It's interesting that the mother of all LCC's, Southwest is unionised.
I suggest people get themselves a copy of
Nuts, or just read the reviews to see why the "bash your people" strategy will fail.
Southwest has been profitable every year since
1973, never furloughed an employee. $1000 dollars invested in 1973 was worth $1,500,000 by 1996. Many of its staff had become millionaires through profitshare. Its secret, choose the right people and treat them like a family, there is trust between employees and management.
Southwest has spawned many imitators. They clone the "mechanics" of the business, but rarely the people culture. Words such as fun, family, respect, dignity & job security keep coming up again and again. Do you hear these at QF? Just the opposite. Deliberately destroying careers & people to gain short term profitablity. You may gain their bodies, but you have lost their heart & soul. Those that remain are lost forever, bitter & twisted.
ENGAGE EMPLOYEE HEARTS AND MINDS
Ownership isn't just about equity, its about bringing something to the table -ideas, skills, and talents that others value & appreciate. When people feel involved, they care more. The more they care, the more willing they are to assume ownership. Jack Welch, GE's chairman and Chief Executive Officer, believes that engaging peoples hearts and minds is the key to everything" " I think any company thats trying to play in the 1990s has got to find a way to engage the mind of every single employee. If you're not thinking all the time about making every person more valuable you don't have a chance. Whats the alternative? Wasted minds? Uninvolved peop;e? A labour force thats angry or bored? That doesn't make sense!"
Nuts pages 103-104
"Pilot engagement has no dollar value"
Senior QF Manager
Southwest is its people. QF is its shareholders.
Southwest is profitable because it is people are engaged & clever. QF is profitable because of government policy.
Reading this book is a shocking, Southwest only has 4 layers in the company. The enemy is bureaucracy and empire building. It gives them the flexability & agillity to make crucial decisions within minutes or hours, not months or years. Everything they do is 180 degrees from what can be seen at QF. Reading the book I am scared, its just as well the Roo has been a protected species in the past. Breaking the unions will not save the company, managements is fundementally & fatally flawed. The distrust between the owners and the employees can only increase by "breaking the union" strategy.
The "legacy" IR strategies evident at QF are doomed to fail. Now the wheel has turned with the pilot shortage (~250,000 new pilots required over the next 20 years just to cover the fleet growth based on
BOEING's own numbers, let alone retirements). However we as pilots must play our part. Employers & employees will have to work together, but in a organisation where there is trust and respect both way. I cannot see this happening anytime soon with the current "annointed" management team at QF. Of the senior executives, I get feeling that only one is a "people person".
The pilots an not totally blameless here, however the years of legacy management has ensured a culture that is so poisonous, that it may take more than a decade to repair, if things were to change right now.
There is however a yawing gap in the market for a very profitable alternative where a company gets it people culture right.
Don't take my word for it, read these books and think about yourself. Do yourself a big favour, at US$20 each (including postage), air freighted world-wide (no money in freight) within four or five days they will help you understand this insane industry.
How to do it right with:
Nuts - Southwest Airlines crazy recipe for business and personal success
How not to do it:
Hard Landing - The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos