Employee Rewards For Not Coming To Work

[MarkMyWords]

The company KNOWS that PHL is a mess.....the incentives were a reward for the employees that actually come to work and get their teeth kicked in daily. Working 250 people short, nearly every day, takes a toll on the employees that are there all the time. If someone was adamant that they were going to call in sick, the incentive of a possibility of winning a TV did little to change their mind. But to the employees that are there all the time, the opportunity to win the TV was proof that someone, somewhere is paying attention.

 

[Twicebaked]

....the opportunity to win the TV was proof that someone, somewhere is paying attention.

[post="247145"][/post]​

Sorry MMW this is only proof that the company does not know how and CANNOT fix PHL. They don't know what else to do. Although I do commend those that come to work daily, I don't believe that should have been bribed. I worked on Super Bowl Sunday. I WAS planning on it anyway. I work SHORT handed every day on the planes to the west coast........where was my reward???

 

[MarkMyWords]

I guess we have a difference of prospective here.

The company fully understands the problems and consequences in PHL. I am not saying that they reacted to those problems in a timely manner, but they are reacting to them. The raising of the starting pay from 7 something an hour to 9 something has increased applicant interest and acceptance. Yes, the company was trying to do things on the cheap and found that they couldn't get people to work for that, so the reacted accordingly.

Changing the way PHL operates is a huge step in fixing the station. Operational performance in PHL has improved greatly in the past week. This is mainly attributed to the changes froma banking hub to a rolling hub....again a solution to the PHL problem. Once PHL staffing is at or near full compliment and all departments are agains functional, reliability in PHL should tweek even higher.

I don't look at the TV's as a bribe to come to work. Again, if someone is adamant that they are going to call in sick, a raffle ticket for a TV isn't going to change their minds. What I don't think you really understand is how bad things really are in PHL for the front line employees. Imagine coming to work everyday and having to be assigned mandatory overtime. Imagine working a 10,000 pound offload with just you and one other guy (if you are lucky). While I won't say that there is no blame to be shared by the employees there, there is more then enough blame to fall on the executives. I look at the raffle of the TV's as an olive branch to the employees of PHL. A way of saying we realize that you have taken a real beating and we appreciate your hard work and efforts. (not to belittle any other station/employees contributions, but no one has had to work under the same conditions as the employees of PHL.)

As for your having to work short handed, let me just say this...FAR's dictate what the minimum staffing levels are for each fleet type. As long as you are staffed to these minimums, you are not short staffed. Especially given the reduction in levels of service over the years. I am not saying that you aren't working harder......I know you are....but you are not short staffed in the same sense as what is happening to the agents in PHL.

 

[funguy2]

Yeah, and here is another perspective...

9 TV's @ $2,500 each = $22,500
300 pizzas at $7 each = $2,100
(A smooth running hub, priceless )

Seriously, though, this cost US Airways somewhere around $25K.

If US Airways included all stations, how many TVs are we talking? Given that larger ops like LGA, PIT, FLL, CLT, DCA, and maybe others, would have probably recieved 2 or more TVs, we're probably talking 100 TVs or $250K (or more if you add in pizzas!)... An employee relations program at a cost of $250K is probably out of the question. But $25K can probably very easily be justified simply by eliminating the cost of irregular operations + a little employee goodwill.

Added later: Another option is to have offered a cheaper prize system-wide, but then where is the incentive? If they offered $100 TVs at every station, well, most folks can go to Wal-Mart and buy a crappy $100 TV when they need one, so what incentive would that have been... In my opinion, not much.

 

[WestCoastGuy]

Operational performance in PHL has improved greatly in the past week.

[post="247170"][/post]​

You are absolutely right about that. This past week, we actually had 2 flights from PHL arrive here ON TIME! Of course no flight ever comes in complete with all the bags, but that's a given when anything comes from PHL.

 

[Ch. 12]

Yeah, and here is another perspective...

9 TV's @ $2,500 each = $22,500
300 pizzas at $7 each = $2,100
(A smooth running hub, priceless )

Seriously, though, this cost US Airways somewhere around $25K.

If US Airways included all stations, how many TVs are we talking? Given that larger ops like LGA, PIT, FLL, CLT, DCA, and maybe others, would have probably recieved 2 or more TVs, we're probably talking 100 TVs or $250K (or more if you add in pizzas!)... An employee relations program at a cost of $250K is probably out of the question. But $25K can probably very easily be justified simply by eliminating the cost of irregular operations + a little employee goodwill.

