Lottery Replacing Employee Bonuses In United Airlines
United Airlines is getting rid of quarterly performance bonuses for its employees, and replacing them with a lottery-style drawing, with prizes including cash, cars, and vacations.
Lottery takes over
United Airlines is living up to its name today–at least in that its employees seem almost universally united in their opposition to the airline’s new “lottery bonus” program.
According to a report from the Chicago Business Journal, President Scott Kirby sent a memo announcing the new program on Friday. United announced a brand new employee bonus program on Friday which would replace the current performance bonus system.
“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’,” the memo read in part. A United spokesperson told CBJ that the new prize program should “build excitement and a sense of accomplishment.”
According to CBJ, though, excitement was not some employees’ first response. Incidentally, the announcement had been met with a “firestorm” among employees.
It’s hard to square the idea of either team or individual accomplishments, after all, with the random distribution of incentives.
One employee will reportedly receive a $100,000 prize each quarter — again, determined by a drawing whose non-winners won’t receive their prior bonuses. However, those bonuses were estimated at between $63 and $7,589.
The prize program is linked to United’s “Core4” program. That initiative, started by Kirby this year, is meant to encourage staffers to attend closely to customer needs, including by shifting away from rigid policies and towards personal judgment. It followed a disastrous incident in which a passenger was violently dragged from a flight.
In a follow-up exchange with Inc., another spokesperson said United would be offering other new incentives in addition to the lottery system. Furthermore, the new program also will not affect the airline’s profit-sharing program.
What has changed?
1. Under the old bonus program, employees could receive a maximum total of $125 per month–paid on a quarterly basis, so $1,500 per year maximum–if United met its goals on three key metrics.
2. The new program replaces that system with a lottery. In addition, if United meets its goals, all employees would have a chance to win prizes, including Mercedes automobiles and cash up to $100,000. About 1.6 percent of employees would win something.
3. The new “lottery bonus” program adds another requirement. In order to be eligible for the lottery, employees would have to have perfect attendance during the time period. Employees took that to mean no sick days.
4. The program is officially called “Core4 Score Rewards,”. This is in reference to United’s reputation as “the most caring airline in a highly-competitive industry”. Arguably, this change makes do the opposite for the companies reputation.
Staff are not happy
United pilots, flight attendants, and other employees are up in arms. Furthermore, there are a few other new developments today. A report that United required a flight attendant to remove a public Change.org petition against the policy. Also, hundreds of employee comments are responding to the original “lottery bonus” announcement from Kirby.
