Two small points from my perspective as A) a moderately senior manager in a non airline business [gave it all up to get qualified, then some Scottish tit broke the economy, hence back flying the desk!
]
A) Management bonus culture - what pilots fail to realise is that increasingly managers are getting the same rogering that pilots do - it's only the very very top dogs now who get any decent wedge. An awful lot of Managerial salary is now made up of target related, performance based bonus. Therefore, try considering (in a "know thy enemy, understand their actions to understand how to fight it" way) that from a managers perspective he has to make these targets to pay HIS mortgage. You want to stop the divide and conquer, give him an alternate means to meet his targets, that doesn't impact you so badly. For example, most airlines have scheduled block hour information for almost all (all?) their destinations - suggest adding an economic value to that, and the CREW get bonus based on outperforming that economic value (Managing SFC etc)
B) Managers AREN'T idiots. Pilots are almost all generally quite intelligent, but one common theme is that they think they know everything, about everything. Read through these forums and you'll find senior captains who started flying at 19, yet reckon they have better grasp of economics than people who did a degree and do it for a living. You'll find people who wouldn't have a clue what tools a trader uses to hedge oil, yet reckon they can do it better. The truth is, there's a reason why you take 15-18 months to be even remotely competent in flying an aircraft - we should really extend the same courtesy you expect for your flying skills to other trades - management being one.
C) WHY do bloody managers (
) continue to drive improvements by non consultative measures! I consult my team on almost any major decision and it pays monster dividends....they understand WHY I have to do some of the things i have to do, they provide alternate solutions, everyone is happier!
D) The point of German FOs making €98000 - I had taken that to be a take home figure, combined for the three years - i.e. they would be
taking home around €32 and a bit thousand euro per year. Divide that my local deduction percentage for what in the UK would be NI, Tax and you have a rough approximation to annual salary....which I'm guessing would equate to somethign nearer €45k per year
gah.