We are often reminded that the EK package is continually reviewed with regards to other airlines. We are told it is competitive and indeed this is probably true. The beancounters add it all up, see what everyone else is offering and present the data to management who then feel suitably comforted.
Perhaps then the ever increasing attrition rate and shortage of pilots with resultant fatigue and sickness leaves them somewhat confused when flights are not covered. When they are, it is not by goodwill as we are told, its simply because of personal circumstance leading to overtime, call out pay etc.
What the beancounters cannot put a value on is personal time and quality of life. These are being continually eroded with the result that people are either not prepared to put up with the loss unless financially compensated or under any circumstances.
Much of this is not even EK's fault. Dubai is simply not a good place to live anymore. Anyone considering the move would be well advised to spend a couple of days here in a hired car and experience this themselves. The roads are choked almost to the point of gridlock and highly dangerous as a result of speeding 4x4's or badly driven heavy vehicles. This makes every aspect of life from running errands to school runs nerve racking and tedious. Simple tasks have increased three fold in terms of time. General inefficiency often means certain trips must be repeated.
On top of this EK fills the remaining time off with their housework. Groundschool has been offloaded onto personal time via the internet. Company email has allowed every manager to invade personal time with a myriad of tasks for one to fulfil in ones own time. The FOM statements on ensuring one is suitably rested are simply a joke. Even trying to get hold of EK's own internal departments can take several hours of listening to menus, recorded messages and praying you will be phoned back. Good luck to the new joiner who simply wants to speak to someone in Accommodation, for instance.
Combine all this with a falling US dollar, rampant inflation, stealth taxes, pollution etc., to mention just a few, Dubai is decidedly unattractive. Every aspect of living in the city is laborious and frustrating.
Hence people move on, even for smaller packages, simply to retain sanity and some vestage of quality of life.
I say to the beancounters; forget competitive and start thinking in terms of exceptional - because for many of us that's what it will take to stay in this city much longer.