From disputes to harmony: how Cathay Pacific cabin crew got back on board

Client: Cathay Pacific
Sector: Airlines, travel and hospitality
Service: Employee engagement

In 1993, Cathay Pacific’s cabin crew went on strike for 17 days. The perfumed picket line was out on the streets and the airline ground to a halt. The official reason the strike had been called was in protest over crew being called in at short notice and being asked to work in more junior positions on a flight than their seniority and rank implied. But in an investigation conducted by the University of Hong Kong, only 2.7%of the crew questioned offered this as the reason they were on strike. The truth was that somehow the relationship between crew and airline had broken down, despite the fact that there was goodwill between the management team and in the crew. The strike lasted two and a half weeks.

We were asked to work with them for two years to help build a better working climate for all concerned: both management and crew. In tackling this job, we discovered that there was no systematic process in place for the managers to discover what was on the crew’s mind. There were informal discussions taking place all the time but there were about 5,000 crew, so staying in touch with opinion was challenging. When the crew were working, they were not in the office; they were in one of dozens of aluminium tubes at 35,000ft and doing 550 mph. It was hard enough to know where the crew were, let alone what was on their minds.

We built a systematic process for engaging with the crew. It had several components.

The process

First

We organised regular focus groups that measured opinion through conversations with a representative 5% sample of the 11 nationalities and three major ranks of crew.

Second

We assembled a questionnaire survey that could track precisely how opinion was changing on a defined set of questions covering all aspects of crew members. Working lives.

Third

We took both of these regular opportunities to ask crew’s views about any significant changes the management team were planning.

Fourth

We ensured we communicated the results back to the crew openly and rapidly, so that they knew the management team were interested in their opinions. We also communicated the managers. comments. In this way, we rebuilt communication and we demonstrated that the crew had a voice that could be heard. We also organised regular open forums to which all crew were invited and at which members of the management team were present to answer any questions put to them. They had occurred at a breaking point and had created a tipping point. They had not brought about a complete change but they had shifted the balance. Now, instead of matters getting relentlessly worse and accelerating into disaster, they were moving inexorably in the right direction and had established a virtuous circle.

The effect of these various interventions, and the further initiatives they spawned, was fascinating. Two stood out: retention and trust. We measured employee turnover before and after the strike to discover that 100 fewer crew per year left after the strike. At a replacement cost of US$25,000 per crew member, that saved the airline US$2.5M per annum. Trust was also affected. Fewer than 25 crew came to each forum, but word soon got around. I interviewed many of the crew who told me that communication was now so much better as evidenced by the crew forums. .Have you been to one?. I would ask and was told by the vast majority. No, but I know someone who has and they told me it was helpful. The forums, focus groups and surveys had taken significant steps in the direction of restoring relationships.

Now business as usual

These approaches to engagement have become business as usual now for Cathay Pacific. They have just been voted Airline of the Year by two different rating organisations. Engagement with working groups makes a difference. It is a part of what makes an organisation a ‘Great Place To Work’ and those organisations rated as such outperform their competitors on hard financial measures over 3, 5 and 10 year perspectives.

Employee engagement is not about being kind or well intentioned alone, it is about being skilful and systematic. Programmes of employee engagement can be devised and implemented quickly but they require a shift in the attitudes of many management teams, since there is little room for cynicism if the programme is to work. Similarly, there is a great need to ensure follow-through so that cynicism is not the response of the employees who witness great intentions but little real change. Cynicism is never far from the surface in large organisations but whether it is displayed by senior players or those on the front line, two things are generally true First, it is carcinogenic to the organisation.s climate and manifests itself in poor teamwork and customer service. Second, it usually derives from the same source: frustrated enthusiasm. Downward spirals of morale and motivation rapidly take an organisation to breaking point. Systematic employee engagement creates a tipping point. When engagement becomes the norm, a new approach to leading and managing people is established, and the way people are led and managed may even become a source of competitive advantage for the organisation.