Middle East Careers: Al Baker's gameplan
The "esteemed " leaders of QR sat with Flight International to talk about careers in QR. Above is the link. It makes pathetic reading. I have produced the text below.
It may not have the glitzy grandeur of Dubai, but selling Doha to overseas job-hunters is
easier than it was. Although
Qatar Airways has been a blue-chip global airline brand for some years, able to attract recruits from around the world, its home town has been seen as something of a dusty outpost.
The World Cup has changed all that. Last year's decision to award football's four-yearly international tournament to Qatar in 2022 has put the Gulf city on the international map. A huge spending programme on stadiums and other infrastructure has already kicked off, but the month-long competition is not the only impetus for Doha's dramatic development.
Like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Qatar sees high-end destination tourism and convention business as a vital part of diversifying an economy reliant on the export of natural gas and which is expected to grow by one-fifth this year. While Doha has become a major hub for long-haul travellers on
Qatar Airways, the government wants more of them to stay longer in the country. In recent years, Doha's city centre skyline has been filling with striking new office blocks, shopping malls, cultural centres, hotels and apartment complexes as the city transforms itself into a regional business and leisure hub.
Next year, a new airport will open on 2,200Ha of mostly reclaimed land next to the current airport, capable of handling, initially, 24 million passengers, rising to 50 million by 2015. It will give Qatar Airways - which has been outgrowing its rather cramped current home - a base to rival Emirates' Dubai International hub.
Since launching in 1997 under the leadership of chief executive Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways has firmly positioned itself at the premium end of the airline spectrum. A decade younger than Emirates and six years older than the third leading Gulf carrier, Etihad of Abu Dhabi, the airline has been able to carve out a distinct brand position with a service-oriented passenger experience (in 2006 it opened the industry's only dedicated premium terminal at Doha) and a fleet based around smaller aircraft than those of Emirates.
Its 95 airliners include 29
Airbus A330-300s and -200s, 32
A320 family aircraft and 21
Boeing 777-300ERs and -200LRs. Although it has five
A380s on order, the superjumbo will fill only a niche role in its future fleet and most of its 170 commitments are for
A350s and
787s. The airline has just added its 100th destination - Aleppo in Syria - and six more will follow this year, including Kolkata, Montreal and Oslo.
Qatar Airways' fleet expansion means it needs to
recruit 30 pilots and 400 employees across the group each month, including engineers, cabin crew and backroom staff (current workforce is 13,000, with a further 6,000 in associated businesses). Al Baker says it is
"very difficult to get the pilots we need", admitting: "We are very focused on quality, so we are very selective. We get large numbers applying, but when we put them through their paces, a lot of them are shed because of our high standards."
Consistency in the customer product is vital for Qatar Airways and its employees are key to delivering this, he says. "For an airline that is less than 15 years old to be one of the top five-star rated airlines in the world is proof that the kind of people we recruit are the right kind of people."
Although "not everyone is happy with the strict discipline", the rewards of working for Qatar Airways are many, he says. "We offer a tax-free salary and other benefits, a very safe environment for themselves and their family, and the opportunity to fly a very modern fleet. There is also the fact that you can be part of a very aggressive growth story."
That growth includes several
787s due next year, with the carrier's first
A350 earmarked for end of 2013 delivery, subject to Airbus's wavering certification schedule. The delays in both types have been frustrating for Al Baker, who is determined to keep average fleet age below five years.
The new airport - which Al Baker admits is "desperately needed" - is also key to Qatar's expansion strategy. Although the current Doha International continues to be developed, its small footprint means aircraft have to be parked remotely. "The airport is the backbone of the airline," he says. "Passengers need a seamless travel experience or they avoid travelling with us."
Al Baker claims to be relatively unfazed by the rapid growth of Etihad and Emirates and sees the bigger opportunity in snatching market share from legacy airlines struggling to deliver a first-rate passenger experience because of ageing fleets, lack of finance, congested hubs and fragile labour relations.
"We do not follow what our [Gulf] competitors are doing," he says. "We have our own plans to make Doha a very successful Middle East hub. Our destinations are different from our neighbours' and we are going into routes that our competitors are not thinking about. There are still a lot of markets that are not served or under-served and we are looking at these opportunities."
Now a little analysis. QR pays less than any of the other Gulf carriers.
No Provident fund , but three weeks salary for each year served.
Schooling allowance inadequate to meet the needs of more than one child
Arbitrary dismissals, no proper grievance procedure (what is written in their books is a waste of ink because they dont follow it)
Highest turnover of staff , leading to poor service culture. Please fly EK, SQ, LH or CX.
If QR is so sure it can attract such high caliber staff and RETAIN them, why do they have a "NO-POACHING" agreement with EK? If they want to test the waters, they should tear up that agreement and let there be free movement and AAB will have a shock of his life.
Instead of head hunting the "best and brightest" to run their airline, which they can afford like EK does, they pick "YES -MEN" who either have no scruples, or are too incompetent to do anything.
Maybe, unlike EK , the "curse " of oil is too deeply ingrained into their psyche. Their airline is to project this small "dusty outpost" and not to make money like EK and the likes. Or do they actually turn a profit? Who knows? Deep dark secrets...
Anyone who has the letter the Chairman of EK wrote to his staff announcing their profit share bonus should please post it. It makes interesting reading. The staff of EK should be proud they work for him. All companies who are successful have a "people first" approach. Your first customer is your staff. They are HAPPY, they will make your external customers HAPPY. They will be a workforce who will contribute and grow your company. eg SOUTHWEST, etc.
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys! And that has been the classic case in QR! I have little regard for the middle management personnel who are not selected on merit, but on how far up their noses can go. Some who are supposed to have worked for big legacy carriers in western industrialised civilised countries and come here and have no COHONAS/BALLS to stand up and say politely, Sir I think you are wrong and if you did it this way it would be better. But they sit and perpetuate the nonesense the staff are dealt out for the sake of petty selfish self preservation.
It is indeed a sad case.. I could go on and on, but God forbid, this airline is "a whisker away from a disaster". Doha is not an easy place to stay, nothing of substance exists for proper normal everyday social life. And the staff need to be amply rewarded to stay here. It will not change though, unfortunately, they continue to be myopic, small minded, and petty. And that is seen clearly in the way the airline is run. They say if it is too hot in the kitchen get out, and that is exactly what is happening in QR, people continue to stream in and out in their numbers. yes they will always get people to come, but that is not the litmus test. RETAINING them is!! after all the expense to train them! Gentlemen of the jury I rest my case. Just had to Get it off my chest like the American "Brothers" would say!