How to Publicly Humiliate Your Own Staff!

[A300Man-2005]

I just read over on www.airliners.net a transcript of the article published in Dubai's "Seven Days" Newspaper, where the person in charge of Emirates Airlines' "Service Delivery", has publicly lambasted his own cabin crew for not being up to the mark, for having poor standards of grooming, attendance, service delivery, customer contact...................and so on.

Surely, and I stand to be corrected, if things within "his"department are really so bad, he should first of all be seeking to solve the problem through more appropriate meanse, as opposed to writing in a national newspaper about how bad his staff are????

If there was ever a perfect case of someone banging the nails into their own coffin, this is surely it!

As everyone on this forum knows, I am not particularly known for writing about EK, and the management of a certain other Gulf airline very often leaves a lot to be desired, but never would they stoop so low as to publically humiliate their hard working professional team through a conduit such as local media!

I believe the person in question is called Terry Daly.

[Sheikh Your Bootie]

It was an Internal company memo that was "leaked" to 7 Days paper. There has since been a reply by said EK person. Plus some "interesting" replies by pax.

It was a crap memo in the first place.

SyB :zzz:

[21st Century]

SYB is correct, the message was sent out as a private internal document.

Have to disagree about the validity of its contents though. I was talking to a Cabin Crew Service Trainer shortly after the memo came out. He commented that they have been trying to make management understand that all the needed improvements Terry Daly suggested have to be addressed or EK service standards will continue to decline. Without question there are a number of dedicated and absolutely outstanding Pursers and Cabin Crew at Emirates. But the overall decline in the level of service provided at EK over the past few years is shocking. Almost everybody I talk to after they've been on a flight has had negative comments about service, and I’ve experienced it myself. They need to shake things up (but privately!!!).

[ernestkgann]

The problem is that the chiefs think that by mandating strict adherence to grooming standards and all the usual superficial stuff, they'll see a change in service levels and customer satisfaction. However they will have no joy till they address the core issues that really make a difference to an employee in IFS. This is the same in every dept in the airline.

[Vorsicht]

The beatings will continue 'till morale improves!!

It is the EK way.

[RevMan2]

Folks

Read the article http://www.7days.ae/other-business/emirates-battles-growing-pains-14.html
first
(Excerpt here: A letter to senior cabin crew from Terry Daly, senior vice president, service delivery, sent last month targeted grooming standards, attitude, and service standards, including cabin monitoring, noise and galley behaviour.)

and then discuss content

"strict adherence to grooming standards and all the usual superficial stuff"

Service standards, including cabin monitoring, noise and galley behaviour aren't the "usual superficial stuff" - they're the things that people notice and complain about.
I want to sleep on a longhaul flight and I DON'T want to hear private chit chat, slamming galley doors and suchlike. I DO want to be able to get refreshments throughout the night.
Grooming DOES matter - it supports brand value.
Wake up, people. The company doesn't pay salaries, passengers do,

[ernestkgann]

RM2 wrt 'the superficial stuff' you are correct. Passengers expect all the same conditions that any other full service air line offers. Emirates are trying to have it both ways, they want to be a low cost operator (Mr Clark described the airline this way at a recent forum of CEOs) that delivers large profits to the owners and deliver a full service international package. I don't think the two can meet because mediocrity breeds mediocrity.
The cabin crew know the standards they just don't care to apply them. The reasons are many and vaired but predominantly stem from poor management, the rule by fear ethos as well as the 'yes' mentality.
The 62 million different nationalities on the aircraft all have different expectations; western, eastern, middle eastern, poor, rich, educated, uneducated. Getting all those people on the same playsheet is near impossible.
That's why grooming is the superficial stuff, it doesn't cost and it's a quick fix. But it won't.

[cardomumT]

The fact that the memo was leaked is a good indication of of how staff feel about the company right now. A a colleague of mine put it, "2005 was the year EK officialy lost the plot", this was the year that the good will and hard work of the staff was exceded by the growth and poor management. All of that worked in a small airline but the guys under MF simply do not know how to run a big airline. Unfortunately, there are too many dinosaurs remaining at EK and for many of the furniture in DXB this is the best job they're ever likely to get so they're hanging on for grim death but driving the standards and morale down at a rate previously unseen. When was the last time we won a major award??? Now more than ever the EK staff are being used as a commodity rather than an assett and after 6 years of trying to stay positive the downward spiral cannot be ignored. Time for a very large and very stiff broom.

