SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

1) Terminate visiting scientists who are not productive. The department has several of these at fairly high pay grades who have been 'employed' here for as long as 5 years! They are not US citizens and they do not provide any essential resource that cannot be met otherwise. Two visiting scientists at 50K/year in each of 10 ARS locations = 1 million/year savings to the government and/or taxpayers.

2) Reduce unproductive... more »

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts a $3,391 price tag on each employee who smokes: $1,760 in lost productivity and $1,623 in excess medical expenditures. In addition, estimated costs associated with secondhand smoke’s effects on nonsmokers can add up to $490 per smoker per year. On average, smokers miss 6.16 days of work per year due to sickness (including smoking related acute and chronic... more »

Even though I live in a state where we have one of the lowest percentages of smokers, it seems as though the employees at the VA smoke at least every hour, for 15 minute breaks. Outside my building a circle of 9-10 people take 15 minute breaks every hour to smoke. That is 2 hours a day they are not working.They do this wouthout fail.Why are we paying them to smoke? If they cannot perform the job without smoking, then... more »