The comment earlier about 'the stares' in Waterside are not made up.
We have a lovely Health Centre in Waterside where I get my Class I medical renewed. If I dare to walk into the depths of our head office in uniform and get myself a coffee, I am often surprised at how many eyes are drilling into my skull. There has been a malevolent animosity from the Waterside residents for many years now. Most of this ingrained prejudice comes from urban myths about pilots T's and C's which quite frankly are way off the mark. I have had the pleasure of dinner with one or two Watersiders and it always amazed me what they had been led to believe by the 'rumours' that abounded in their Canteen.
I wonder whether the disassociative location of Waterside has led to the way BA is now. Even Flight Operations (pilots - not cabin crew) are managed from Waterside. Feedback of an essential but non-safety related nature has no route from pilots back to managers at this moment (FCR's?). It has been that way since 2002. Pilots are famous for having the audacity to share their opinions (
) but in BA, we have been gagged. There are, amongst our community, some very able minds, who have the ability to see problems before they arise but BA chose to ignore this rich seam of expertise to their peril. This principle has no doubt been applied through ALL departments.
Genuine receipt of Employee feedback and acting upon it, will take resources. If BA could learn one thing, they should learn to respond with the phrase "Here's a list of numbers. Get calling and report back to me when you have any results. I will pass on your report to the rest of the team when you give it me". Instead we get one of the following responses
- Your question ignored as they are too complex or sensitive
- Patronised
- or on occasions Vilified
BA need a change at the top because in its current form Willy uses the above methods on
- The Press and the
- The Senior Management (Kirkwoods face on the opening day would attest to that!)
BA needs to attract managers that see collaborative employee behaviour as an asset that could be nurtured, not, as it is now, something to be eradicated.