GC to VC&GMD, TC to NZ, MF to somewhere quiet and a good hearty clear out of some of the EVP's, SVP's and VP's that are only here for the $$$.

[MR8]

Someone saw the real article in 7days?

Had a subheader like: 'No problems with morale...'

We had a good laugh about it in the aircraft, no problems with morale, but on the dark side, it made me realize once again how far the managers are with their head in the next ones butt.... They have absolutely no clue what's going on on the workfloors. In my whole career in aviation, I never saw a morale this far below freezing then at EK, and yet these VP's, VEP's, .... have no clue what's going on..

IMHO, the big problem with EK lays with it's middle management. These guys have to be the liaison between what's going on and the decisions taken by the top guys. These Middle Managers are just affraid to bring the bad news to the top guys, because they try to hide their own incompetence by shouting out loud that everything is going well... and hope it won't catch up with them.

This TD letter is exact that... Everything is going extremely well, there's no problem with morale, and the fact that EK is sliding down the costumer satisfaction ratings, is only because some of the crews grooming is not up to standard, shoes are not shiney and pilots don't wear their hats or ties outside of the flightdeck.... But the service, designed by TD's team, and thus his responsablity, is excellent, far above standard etc...

Heard the other day that about 500 Cabin crew have resigned since bonus day.. Might be the reason why teh other day we had to take out a 3-class 330 with only 8 gcabin crew in the back... how does EK expect to give a service that way???

I really hope Top Management guys eyes will open pretty soon now, because there are some real talanted guys way up there, and if only they knew what's happening, if only some people could reach them to tell them about the real problems they are facing...

Sad but IMHO true...

MR8

[Hazrail]

Both Cardamum and MR 8 are right in saying that there needs to be a stiff broom, however to make it clearer I will add the following:

The answer to EK problems is not in hiring ever more high profile Managers from other companies but within.

I am not sure TC is getting the news he needs to and to confirm MR8's statement it is to do with the middle management of EK that the majority of the problems lie, vbery much like the cabin crew training school, where the majority of the trainers have rarely seen an airplane in the last six months upto a year and yet teach abinitios, and their sole ambitions are to remain on the ground and not fly.

Middle Management in EK is a sever case of yes sirs! IMHO apart for half a dozen none, and I repeat none have been promoted on the basis of their competencies but rather on their ability to yes sir their way through, they do not drive the passion or inspiration required for crew to carry on in faith.

TD needs to break the link by imposing himself directly to the contact of the crew and rebuilt the trust that has been lost by years of inconsistent management at mid management level. He needs to do that by making himself known not on the basis of inviting the crew to meetings on thier days off, but by taking himself to the show itself.

If the feedback that is received at a higher level is not enough to go by it is because senior crew have lost faith in the management system and the people running it. TD needs to break some back of well known individuals who are only there for the buck and self gratification, like the secretary and her boss who will not entertain your request because you did not buy a tie for her husband on a layover.

Emirates is probably one of the most famous airline brands world wide, but it cannot continue to be if it continues to be managed the way it currently is.

[soompak]

I feel that EK management action is perfect. They look for standards and CC must obey the rules. :ok:

[ratpoison]

We can all go on and on for day's about the issue. Let's just all get a big map of the world, look where Dubai is on the map and then it answers everything. Will always be a third world nation with third world ideas. Has been like it for thousands of years and EK pilot's and cabin crew aint going to change it. Next subject.

[turtleneck]

interesting article in today's gulf news.
maybe our managers don't read, or they're above such low intellectual occupation, knowing very much better....

