Subject: stephen bennett
stephen bennett , professional meteorologist , was hired into the research
group in september of this year as a specialist based on salary alignment
criteria . in retrospect , and upon review , he should have been hired on as a
senior specialist .
after coming on board . it rapidly became apparent that stephen was clearly an
" under hire . " he is well - deserving of an immediate promotion ( really more of
a correction ) and pay raise , to be made retroactive at least to the lst of
this month . this memo outlines the circumstances surrounding this hiring
error and provides detailed justifications for this retroactive " promotion . "
at the time of the interview process , there was no position in enron
designated as " professional meteorologist . " in fact , the most recent similar
hire prior to that date was jose marquez , also a professional meteorologist ,
who was hired in , based on salary alignment criteria , as a manager . while
functionally , both these men are meteorologists , enron has no such job
classification . compounded by the urgency in bringing on additional
professional expertise in short time order , it was difficult to peg the
proper enron classification appropriate for this new position . this original
uncertainty and resulting misplacement of stephen into the specialist
category , rather than the senior specialist category , needs to be corrected
at this time .
although a " new - hire " to enron , stephen bennett has extensive work
experience . he has worked as a professional meteorologist at both the
weather services corporation in boston and at the weather channel in
atlanta . he came to enron well - referenced by both those organizations ,
needing no further training and only minimal supervision .
once aboard here in houston , stephen immediately demonstrated the core enron
values with our unique sense of urgency . after only a week , he assumed
responsibilities normally reserved for someone actually at even a manager
level - he was assigned and fully took over the critical afternoon weather
briefings to the gas traders . this includes analysis and report preparation
as well as presentation . also in the presentation arena , he now regularly
briefs various desks in the morning and throughout the day . stephen is a
master of communication and particularly adept at conveying what through
other messengers might otherwise seem confusing or ambiguous .
stephen has also demonstrated an unusually high level of self - initiative . he
designed , implemented , and now maintains several sub - sites on the research
web page which he tailored to various customers - in specific : the weather
derivatives team , the agricultural team , and most recently , the crude and
liquids team . i have recently assigned stephen to spearhead our conversion
and major upgrade of this web page .
these above described accomplishments are above and beyond stephen  , s regular
duties which include starting work at 5 am daily , reliably and without fail ,
to assemble and prepare our trader  , s weather report . recently , with the
advent of extended hours for both nymex and enrononline , stephen voluntarily
on his own accord , assists in our new sunday weather support effort . as his
supervisor , fully cognizant of his already standard 50 + hour work week , i do
not solicit , but readily accept , this above and beyond expectations
assistance .
in review , the circumstance which resulted in this under hire condition was
enron  , s immediate need for a non - standard , fairly unique professional - a
meteorologist , coupled with stephen  , s desire to work for our company in spite
of the absence of a hierarchy which included the exact entitled professional
title reflecting his chosen career path . . once hired , stephen has clearly
demonstrated through contribution and performance that he is well - deserving
of this immediate and retroactive promotion .