United Airlines is changing how it rewards employees, and some workers are not happy.
The airline previously would pay quarterly bonuses if employees met certain performance targets. Under the new plan, employees who meet the standards for metrics including punctuality, would be entered into a drawing for prizes. Once a quarter, a single employee could win a $100,000 prize. Other prizes include cash, luxury cars and vacation packages, the Chicago Business Journal reported, citing an internal memo from the company’s president, Scott Kirby. Some employees are upset about the change, the report said.
“We believe that this new program will build excitement and a sense of accomplishment as we continue to set all-time operational records that result in an experience that our customers value,” a United spokeswoman told CNBC.
Some employees are not on board. Laurie Vesalo, whose LinkedIn page says she is a United Airlines flight attendant, wrote a petition entitled “Make United Airlines Great Again,” outlining complaints about United’s flight attendants’ compensation and working conditions.
“They took away our quarterly incentive bonuses, and changed it to a deplorable new system that only rewards an elite few,” said the petition. “No surprise, since they are good at only awarding an “elite few” — aka the upper management, and not the entire population of frontline workers.”
The post also complained that employees did not receive a $1,000 bonus after the new tax law passed. Other airlines including competitors American Airlines and JetBlue doled out such bonuses.
“Why did they get the bonus? Because they care about their employees? That’s why. Novel idea,” said the petition, which was received 1,000 supporters. Vesalo posted that she “was told to take down” the petition.
United had about 89,800 employees, about 80 percent them unionized, as of the end of 2017, according to a recent company filing.
