Feb. 24, 2004

Professional society participation

Q: We have our annual division review coming up soon. The call went out to division employees to submit information on papers published, awards received, professional societies participated in and the other good things that indicate a high level of professionalism in the division technical staff. Curious, I inquired as to what is the Laboratory policy on reimbursing employees for professional society dues. The answer may be found in AM 614.04: "The cost of individual memberships will not be reimbursed."

I find this policy strange, as when I worked for EG&G Energy Measurements and also for Honeywell (both Department of Energy contractors) there were limited funds available to pay for a technical employee's professional society dues and these dues and subscriptions were viewed as a normal (allowable) expense to assure that technical staff kept up-to-date in their field. Similar policies existed to send staff to technical conferences and symposia (whether they were presenting a paper or not) so long as it was directly applicable to our DOE work. So the question arises, has the DOE changed it's policy on reimbursing dues and subscriptions for professional societies, or is this a uniquely-Laboratory policy?

Additionally, the current Lab policy of only reimbursing presenters at symposia results in an embarrassment of science fair-level poster sessions with the Lab logo on them. Everyone who wants to go to a professional conference has to do a little "show and tell" of "What we did this year." It's all fluff and no science, and that's just not good PR for the Lab.

We're getting a mixed message here. On the one hand, we stand up at our division reviews and tout our professionalism as supported by membership and awards in learned societies. On the other hand we (through our policies) tell employees that membership and participation in professional societies is not valued.

A: Thank you for raising your question. Laboratory policy (AM 614, "Technical and Professional Societies") supports employees' participation in professional societies within the bounds of the University of California/Department of Energy contract and programmatic commitments. Many Laboratory employees belong to professional societies that charge membership fees or dues; however such membership or participation remains a matter of personal choice. Within the realm of allowable costs, the Laboratory has considerable discretion on how it manages its funds. Laboratory managers prioritize funds and resources assigned to them, including decisions whether to cover the costs of attending conferences and symposia. As a matter of policy, and consistent with our contract and fiduciary responsibilities, the Laboratory does not pay for individual memberships to professional societies. There are different contractual relationships at different sites, so what is allowable under our contract may or may not be the same as at other sites or with other contractors. The Director's Policy Office is reviewing all Laboratory policies, including AM 614, to determine whether changes are appropriate. We will be considering things such as best management practices as well as whether our policies are up-to-date and in keeping with current practices. Fiscal year 2004 is our transition to a centralized policy process. Information on our policy review can be found on our Web page at http://int.lanl.gov/policies/office.shtml online.

--M. Diana Webb, Policy Office