The last few posts have been very well written, and have given me an idea to a potential solution to this interesting problem.
First the history behind this problem:
- Unexpected arrival of A340-300s caught EK Training/Recruitment Dept’s on the hop. Fair enough.
- Easy/quick/cheap option to recruit Contract Captains taken, rather than upgrade from within, which would have put excess strain on already stretched Training and Recruitment Dept’s. Fair enough. These aircraft are extra’s, so FO time to left seat should be unaffected.
- What started as a Contract position soon became a Permanent one. Inevitable really in the expansion climate wasn’t it!! Here the situation starts to snowball! Mistake No.1
- EK management seriously misjudged the experience/pay curve required to attract suitable DEC’s in the current market to move to Dubai. Mistake No. 2.
- By reducing the DEC command req. to A320 size aircraft and increasing the FO upgrade requirements (????) only served to antagonise current EK FO’s. Mistake No.3.
- Then to add salt in the wounds, increase the package to DEC’s over current EK Captains to try and increase applicants, but which only served to antagonise the current EK Captains! Mistake No. 4!
- And now I hear they want to reduce the Standards for DEC’s further! BIG Mistake No. 5! Well done to that Captain who resigned his post, shows lots of integrity and professionalism.
All this seems to stem from such massive expansion putting too great a pressure on an already stretched training/recruitment department. And with crews already working monthly hours on the high side, and around 1 aircraft per month arriving, the situation can only get worse. And this is without people leaving for pastures new, for example Etihad, or going back to Europe/Australia etc as the aviation industries get back on their feet. The planned changes to credit hours, or the fact that everyone has bluntly found out about the value of their contract will also not help retention!!!
SOLUTION.
Here is my solution to this problem, notwithstanding overall pay/conditions etc, this will only change when lots of Captains hand in their notice!!!
Firstly, all current EK captains should at least be paid the same as proposed for the DEC’s.
Secondly.
Quote : “For the money, but more importantly time spent, on the initial batch of DECs they could have reviewed the files of all the First Officers in the company to see if any of them are suitable upgrade candidates irrespective of any numerical constraints. They might get lucky and it would buy them time, stave off a few DECs, regain some credibility but above all prevent them having to push the sh*t uphill. They could still do it, and probably would, if they were concerned about the company's best interests rather than saving face.”
This will undoubtedly mean that a large increase in number of FO’s will be required, so increase resources to the recruitment/training department, quickly sift through the hold pool, drain it out, and start advertising for new FO’s.
Quote : “They have yet to realise that hours can be almost worthless as a measure of experience or capability”
Although I think they are learning fast with the DEC recruitment sessions!
At the moment they are looking for 4000 hrs, which seems too high, remember people joining next year would have to spend around 7+ years in the right seat, recruit people who will be happy to be in the right seat for years to come, resulting in a happy crew!!! Around 2000 Hrs with Jet time could be a ball park figure. Many Majors fly with Cadet F/O’s with around 200 Hrs including EK, so this recent increase to 4000 hrs for FO recruitment seems bizarre!
One of the biggest mistakes an employer can make is the failure to see the quality and capability of it’s current workforce under it’s nose, and to destroy morale and relations by bypassing them in career development and progression. It is a real shame to see EK go down this road.
The upturn in world aviation is on it's way and EK's expansion will stop in it's tracks unless EK quickly stop this rot!