8
| j a n u a r y / f e b r u a r y
Kim shares NEO responsibilities with
Susann Harris
,
Veronica Thomas
and
Tim Lewis
. Tim, who moved from Co-
lumbus to join the Afac Group trainers
in December 2012, feels that his newness
helps him empathize with the students.
“I’m in an orientation frame of mind my-
self, learning about my new department,
the campus and the city. We’re all helping
one another adjust to the changes.”
Have a s eat !
Armed with the knowledge that the NEO
team provides, you and other NEO gradu-
ates probably headed to new workspaces
eager to begin work. Before you rolled up
your sleeves and dove in, though, some
behind-the-scenes activity ensured you
had a comfortable place to land. Not only
do new hires, transfers and promoted em-
ployees need to be equipped with all the
essentials, occasionally entire depart-
ments shift from one spot to another to
accommodate growth. That means our
setup crews stay very busy.
Will Clark
, manager, Facilities Plan-
ning, depends on his team to perform
everything from intricate mathematical
calculations and measurements to the
heavy lifting necessary to get everyone
properly situated.
After space planners pinpoint the shift-
ing needs made necessary by continual
employee movement,
Cleveland New-
some
, supervisor, and his crew get busy.
“Fortunately, I am an organizer, and our
goal is to please our customers,” says
Cleveland. “Very often we go beyond
what we are tasked to do and provide
that extra fine-tuning that makes em-
ployees feel even more comfortable and
welcome. My team, that includes build-
ing technicians
Doug Drake
and
Dar-
rell Copeland
, work mainly in the Tow-
er and nearby buildings in Columbus,
and both have personalities that make
them approachable and willing to help. I
know that mindset extends to the teams
at all of the campuses.”
To keep work disruptions in the busi-
ness units to a minimum, Facilities is
not always an eight-to-five job. “It’d be
nice if the cubicle components snapped
into place as easily as Legos, but we
sometimes have to use some force dur-
ing setup and teardown, and that can
get noisy,” admits Cleveland. “We try
to work when employees aren’t at their
desks as much as possible, so that can
mean some late nights. I think most
people understand that any inconve-
nience is just temporary. It’s a sign
of progress.”
The hooku p
Most jobs at Aflac are dependent on
computers and intricate communica-
tions systems. Getting you properly
hooked up is a priority.
In Albany,
Mary Martin
, technical
support analyst, IT, shoulders most of
Albany’s equipment-related service
needs for the 89 employees and four
Northeast Territory employees located
there. Hired in an accounting role at
Aflac New York in 1997, she moved to
its IT department in 2000.
“I am basically self-taught and the go-
to girl for most everything here that
relates to electronic equipment,” says
Mary. “That includes computers, net-
working, databases, telephones, pro-
gramming, copiers, printers, video and
servers. Plus, my accounting back-
ground comes in handy because I also
Pamela Brown
tests hardware in the
mobi le recover y uni t .
The next time you walk through an Afac door, remember that ma
to guide you to that spot. From the confdence you gained through
made your workspace comfortable and safe, your transition fro
member was an expertly mapped journey.