Collaboration, empowerment and diversity, the collective mix of who we are is central to the IPLogic culture and way of doing business. We actively seek to hire people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, skills, and points of view because we firmly believe that a more inclusive workforce positions our company to:

• Anticipate important changes and trends within our footprint and the markets we sell to
• Respond to a wide spectrum of customer needs
• Tap rich sources of technical and business innovation
• Build a solid foundation for the future
• Build a strong pipeline of candidates

We sharpened our recruiting focus and strategy in 2011 by broadening our reach, identifying and targeting untapped resources, and increasing the talent pool for executive, professional, and university hires.

Effectively orienting new employees to IPLogic’s organizational hierarchy and alignment with functional resources is critical to establishing a successful and productive working relationship that will effectively integrate new employees. The Human Resource Team works with hiring managers to effectively design a new employee/mentor orientation plan that will provide them access to resources and tools to provide them with a fast start.

New employees are assigned a mentor as part of their orientation plan to acclimate new employees. It is one of the keys for improving productivity, building loyalty and engagement, and helping employees become successful early in their careers with the Company. This orientation process provides potential benefits and the types of information that should be covered, the duration of the process, allocation of resources, responsibilities, objectives and expectations.

Employee engagement is determined by the new employee’s treatment and orientation from the first day and during the first to 90 days of employment. IPLogic’s solid new employee orientation strategy helps build on loyalty and help with retention and engagement issues throughout an employee’s tenure.

In order for new employees to contribute to the organization, they must have a solid understanding of the organization’s mission, vision, strategies and values and how these align with the employees’ position and the functional departments.

In 2011 IPLogic introduced a Summer College Internship Program - May through August. Hiring (5) college level intern positions in various regions, in support of functional areas of the Company: Finance and Business Management Team, Sales and Business Development, Professional Services, Lean Velocity and Human Resources.The Summer Internship Program sources high quality college level candidates which included having the requisite study or coursework and grade-point average (GPA) with a cutoff of 3.0, or a B average. This is a non-accredited internship program.

IPLogic values leadership. If asked to compare two otherwise equally qualified candidates, the individual who had held a leadership position in college over a candidate who simply was involved in extracurricular activities.Other qualities that are critical to the intern hiring include: communication skills, work ethic, teamwork and initiative, relative work experience—traits that will help an intern succeed and contribute to the organization.An internal job posting for 5 business days, allows employees to refer a candidate by following the Internal Employment Application Process. Candidates were sourced externally through standard recruiting sources, university and local colleges. Interns were hired for a maximum 40.0 hours per week for a maximum of 12 weeks.

Although seasonal, the value of hiring and developing interns, despite busy schedules, such as mentor programs is another way that prospective hires gain a competitive edge in a depressed job market. The return on investment for the Company could for example be an intern who worked in Professional Services in a support role, worked well and returned as an application or network engineer.

Upon completion of Intern assignment a grading form is developed to grade Intern and determine if they would be a candidate for future intern opportunities.

All employees have a need for ongoing feedback and development to encourage positive performance and enable individuals to reach their potential. Managers should provide the following on an ongoing basis:

• Manager will meet with employee to share Company Strategic Goals and information regarding department direction and goals.
• Collaboratively manager and employee will develop goals, objectives and expectations on an annual basis, in January of each year.
• Encourage participation in work teams and department activities that will help employees diversify and develop skills.
• Collaboratively develop Employee Development Plan that includes formal and informal training opportunities.
• Collaboratively develop Expectation Statement (management and leaders only) that includes specific behavior expected of management position.
• Provide interim and annual performance review utilizing Standard Performance Evaluation process:
• Manager will schedule meeting to review process and answer any questions.
• Manager completes their portion of presented goals and objectives form.
• Manager will review and submit to Vice President of Department.
• Director and Vice President will review interim performance, approve and return to manager.
• Employee and manager will meet to review interim or annual performance complete with signatures.
• Completed Standard Performance Evaluation is then returned and filed with the Human Resource Department in employees personnel performance file.
• Process from start to finish typically spans a 2 month timeframe.
• Elicit feedback from employee regarding their performance, suggestions and concerns.
• Managers will meet with employees in July for an interim performance review and in February to review the previous year’s performance.
• New Goals and Objectives, Employee Development Plans and Expectation Statements (Manager and Leader Level) are set in January of each year and must align with Company Strategic Goals and Initiatives or within 30 days of new employee hire date or for any new role of an existing employee.
• Interim reviews are performed in June of each year to review performance of previous 6 months.
• Merit increases are paid in the month of July, budgets permitting.
• Provide positive and negative feedback as appropriate.
• Annual Performance Reviews are conducted in the month of February.

IPLogic believes that pay is a key element in recruiting, retaining, and rewarding the type of employees that are needed to fulfill IPLogic’s vision. Our goal is to pay competitive compensation by using documents that are clearly communicated to employees and readily administered by managers.

IPLogic intends to pursue compensation strategies that maximize recruitment; performance and retention of quality staff that align with the strategic direction of the Company.

We provide competitive levels of compensation including base pay and a Gain Sharing Plan Bonus based on company and individual performance factors. IPLogic’s compensation provides a direct link between the company's performance and employee pay, helping to align employee and company goals.

Peer to Peer Recognition and On the Spot awards recognize exemplary contributions and high performers. Additional recognition and awards are provided for outstanding sales performance, collaboration and technology, and long-term service milestones.

