Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Shooting Yourself in the Foot

I was surprised when someone complained about our national airline the other day. As far as I know, the airline has always been reliable. Recently mentioned the incidences to my sis-in-law and she told me that the workers were on an internal strike over the payment of bonuses at that time. Apparently, only the top scorers were given bonuses and many thought it was not fair, so they deliberately slowed things down and caused delays.

The way I see it, it was shooting themselves in the foot. The airline was only just recovering from major losses. I know a lot of people worked damn hard to get things into the blue again. Selective bonuses is a way to reward only the best. In short, meritocracy. However, quite often, there is a perception of unfairness. So it is between paying a lot to a select few, or paying a little to everyone. If you pay everyone, the non-performers get lucky. If you choose a few, the good but not great ones lose out. It's not an easy decision to make.

In general, their staff are already well paid. It's not as if they're dying for the extra cash. And the problems they caused could have caused horrible accidents. As you know, safety is key when you're flying miles above the ground. And the result? They got their bonuses reshuffled, but they lost frequent flying customers. Are they aware of this? What happens if the company goes into the red because of their actions? I doubt they'll take responsibility for it. It's just another headache for the boss and his team to sort out. Go figure.

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