's an awesome testament to who we are as a company and who our employees are, that, you know, we came through really such a tough time and we are stronger, you know, corporately we're stronger, corporate culture wise, you know, people wise, everything as an organization. And, you know, Andy, you talked earlier, and Keri too, about, you know, being committed to the work that you do and having the empowerment. And, you know, I know Bryan and I can can speak to this too just in our department. You know, when I started at ORAU, this podcast wasn't a thing, right? But because I saw an idea at a conference, I was able to run with it. And here we are, you know, four years and like 130 some episodes later.

- Thousands and thousands of downloads later.

- Thousands and thousands, 10,000+ downloads and, you know, who knew that it would be, you know, kind of as we said before, the channel that everyone wants to be part of because, you know, there's so much that we get to talk about. But, you know, I've been here for eight years now and, you know, I get to do a lot of great work that I love because of the company that I love and telling the story of our company. And, you know, I know Keri, Andy, Lauren and Bryan, you all feel the same way about, you know, what you do, that we get to do some really incredible work and we're empowered to do it. Like I didn't have to ask 65 people, you know, "Hey, can I do this?" You know, it didn't cost a lot of money and it, you know, took a small business case to say, "Here's a reason we should do this," and we did it. And, you know, I love that we have a company where that can happen basically.

- So, you know, Michael, storytelling is a very, very powerful tool and you do it extremely well. And so you tell the story of ORAU through various different, you know, podcasts and episodes. And, you know, Bryan, you know, every Wednesday at eight o'clock when we're doing our 30-minute "Take 3" thing, we're telling the story of this organization, and the things that we've achieved, and the great people who work here. So, you know, that's a debt of gratitude that I'm not sure the organization will ever be able to repay to you two because you're such great storytellers.

- Well, that goes right back to you, Andy. I mean, we wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for, you know, your leadership and the leadership of your team, and, you know, the work that that Lauren does to measure what it is that we're doing, and making sure that, you know, employee empowerment and all of those things happen. And, you know, just, we all have a role to play. Again, going back to the orchestra analogy, we all have a role.

- I'll just be over here playing my triangle. And then, kind of wait for the rest of the people and the complex instruments, I'll put a ding in here and there.

- I'd actually like to kind of, you know, maybe, you know, close out on that note, 'cause, you know, Keri started by talking about One ORAU and an orchestra. And then, Keri also talked about how much it's changed over the years. So I wanna do a little throwback here to Dr. Alvin Weinberg. And Dr. Weinberg is a very important figure in our history. Many of us know that Dr. Weinberg was part of the original Manhattan Project here in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. So he, you know, came from the University of Chicago and was at the forefront of developing nuclear power, and, of course, the weapons that was needed in the Second World War to successfully close that. And he was the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory from like 1955 to 1973. But then after that, he came over to ORAU and he worked at ORAU for a number of years as the director of the Institute of Energy Analysis. And Dr. Weinberg had this quote all the way back to the 1950s, so to show you a lot has changed, but how much has remained the same, I carry this quote in my notebook everywhere I go, because what Dr. Weinberg said is, "The strength of laboratories, like Oak Ridge National Laboratory and ORAU, lie in the interdisciplinary composition of their staffs." He said, "Over and over again, it's been demonstrated that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. And that good people from diverse fields working together can make major scientific discoveries that are denied geniuses working in isolation." And I've just always thought, when I think of One ORAU, and I think about the orchestra, and I think about us all working together, Dr. Weinberg's wisdom all the way back to the 1950s and 1960s is still a very central tenet of who we are and how we achieve great things in this organization.

- Absolutely, so I'm gonna let his words be the last word in this conversation. So, Andy, and Keri, and Lauren, thank you so much for spending this time with us and talking about One OARU and our corporate culture, and the employee survey, and just the strength of who we are as an organization. I really appreciate it. And, Bryan, thank you for stepping in as cohost once again.

- Absolutely, it's an always an honor to be here and honor to work with all you guys. So thank you for letting me be a small part here today.

- Oh, thank you.

- Thank you.

- Well, I wanna thank all you guys for being here too and fulfilling my idea here. This was my idea to have this podcast, and I really appreciate you guys volunteering with me to make it a reality. So appreciate all your hard work.

- Well, I know you said leave with Alvin Weinberg, kind of to summarize it's about we, us, and our and not me, mine, and theirs. So we're working together.

- Nice.

- There you go.

- I love that. Thank you all so much, have a great day.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, guys.

- Bye, everyone.

- Bye.

- [Announcer] Thank you for listening to "Further Together," the ORAU podcast. To learn more about any of the topics discussed by our experts, visit www.oau.org. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn @ORAU, and on Instagram @ORAUTogether. If you like "Further Together," the ORAU podcast, we would appreciate you giving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your reviews will help more people find the podcast.