"The problem with "Our people are our most valuble resource" is the use of the word "resource". Resources are things we draw upon and exploit. They are raw materials we use as efficiently as possible, extracting value and preventing wastage. But people are not raw materials. They cannot be described as an organisation's most valuable resource, because they are the organisation. Honda did not treat its design team as a resource from which new models of cars were to be extracted. Rather, Honda put its team at the centre of the organisation and gave them the resources they needed to get the job done. This maxim needs to go into r'etirement. Its credibility has been undermined by generations of inept human resource managers;
and the view of employees as a resource has always been problematic. It is time to start thinking of the people as the business. It is employees who determine whether a company stands or falls, and they need to be motivated and rewarded accordingly. This is one area where actions will speak louder than words.
- Financial Times "

[SecurID]

Turtleneck, you beat me to it! I read it and immediately thought of the perfect place to post the body of the article, but it's already here!

So the middle managers are at fault? So which one of us is going to write to TC and tell him that things are not what they seem? Personally, I believe that they know exactly how we feel and exactly what is going on.

All the crew, flight and cabin, are very, very tired. The ULR operations, mixed with the manually inserted shorter trips is slowly taking its toll. Take a look on the bus to the hotel, everyone falls asleep within minutes. No one goes out like they used to, they're all so tired. Will it take an accident before someone wakes up? Will it really be necessary for an ultimate sacrifice to be made before they all realise the direction that the airline is heading?

[ratpoison]

"No one goes out like they use to". The drivers do but the cabin crew in EK have always been like the Olympic flame. Travels all over the world and never goes out. !!!!

[ratpoison]

Well typical, one who speaks without experiencing. One who knows all about somewhere, but never lived there.!!! "Modern and free city of the world". Ha ha ha ha ha.

[Vorsicht]

"Dubai as is known to all considers to be the most modern and free city of the world"

Get a grip mate. If you believe that, it just proves how narrow your view is.

Next time you are here go to the pictures and get into an argument with a local who has been yelling into his mobile all through the movie, then come back and tell me how "free" dubai is, after you have been dragged into the police station and interrogated for a couple of hours.

You are either blinded by all the reflective glass when you come here, or else you are another victim of the well orchestrated PR machine that is Dubai.

[MR8]

Dubai...

Kiss your girlfriend goodbye or hello at the airport, get fined, maybe a few days of jail on top of that. When released, go to Cyclones/Bur Dubai/Deira/... pick up one of the many prostitutes to celebrate you're a free man again...

Or go and see a film that is cut up because because of censoring, or just buy a book on art where even pictures of century old marble statues have been attacked with the big black marker...

...

MR8

[Gendec]

Why do you even bother replying to soompak, is it worth it?

We hear these spinning idioms about dubai everyday wherever you go, the biggest, the best, the bestest and the best of the bestest of the best.

Nothing will slow this down, there are some living elswhere who only see the bright lights and the posters and maybe step out to visit once or twice and are mesmerised by what they see.

Some of us here for some time, know the other side of the coin and wonder how long we still have to endure it.

A free city would not allow such managment to carry on the way it has, a free city would not give some of the managers we have the positions they have and in a free city these managers would not last a day in thier position.

Humiliation is a way of life in this part of the world and no matter what your position is in the food chain as an expat you are unlikely to escape it.

Everyone reading this forum would agree that Dubai has not become what we thought it would be when we first arrived.

[Obfuscation]

I have a odd jobs man who from time to time will help me with carpentry and chores for which I pay him on an hourly rate. Top chap. We often get to talking about Dubai and the plight of the menial workers. He recalls that some (in his words mainly UAE nationals) mansions that he visits in which the household help is virtually held prisoner for the duration of their stay- passports confiscated, confined to the house 24/7, and abused physically and verbally. The contract terms are for up to 4 years at a time and they are paid in the region of 400 Dirhams (about US$110) a month. They have no recourse, believing the promises of unscrupulous recruiters, and realise the terrible mistake they have made by coming here only after it is too late. So Soompak, you may well enjoy your holidays here at the top class hotels and all the glamour and glitz which goes with it, but don't mouth off in a public forum about freedoms before you educate yourself in the realities of what actually happens.

[Al Koholic]

Here is another example of the freedoms you get to experience in Dubai !! The tourists just love to watch these kidnapped, abused children ride the camels ... maybe one will fall off and get trampled, and we can take pictures !! This place is a joke, and anyone who has lived here for any length of time knows it. Enjoy fantasyland soompak !!

