AJ is in a hot air balloon and realised he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The woman below replied, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 33 and 34 degrees south latitude and between 151 and 152 degrees east longitude."
"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist.
"I am," replied the woman. "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is, technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help so far."
The woman below responded, "You must be an executive manager."
"I am," AJ replied, "but how did you know?"
"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You have risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

Another casual 5.5 million for AJ.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/comp...09-p5bgrg.html

Check out the bonus schedule. AFR are reporting he will clean up to the tune of $13 000 000 next year if it all goes to plan

He will likely depart the business having pulled in at least $150m. Goyder will be out batting for him though. Nobody is worth that much. What did they say, these executive salaries and bonuses are all ‘market rates’.

Benchmarking.

Benchmark staff salaries to Bangladesh and India. Our costs are too high.

Benchmark executive salaries to New York and London. We have to attract the best and brightest.

Surprised this has flown under the radar:

Dnata ground handlers have called off next week’s 24-hour strike after securing an immediate 12.6 per cent pay rise.

The TWU said the deal also stopped “attempts to scale back overtime entitlements” and would amount to a 17 per cent pay increase over four years.

Qantas Strike Off as Ground Handlers Strike Deal

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/07/qantas-complaints-under-investigation-as-accc-says-airline-not-realistic-about-flights-it-could-serve

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/qantas-statement-about-flight-credits-covid-disruption/6df159d6-d8e7-4815-93fa-de8200ca306a

I think Qantas strategy may now be on the right track: https://www.theshovel.com.au/2022/06...BKByqmm5ZHzKpg

Theres 1 person who wont like reading this & of course thats AJ.
It wont suit his rhetoric about wage freezes & 2% pay rises.
Well done to the Dnata staff who have suffered a lot during the covid shutdown.

Thats chump change. He just gave himself 15% in one year. Thank you 'our people'

It may be a separate company but Dnata’s biggest Australian customer would’ve had a say in how much they were willing to pay staff. At the end of the day the costs of a pay rise are passed onto the customer, that being the airline.

It also can be used as leverage for permanent staff in negotiations, if the contractors are getting way more than a freeze then why not them?

It was noted that Qantas Pravda this week loudly proclaimed that the strikes had been called off, but conveniently failed to mention the reason why.
They must seriously think their dribble is the only the source of news for most employees.

What amazes me is that I have been managing people for 30+ years, different cultures, norms and in different countries. I've never had anyone complain that they'd been screwed, I never ran my department anything other than under budget, unless there was an explainable blow-out (additional flights not originally planned that did not leave time to recruit additional resources) and no one ever said they were poorly treated, screwed or were not paid everything they were entitled to be paid. In the last company I worked for, an off-the-cuff remark was made by someone from a different department that "most people here want to work in your department" - "Why??" I asked. "Because your staff respect you".

This is reinforced when you bump into people you've managed years before and they say what a great manager you were, certainly better than the standard today.

Not sharing this to blow my own trumpet, but to simply illustrate - this is NOT rocket science. It's not hard to manage a business well and some departments within airlines are multiple times bigger than most small to medium businesses, it just takes common sense, logic and a modicum of respect for the people working for you. Not clever game-playing and strategising and spouting management-speak, weasel word piffle, that spews out of management's mouths today. I banned that sort of nonsense in my various positions, I would actually say to other managers "If you're going to spout that reaching out, going forward, cohort, what that looks like, lean in bull**** then the conversation's over. Speak plain English."

You Said one word in your post that really resonates with me. We can talk about money, Perks, work environment etc all we like but the biggest thing that I feel has killed staff morale in Australias airlines is "respect." (Or lack thereof). There is no respect or care for staff and there is no respect or care for passengers. I've never seen it this bad nor do I see any end in sight. I'm worried this will become the new normal. If it does, I don't see how this career is sustainable in the long term.
I don't like people who make big deals out of things and constantly scream the sky is falling in. But I feel the pressure valve is very close to giving way.

I see JQ is in fine form again: (sorry that it's ACA but you get the idea) Is it just me or is the current strategy simply to keep quiet and people/ the media will forget and talk about something else soon.

But the fact is that, at least for the time being, there are more than enough people willing to pay in advance and line up for this kind of treatment. (Hence the word "sheeple" was coined.)

My guess is that the strategy of the bean counters is that when they finally rebuild some semblance of the capability they destroyed, there won't be enough people who've sworn never to fly on their airline again to make a difference to the bottom line.

It's not as if the people have much choice LB, the term "sheeple" is unfortunately a term of disrespect and I would hope it's not how crews view their pax/guests/clients/customers, or whatever the current "in" word is.

Its not crews that you have to worry about Megan. Its the management class that sets the tone. At the front line its all too apparent just how many hopes and expectations get dashed every day. And no one that I work with is happy about it or proud of it. In fact I am back to claiming to play piano in a whorehouse rather than admit to working for QF.

Of course they have a choice! Who’s holding a gun to their head saying: “You must fly to Bali” or wherever? And how can a flight be ‘necessary’ if it’s cancelled?

And I have no doubt that sensible crews do not view the majority of PAX as “sheeples” (though I’m sure some crews would prefer that some bogans stayed at home).

I’m referring to the beancounters’ attitude. If people continue to be willing to pay in advance to line up like sheep to have their bags lost and flights cancelled, why would the beancounters have any different attitude? The problem is that the sheep aren’t ‘match fit’.

But I might be going to my daughters wedding, or to her death bed, not necessary in absolute terms, but hell, it'd sure be nice.Few more laps of the paddock do it?

Then pay for a ticket, join the queue and take your chances. The beancounters are banking on it.

You've got me thinking is aviation necessary at all? Come to think of it, not much is necessary aka Aborigines ;)