Originally Posted by
Strewth
I think this is remarkably insightful.
Let's say you have an hour driven process--like ours. But you don't really have enough people (or the right distribution of people with the right qualifications) to run the contract the way you want to under the terms and conditions there.
So your idea is put everyone 'on a string' and juggle them around as much as you can. You perceive this gives you added flexibility and added resources when all it does is make your own rosters collapse and increase usage of contractually guaranteed sick leave due fatigue, fatigue related illnesses (including both physical ailments exacerbated by fatigue and body clock swaps as well as family related problems which influence mental stability and fitness for flight) and broken parts (and as such because the problems weren't there in the past the guaranteed leave wasn't used all that much). You might then make an attempt to bridle this and find out that it's essentially impossible due to the fact that it's a contractually guaranteed award (not unlike pay) and the individual has a fiduciary duty to self, flying public, and regulatory agency not to fly unfit that exceeds any metric or agenda you might have (being similar to asking an individual to violate FTL limits while also running the risk of violating strong legislation in other jurisdictions).
Under a false metric, having all these folks 'on a string' (i.e. more days at work) and your scheduling folks really really busy might seem like you're increasing productivity. But exactly the opposite is happening.
Say fr' instance you put reserve before (or during) a published trip pattern. You're FTL limited and not really generating any more hours (i.e. productivity). You then pull the individual forward off his or her rostered trips and into a different one. SOMEONE has to then fill everything that person was going to do so you plug the hole with someone else (who had their own published pattern--which then collapses). And then have to fill THAT persons rostered trips, and so on. All you've really done is collapse your roster geometrically with each person used, increase the chance he or she will break at some point downline, and disable any hope of long range planning (which increases costs due to a steep overtime gradient and guaranteed minimum).
Now, with a false metric it SEEMS that everyone is working harder and you have greater productivity because your pilots are busy getting shifted around on the road more (or sitting on a string more) and your poor schedulers are always really really busy. But your assets 'on the road' more aren't really generating more hours; they're just sitting more in a place or condition that you're paying more for (and costing you a bunch more money in doing so which increases the more you shift them around). And your really really busy schedulers are really really busy due to a self-induced problem that didn't need to be there in the first place--at best it's just digging a bunch of holes and filling them all back up. More likely it's like digging that hole around the very supports that keep your building standing, so not only do you have to deal with the self-induced holes but also parts of your building collapsing due to something you didn't need to do in the first place.