High-flying plans for centennial celebration

On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first powered, controlled, sustained, heavier-than-air flight from Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

In the following 100 years, the men and women of Boeing played a key role in defining and advancing aerospace. Innovations by Boeing and its predecessor companies helped "shrink" the dimensions of Earth and space by providing rapid, reliable aerospace transportation systems.

Throughout 2003, Boeing is participating in a variety of Centennial of Powered Flight commemoration activities, according to Larry McCracken, vice president of Communications for Boeing. They include the restoration of the sole remaining Boeing Stratoliner, the first pressurized airliner, and the Boeing Dash 80, prototype for the breakthrough 707 intercontinental passenger jet.

Boeing will fly both aircraft back to Washington Dulles International Airport during the year for inclusion in the National Air & Space Museum's new Udvar-Hazy Center.

Boeing also is working with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., to deliver the Air Force One Boeing 707, used extensively by President Reagan, to the library's new pavilion. A Boeing crew has disassembled the airplane and is working to help transport and then reassemble the airplane at the library.

Boeing will figure prominently in an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics symposium in mid-July celebrating the Centennial of Powered Flight and focusing on the next 100 years of exploration and discovery. Featured speakers at the International Air & Space Symposium and Exposition include Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; George Muellner, senior vice president of Air Force Systems; and Bob Spitzer, vice president of External Technical Affiliations.

Boeing also has made contributions to the U.S. Air Force Museum and National Aviation Hall of Fame, both near Dayton, Ohio, and the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

The company also is sponsoring several long-term projects to educate and inspire people about flight, technology and science.

Introducing I-Bands for international local hires

How do you establish appropriate pay packages for various jobs in different countries so that they are locally competitive, comply with various local laws and fit into the companywide philosophy for pay and job classifications? Currently, Boeing has dozens of different compensation structures for local hires in the more than 65 countries where Boeing has people.

To establish one job classification system for all local hires outside the U.S., the company is rolling out a new "I-Bands" structure (the "I" stands for International and "Bands" is short for compensation broadbands). Company officials expect the new structure to bring simplification, consistency, and administrative efficiency to these diverse locations starting this summer.

The I-Bands' base pay guidelines, incentives, and perquisite levels will reflect locally competitive practices with plan designs consistent with Boeing's companywide philosophy. Specifically, I-Bands will include base pay, annual incentives (such as the Employee Incentive Plan), recognition awards, and long-term incentive opportunities, where applicable.

"This more standardized approach will still allow flexibility to meet our business units' local competitiveness needs and regulations in different countries," said Amy White, Director of Global Compensation and Leadership Resource Planning. "We will be hosting regional meetings to explain I-Bands this year in Europe. The rollout will continue in 2004 with Asia-Pacific, Americas, Middle East, Africa, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (several former Soviet Union countries)."

How do I-Bands work?

There will be six "I" levels (I-A, I-B, I-C, I-D, I-E and I-F). They will cover all local hire positions and accommodate a range of skills at locations with only two people or hundreds of people. For example, two people in two parts of the world could have the same I-Band but different pay packages within that I-Band according to local markets. The I-Bands will be broad enough so that a person within an I-Band can progress in responsibilities and pay within that band.

Why not just use the Salary Job Classification system internationally? The SJC system is a strictly defined, multi-leveled structure to support the more than 150,000 employees in the United States (using 42 occupations, 312 job families, and 776 skills management codes) in a large market with common federal laws and generally similar state laws. Its structure does not always work in other countries.

In contrast, the six I-Band levels currently cover only several hundred international local hires across 60-plus different markets with a wide range of distinct local laws. The I-Band structure's flexibility will work with more countries and still provide a Boeing standard set of job groupings. I-Bands and SJC can be viewed as "companion" job classification structures.

"By mapping the diverse local-hire jobs to the I-Band structure, we feel this will improve the consistency and administrative support for our people around the world," White added.



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