United axes its employee bonus program, replaces it with a lottery, saving millions

[UpInArms]

Source: BoingBoing

United employees who helped the airline hit key goals got a $300 bonus -- until now.

Now, the employees who help save money, improve operational efficiency and go the extra mile for the company will be entered into a lottery whose single annual grand prize is $100,000; they can also win one of 10 Mercedez-Benz cars; one of 20 $20,000 vacations; one of 30 $10,000 vacations; one of 300 $500 bonuses or one of 1,000 $2000 bonuses -- in all, the company will present awards to 1,361 employees. The airline employs 89,000 people; more than 87,000 of them will not receive a bonus, no matter how well the airline does or how hard they work.

The airline stands to save tens of millions of dollars through the measure, which they call "meaningful rewards [that] will build excitement and a sense of accomplishment with more bang for the buck."

Read more: https://boingboing.net/2018/03/04/labor-lottery.html

---

Isn’t that swell ... tax cut and all ...

[Sophia4]

1. Uggh! I don't fly United. Yet another reason.

[GoneOffShore]

22. Plus they break guitars.

[OMGWTF]

43. United Damaged My Bike.

I haven't flown them since 1983 and I travel. A lot!

[rocktivity]

66. Welcome to DU, OMGWTF

rocktivity

[jmowreader]

49. Have you seen the other two videos he made?

This is Taylor Guitars' response:

[efhmc]

52. Extremely clever.

nt

[Rainbow Droid]

2. One of the most insulting things I've ever seen a corporation do to its workers.

At least in the Modern era.

[ret5hd]

3. Wait till they do the same thing with their paychecks.

[Merlot]

20. really a race to the bottom.

[Canoe52]

37. They all play this game to some extent, I worked for a similar sized company who decided to do

something similar with our previously “written in stone” cost of living raise. The drop in morale and productivity as a result cost them big time.

Hard to work for a company that tells you to your face that the new policy is the best thing to ever happen to you, when in reality it’s money taken out of your pocket and put in theirs.

[forgotmylogin]

81. Almost as awesome as...

..."We're taking the bonus money we would have paid our employees and buying lottery tickets! They stand to win millions if the numbers hit! What an exciting bonus!"

Way to leverage the corporate synergy.

[keithbvadu2]

4. Less buck for the bang

[Hoyt]

5. Compared to $300, I'd probably take that deal. But, I get your point.

[Rainbow Droid]

8. You'd give up 300 dollars in your wallet to -almost certainly- get nothing at all in return?

Go to Vegas then. We're talking about working men and women being treated fairly.

[Hoyt]

11. That's why I said I get your point. Still better odds than lottery.

[unblock]

23. if i understand the system, no, this is much worse than the typical lottery.

i'm calculating that the average payout if $38.76.

that's assuming the cars are worth $50,000 each and everything else is as stated (in practice "$10,000 vacations" are not usually worth $10,000, but i'll let that one go.)

divide the $3,450,000 prize pool among 89,000 employees, that's an average of $38.76.

terrible return compared to $300. most lotteries return at least $150 on $300.


one wrinkle is that you have to have perfect attendance. so if you took a sick day you're not eligible.

you therefore have an incentive to work when you're sick. studies show that hurts a company's effectiveness (in large part because it makes others sick) and it's particularly problematic when you're in a customer service role as you're likely to make customers sick as well.

never mind the negative impact on performance of, say, a pilot not operating at 100%....

[Hoyt]

34. Last time I looked at pilot pay, they are compensated pretty well for performance.

Now, some of the other workers might not. I’ve known some baggage handlers, and they were quite satisfied with their pay. But, things might have probably changed since then.

[unblock]

36. that's a whole separate discussion and has little to do with evaluating this particular change.

your earlier posts make it sound like you think this lottery deal is better than the $300 bonus.

if you want to amend that to say that they still are compensated well even though the lottery is worse than the $300 bonus, fine.

[Hoyt]

40. You brought up pilots. I suggest you do a little research on this incentive, which was fairly

new and was started when some idiot dragged a passenger off the plane.

United continues its profit sharing program, other incentives and salary structure which includes incentives and raises. And United’s pay for like Ramp Workers appears better than others in industry.

[unblock]

41. you've now wandered far from your earlier position about the lottery being better than $300

so i'll take that as acknowledging that you were mistaken on that point and you'd rather talk about something else.

as would i.

[Hoyt]

44. No, Im saying you are making a big deal over nothing. They still get raises, bonuses, etc.

United decide to restructure a very small part of a new program and is planning other new incentives. I hope they are successful in keeping employees from dragging passengers off the plane.

[unblock]

47. lol. not making a big deal over it. you said you'd take the lottery over the $300.

i supplied some math saying the value of the lottery is terrible compared to $300.

that's it. that's all i'm saying.

[Blue_Tires]

77. So you could be the undisputed best employee out of 80,000 for the quarter,

and all it really gets you is your name in a hat? Do I have that right??

[barbtries]

6. that is a fucking travesty.

we MUST be in the waning days of capitalism. i don't know if i'll live to see the revolution, but at times I hope I do. At other times i just despair and think it does not have to be this way. Greed is killing us.

[SergeStorms]

7. No one ever saw this coming!

Give corporations and the extremely wealthy huge tax cuts, and they end up screwing the employees into the ground?

Say it isn't so!

Fuck you Trump. Fuck you CONgressional CONservatives! And fuck you corporations.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

64. Maybe when we take back the house we should convert the tax cuts to a lottery based on pennies..

... on the dollar.

[SergeStorms]

70. Now that sounds like an excellent idea!

Turn about is fair play, correct?

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Organizational Psychology

says the company will pay dearly for this. There is now reduced incentive to work hard.

Fly the mediocre skies!

[RobinA]

68. Really...

I worked for a large computer company for 12 years. It was the result of a merger of two other large technology companies. It's like there's a book somewhere on how to get the worst from your employees and they followed every suggestion. They defied common sense AND Organizational Psych 101. AND what was going on on the ground in front of their eyes. I never understood it. Did they drink the Kool-Aid? Were they just organically stupid? Or did they want it to fail? I'm convinced the originators of the merger, which happened a year before I got there, didn't care if it succeeded, they took their money and ran. But the revolving door of CEOs that followed? Laughable if it weren't so serious.

[jmowreader]

10. First prize is a Mercedes you can't afford to insure.

Second prize is a set of steak knives you can't afford steaks to use them on.

Third prize is you're fired.

These are the new airplanes. These are the Glengarry airplanes. And to you, they're gold. And you don't get them. Why? