United Airlines Introduces Controversial Employee Rewards System
Jackie Reddy March 06, 2018
In a move intended to inspire a more caring attitude among staff, United has unveiled a controversial employee rewards program. This new lottery-style system will replace the quarterly performance-based bonuses currently paid to eligible employees. The move has aroused upset and anger among staff.
United Airlines has unveiled a new employee rewards program, reports the Chicago Business Journal. In an announcement made earlier this month, president Scott Kirby said that the carrier would be scrapping the quarterly performance- based bonuses currently paid to staff and replacing these with a lottery-type system.
The carrier’s former rewards system benefited all airline staff eligible to take part. However, it appears that the newly unveiled program, which is formally known as ‘core4 Score Rewards,’ would mean that only a handful of employees would benefit from these quarterly draws. These prizes, which are doled out in return for the carrier meeting certain performance targets, are said to include lump cash sums, luxury vacations and even cars.
In a memo obtained by the outlet, Kirby is quoted as saying, “As we look to continue improving, we took a step back and decided to replace the quarterly operational bonus and perfect attendance programs with an exciting new rewards program called ‘core4 Score Rewards.’”
A sample of employee comments regarding the new bonus program, as taken from United’s internal employee portal, has been reproduced on Inc. The vast majority of these comments appear to be negative in tone and not quite in-keeping with the caring and compassionate ethos that Kirby is seeking to encourage among his staff.
“Not cool,” one staff member wrote, while another said, “Awful idea. [Current] bonus program has everyone pulling in the same direction with a common goal. This is scratching a lottery ticket.” Commenting on this new employee bonus program, a spokesperson for United said, “We announced a new internal program based on United meeting certain operational and dependability metrics as a way of offering meaningful rewards to our employees. 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.”
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United used to be an active member in Recognition Professionals International whose sole purpose is to train and educate people managers on who to recognize employees. United it is time for you to come back!
I am a 3 million mile United 1K. I find virtually all United flight attendants professional, but as is human nature, some are more friendly than others. But by and large they all get the job done. Regarding some past incidents, such as the denied boarding of the Vietnamese man, United management should give front line employees, or at least their supervisors, more latitude in dealing with customer issues. Had they raised the ante to meaningfully more than $400, I am sure there would have been takers. There aren't many times this flyer would have turned down a thousand dollars, and many would be inconvenienced for something between $400 and a thousand. A welcome practice: flight service managers can issue chits for miles (and in some cases dollars) for relatively minor, but unfortunate issues, such as inoperative entertainment or wi-fi on long flights. I think Oscar is working to do better.
A little late. This is dated today, and is now outdated - last night, the New York Times reported this plan was on 'pause' due to negative feedback. Can't understand why UA wouldn't expect that. Most people will take a small, guaranteed incentive bonus vs. the extremely low chance of winning a large prize. Or a car. Who approved this plan? This plan was stupid all around, and was bound to backfire. The only way this might make sense if it was applied to management bonuses - but somehow I don't see them wanting to give up a guaranteed bonus for a chance at winning a Mercedes.
Let’s take this one step further and make it even more exciting. Assign lottery tickets based on the amount of dollars you spend on company products. Starting at, I don’t know, Lottery Silver then Lottery Gold... And of course require a minimum spend on the company credit card.
After reading the examples on Inc., I see that this a a tradeoff, a substitute for something that seemed to work for the employees. I use my American Airline employee 'reward' coupons when I am sent them, but I had never thought that they might be the only system (I don't really know if they are a supplemental reward, or the ONLY bonus). Admittedly, meeting performance goals is nothing more than doing the job, as I recall. However, the one strong thing I learned a long time ago; "You don't mess with someone's wallet." Bonuses or overtime become expected 'wages.' Did UA HR ever see Christmas Vacation? Time to break out the popcorn for an afternoon training session.