Added later: Another option is to have offered a cheaper prize system-wide, but then where is the incentive? If they offered $100 TVs at every station, well, most folks can go to Wal-Mart and buy a crappy $100 TV when they need one, so what incentive would that have been... In my opinion, not much.

[post="247179"][/post]​

Better yet, let's just give everyone a medal for showing up to work because it is such a tremendous accomplishment to do what is expected of you. What a great system! The difference between WN and others is that WN doesn't bribe but gets MORE out of their employees everyday while U is bribing them just to come to work. I understand that the culture has gone down the toilet at U and that mgmt has wounded the employees over and over, but getting to the point of bribes just to get people to come in is RIDICULOUS.

 

[MarkMyWords]

ch12 -

And given the circumstances in PHL.......

What would YOU have done to ensure we didn't have a complete operational meltdown?

 

[funguy2]

Yeah, I have to agree with MarkMyWords.

Philosophically, you are right Ch.12. You should not have to reward people for just doing what they ought to do. But US Airways has big personnel / culture problems... US Airways employees have been "punished" with wage concessions for the last several years only because they showed up for work everyday, and took advantage of their contracts, and negotiated pretty good contracts over the years.

Going back to what I said earlier... behavior modification comes from reward and punishment. Sometimes, you need to reward people for doing a good job so that they continue to do a good job.

US Airways desperately needs new employee relations and a new company culture. And yet when the company makes the slightest move in a new direction, there ends up being 4 pages of garbage on this chatboard. Its no wonder nothing ever changes. This, more than anything else, will cause the failure of US Airways (or really any organization).

I am critical of the company more often than not... But give them a break for trying something new.

 

[Ch. 12]

I am critical of the company more often than not... But give them a break for trying something new.

[post="247262"][/post]​

I see what you are saying but am nowhere near giving them a break on this one. Why? Because a carrier that desperately needs to cut costs has now created the expectation that employees will be bribed to come in...just to work...and at a cost. When looking at the model of WN...the mainstay LCC success story...costs must be controlled and productivity increased. Unfortunately, what U's PHL system has done is created an expectation that will decrease productivity at an added cost. Makes no sense to me and it is management making decisions without thinking once again.

 

[hadEnuff]

So is the bottom line everytime PHL employees want to be treated a little extra special they just misconx lots of bags and take lots of delays and call in sick and the company offers up some incentive not to do that??????

 

[crushed]

So is the bottom line everytime PHL employees want to be treated a little extra special they just misconx lots of bags and take lots of delays and call in sick?

[post="249129"][/post]​

No....We do THAT everyday!!!

 

[PITbull]

FYI-The TV's are 55" Mitsubishi HD projectors.  There were 6 in PHL yesterday set up in various break rooms, the company also got abot 300 pizzas for us.

[post="246055"][/post]​

I think that is a great first step when morale is not good. I believe it is important to start rewarding folks for working harder, longer hours, for less pay and less people to help.

Enjoy it folks, I think you all deserve it. B)

 

[PITbull]

The company KNOWS that PHL is a mess.....the incentives were a reward for the employees that actually come to work and get their teeth kicked in daily.  Working 250 people short, nearly every day, takes a toll on the employees that are there all the time.  If someone was adamant that they were going to call in sick, the incentive of a possibility of winning a TV did little to change their mind.  But to the employees that are there all the time, the opportunity to win the TV was proof that someone, somewhere is paying attention.

[post="247145"][/post]​

MMW,

You are right on track. These folks in PHL bust there butts and have been working short the entire year.

The company moved on a suggestion (which was quite a stun to me), and it was a great move. 🙂 Just a great thing...

 

[Justaramper]

Sorry to say, it wasn't a good morale move, as many other stations are involved in the day to day operations as well. So, to hell with them and lets pay attention to the problem child.

But they did have a pizza party in Clt, after the fact for the employess {hosted by Labor Relations}. Less than one pizza was eaten, as the majority decided not to attend such a function.

The employees of CLT did raffle off a 5 inch B&W TV, during the Superbowl, that went over very well. Please keep babysitting PHL, as the rest of the system will notice and appreciate that effort.

Come Xmas 2005, we will bail PHL out again, it's happened the last 2 times, nothing new....

 

[MarkMyWords]

Hey, at least the company tried to make ammends with the pizza. Your choosing not to take part is your loss. At least they made an effort.

Once again, when has CLT ever had to work under the same conditions as PHL?

I've asked this question before and never got an answer......so I will try again, What would YOU have done to ensure we didn't have a complete operational meltdown?