Welcome to this special insert to Boeing Frontiers. It is dedicated to the Boeing employee experience—that is, what it means to work here. It is an excellent source of information about our many Boeing benefits. We've also included personal stories, employee profiles and details about resources you can access to learn more. I hope this special information is helpful you. We welcome your feedback.

—Laurette Koellner

Q: What does working at Boeing mean to you?

A: For me, working at Boeing means experiencing new challenges and opportunities each and every day. It also means diversity—diversity of people, thoughts, ideas and products—in a dynamic global organization.

Q: What is your key focus for 2003?

A: Without a doubt, advances in employee involvement is at the top of the list. Boeing people tell us via surveys and other means that being able to offer their ideas and participate in process improvements related to their jobs is critical to being engaged and productive. From a People Organization perspective, we are working hard to make sure all Boeing people have the tools and resources available to ensure an engaged and involved team. All of us have a role to play in creating an environment that encourages engagement and the free flow of ideas.

Q: When you envision the People Organization of the future, what does it look like?

A: I believe the organization will look quite different than it does today and the people in the organization will work quite differently than they do today. The investments in technology in the People systems and processes are about to pay off. Our HR professionals will no longer need to perform the administrative tasks associated with gathering and administering people-related information. Our business leaders have made it clear that they want HR professionals to be key members of their teams performing in roles such as: change agents, coaches, teachers, subject matter experts, strategists, analysts, business partners and employee advocates. Thanks to the technology investments, Boeing HR professionals will be able to devote themselves to those roles and remove themselves from administrative tasks. As employees, we will all have direct, secure access to manage our career, personal and benefits data via Boeing TotalAccess, available through my.boeing.com.

Q: What do you think is the most misunderstood or undervalued aspect of working at Boeing?

A: Two things. The first undervalued aspect is what I call the "options and opportunities" available to us as Boeing employees. Sometimes after we've been here for a length of time we become oblivious to the fantastic array of options and opportunities offered by the company. Locations all over the world, a wide range of functional roles, the ability to change career specialties through liberal tuition reimbursement policies and multiple learning opportunities, and the ability to change program assignments through job posting and rotational programs. Basically, we have the ability to enjoy multiple careers without ever leaving Boeing. This is a great competitive advantage for us when we are recruiting new people, and it's also a great advantage for "re-recruiting" current Boeing employees. The second undervalued aspect is the power of employee involvement. I believe we have a significant untapped potential, just waiting to be unleashed. The business case is clear—there is an absolute correlation between highly engaged workforces and great financial performance. Involved and engaged people are crucial to our success.

Q: If you weren't doing this job, what is another job you would be interested in?

A: I enjoy every second that I spend in this job, so it's hard to imagine something better. And I've been very fortunate to be able to say that in the past about many of the jobs I've held. If I wasn't doing this one, I would enjoy leading a business unit with profit and loss responsibility.