Additional benefits include tax-efficient retirement savings support with company contributions, tuition assistance, paid time off and paid holidays, as well as a range of health benefits:

• Medical Health Insurance
• Dental Health Insurance
• Vision Health Insurance
• Group Term Life Insurance
• Group Term Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
• Short Term Disability Insurance
• Long Term Disability Insurance
• 401K Retirement Plan
• Employee Assistance Program
• Tuition Assistance Program
• Voluntary Medical Flexible Spending Account
• Voluntary Dependent Care Assistance Account
• Voluntary Long Term Care Insurance
• Voluntary Supplemental Term Life Insurance
• Voluntary Whole Life Insurance
• Voluntary Accident Insurance
• Voluntary Critical Care Insurance Health and Wellness Programs
• Bereavement Time Off: Paid
• Educational Leave: Unpaid
• Jury Duty Time Off: Paid
• Pregnancy Disability Leave/Maternity Leave: Paid
• Vacation and Paid Time Off: Paid
• Paternity Leave: Unpaid
• Personal Leave: Unpaid

Tapping into discretionary energy by engaging employees in brainstorming and creative thinking sessions quarterly, that will contribute to company’s bottom line, as well as make employees feel their input is valued and that they have a stake in decisions that are made. Creativity drives retention.

• Peer to Peer Recognition Program: “Caught Red Handed Doing Something Great at IPLogic” which invites employees to nominate their peers for recognition and award. A Peer to Peer Committee reviews the nomination forms monthly based on specific criteria and awards incentive IPLogic currency that can be accumulated and redeemed for a tangible gift item from the IPLogic Apparel Store on-line.
• Management Recognition: On the Spot engagement and acknowledgement of recognitions is crucial to the success of this program.
• Employee Events Committee: A cross functional committee nominated by functional Vice Presidents with an expected six month commitment to suggest ideas, implements programs or projects with the ultimate goal of retention of a highly motivated work force and promoting a sense of community throughout the workplace.

• Director of Human Resources meets with Executive Management Team, meeting monthly for 60 to 90 minutes to discuss growth, development and needs of company’s talent with Director of Human Resources. To discuss openings, promotion opportunities, review key positions, development plans and succession planning.
• Peer to Peer Review appraisal process also identifies and assesses leadership skills and abilities of leadership team. Implementing individual training and development plans to manage progress.

• Flexible learning opportunities are key to responding quickly to changing market conditions and succeeding in new market adjacencies. By understanding our employees' core skills and addressing their development needs, we strengthen their ability to work within teams and across business functions to support innovation and exceptional performance. We provide a range of formal and informal learning and development opportunities to encourage employees to pursue their career aspirations. This, in turn, helps us to retain top talent.

• We continually review our hiring strategy to ensure that it supports our business goals. In 2012, we plan to pilot Talent Connection, an internal tool that allows recruitment teams, managers and employees to work together to match skill sets against internal job openings. Talent Connection will help us respond quickly to internal talent demands as IPLogic expands into new markets.
• In 2011 we implemented (5) CTQ or Critical to Quality metrics to measure the performance of the Human Resource Team. Measuring Days to Hire with a goal of less than 35 days, measuring Inquiry to Resolution, with a goal of resolving employee inquiries by the HR Team to less than 48 hours, measuring Completion of New Employee Orientation/Mentor Plans to less than 90 days, a program which gives new employees a fast start, measuring Employee Turnover Rate to less than 1% and measuring Total Number of HR Inquiries. Feedback from candidates, managers and employees indicate a high level of satisfaction with the CTQ performance metrics results.
• In 2011 we implemented an Employee Hierarchy of Needs Survey and Manager’s Assessment of the Hierarchy of Needs of their team members. This survey was used to assess manager’s understanding of what is important to their team members to better understand their needs and wants and ultimately drive employee satisfaction.

Various company events provide opportunities for employees to engage with senior management and learn about the company's strategy. They include:

• Annual strategic leadership meetings and sales meetings
• Quarterly companywide Key Performance Indicators (KPI) share, earnings, Q&A sessions with CEO Ken Yanneck and Executive Management Team
• Monthly companywide leadership and functional meetings
• Weekly companywide announcements through IPLogic electronic Community Bulletin Board Spotlight, News and Announcements: new employees, birthdays, anniversaries and organizational announcements.

Collaborative Culture

Engaged, talented, and motivated people are critical to our success. IPLogic believes in inspiring employees to feel that their work is more than just a job. This begins with communicating our long-term strategy and aligning employees with our vision to change the way people work, live, play, and learn.

To sustain our competitive advantage, we are building a culture and organizational capability, based on collaboration. IPLogic collaborative technologies are transforming the way employees work and communicate across business functions.

Employees come from diverse backgrounds and bring with them a rich variety of skills and experiences encompassing engineering, sales, and business support. We support their safety, health, and wellbeing, and provide programs to help them balance work and personal commitments.

Our commitment to collaboration is our approach in five key areas:

• Working Together: Embedding a collaborative working culture
• A Safe and Healthy Environment: Ensuring our people's safety, and promoting their physical and mental wellbeing
• An Open Culture: Engaging our employees and promoting inclusion
• Employee Opportunities: Realizing the potential of our employees through development and training opportunities
• Rewarding Our People: Rewarding employees through competitive, performance-based compensation and benefits

Communication and collaboration are at the heart of our working environment. We promote flexible, cross-functional teams that work together to enhance new business opportunities.

Our technology is a great enabler, helping employees collaborate regardless of location. The Lean Velocity Principles Program focuses on organizational process transformation Measure, Methods and Metrics to eliminate waste and increase velocity.

The Executive Management Team promotes a competency model that defines what leadership looks like at IPLogic and includes five capabilities: Collaborate, Learn, Execute, Accelerate, and Define.