Camel jockeys sent home
Sunday, 07 August 2005


The UAE will soon repatriate more than 100 Bangladeshi children who used to work as camel jockeys, a Dhaka-based paper said. A team partly funded by UNICEF left on Friday for the UAE to bring the children back, reported the New Age daily.

Meanwhile, The Telegraph daily of London reported yesterday that another 60 to 100 children are expected to return to Pakistan this coming week. "In total, the UAE has agreed to send back more than 3,000 known child jockeys," said the newspaper.

In July, a group of 86 Pakistani children, who worked as camel jockeys here, returned home. The group was the second batch of camel racers repatriated to their country - the Child Welfare Bureau in Lahore, Pakistan, received 22 children in June. The UAE is the first country in the region to ban the use of underage children as camel jockeys.

[uplock]

Hey Soompak

I dont think the Australian Government agree with you either.... Mind you a drive in your car down Sheik Zied Road or in the Back seat of a Dubai Taxi could provide just as much excitement...

This Advice is current for Sunday, 07 August 2005.
The Advice was issued on Friday, 05 August 2005, 16:38:53, AEST.
This advice has been reviewed and reissued. It contains new information on safety and security. The overall level of the advice has not changed.

Australians in the United Arab Emirates are advised to exercise a high degree of caution. We continue to receive reports that terrorists are planning attacks against Western interests in the region, including in the United Arab Emirates. Commercial and public areas frequented by foreigners are possible terrorist targets.

Safety and Security

http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/United_Arab_Emirates

[ratpoison]

Uplock,

Interesting post. Mmmm, not sure whether they would bite the hand that feeds them though. But one never knows what animals will do when one enters a zoo.!!!!

[Gendec]

Uplock;

I appreciate that it is safer to err on the side of caution.

I somehow feel that your post only helps to sustantiate the claims that go on endlessly about terrorism and the likes.

You are more at risk of being shot at or mugged and maimed in the process in the streets of London, New York or Sydney; and while I agree that an impression of relative safety prevails while seated in the back of a taxi, if anything is of concern here it is the subject of the initial post and not an inflamation of an already uncomfortable situation flamed by these half hazard warnings.

So bear with everyone and if there is reason to believe that we need to highten the state of alert, considering it is an issue of utmost importance , then please start a topic and give it the importance it deserves! Muddled between these lines makes your post look like an unecessary utter of alarm amongst the anguish everyone shares over ones quality of life and while the first is unconditional the second one isn't.


Ratpoison

The dubai zoo is moving not sure about the zoo in dubai though!
The animals are between a rock and a hard space, I doubt anyone would dare move and on the other hand what we moan about often serves us and the police here are on top of the ball, trust me.

Happy landings!

[Paterbrat]

What a bunch of whingers, try some of the slightly more radical Muslim countries and you will learn that Dubai by comparison is an oasis of tolerance comfort and the good life.

[Gendec]

When in the Gulf Always remember:

Rule number 1: Mohammed is always right.
Rule number 2: When unsure, always refer to rule number 1.

That should explain everything.:E

[Oceanic]

Methinks you've rather missed the point Peterbrat. The responses are in relation to the absurd statement from Soompak that 'Dubai is known to all considers to be the most modern and free city in the world' (?..sic).

We are all well aware of the despotic, totalitarian regimes and worse human rights abuses elsewhere in the region, but the point being made is that Dubai is hardly a place of social or political liberty.

[Gendec]

Oceanic;

I could have not said it better and I will add that we perhaps aspire to something better than what happens in other neighbouring countries.

[ratpoison]

Gendec,

Yeah, I think I may have been a little offensive to the animal kingdom, because they only kill to eat.

[White Sausage]

Ratpoison you are soooo right: Always been a 3rd (I would even say 4th) world country, still is and will ever be a 3rd/4th world country: Managers, banks, officials, traffic, radio... you name it: No service, no clues, no improvement. Pity, but true. But, as our beloved TCK said: "It´s a fun place to live!"
Keep discovering!
Been here now for 3 years and already lookin´around for better livin´(without da sh... night flights to India...)