Originally Posted by Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM
Yes. This is the answer for the future.
Smaller group of FAs develop themselves and their value and stay on to become pursers, the rest stay for just a few years and move onto something you can live on.
I completely agree, provided by "pursers" you mean "pursers-supervisors."
I know that many FAs will scream bloody murder at this one, but it really makes sense. Pilots are monitored constantly during flight by people on the ground. Their job performance is measured by the absence of accidents and successful journey. ATC and the airline will quickly learn of any discrepancies in their expected "by-the-book" performance. So no real need to put someone from management on the flight deck.
FAs and their job performance are not so monitored, and IMO, that has lead to too many cases of "we're untouchable unless you go to the effort of complaining, and nobody wants to be a serial complainer, so we're pretty safe" among the jaded FAs. Not too many are cosistently like this, but we've all seen some of them in our travels.
Many passengers are lazy and/or busy once back on the ground and service deficiencies are never really addressed. And you really don't want to become known as a serial complainer - especially if you fear that the FAs will figure out who you are.
You can bet that if the senior FA/Purser was actually a supervisor/management person you would see a lot less
People,
Vogue and
US Weekly reading/chatting in the galley and more walking up and down the aisles checking on and waiting on the passengers.
Very few other jobs in the entire world are performed almost exclusively out of sight of a supervisor. And as we all know, the current "purser" is not a supervisor or in charge.
So those FAs who go the extra mile and receive consistently above-average reviews might be considered for promotion under my scheme. Those who don't are given an "up and out" reminder so common among young professionals (think junior lawyers or accountants - perform well above average and we'll make you a partner. Don't and you're outta here after a few years). Combined with the low pay for young FAs, the underperformers would be happy to leave.
Originally Posted by Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM
Now, for the transition: how to treat the tired, older NW lady who now years down the road finds herself sucked into an unsustainable, unrealistic position with expectations which can't be met? Many posters on this board seem to want to just dump her at the side of the runway and fly on. Perhaps there might be a more humane solution to help them transition out?
That's a very difficult question. The lazy answer is "well, lots of industries have seen upheaval and employee dislocation. We should just chop the pay to something nobody can live on (as an independent adult) and let the chips fall where they may."
What's more likely is that this transition (assuming it occurs) will happen slowly as concession demands arise every few years, pushing more and more senior ones out the door.