Starting in September, new employees have a whole new way to get personalized answers to their questions: online. The Online Sponsor Program is a new pilot initiative that came out of Leading Edge 2.0. Its goal is to ease the transition of being a new employee by providing new employees easy, online access to answers to their questions.

Follow up:

Many new employees have questions while they are at the Academy or when they first get to their facility, but don’t know who to ask (or don’t feel comfortable asking someone in their management chain). While several facilities are putting New Hire Sponsor programs in place to meet this need, smaller facilities may not have the managerial resources to do so. The Online Sponsor Program helps make the benefits of having a sponsor available to all new air traffic controllers and systems specialists, regardless of their location.

To request an online sponsor, new employees click on the “Ask a New Hire Sponsor” link on atoleadingedge.com and fill out a short form. New employees have the option to read online sponsor bios and choose a sponsor that best fits their background. During the initial pilot stages, five online sponsors are available. As participation in the program grows, it is expected that the number of online sponsors will increase.

The pilot Online Sponsor Program is being led by Marilee Nauman of the Organizational Effectiveness office and supported by a team of Leading Edge 2.0 attendee-volunteers. For questions or to volunteer as an online sponsor as the program develops, please contact Marilee Nauman (Marilee.Nauman@faa.gov).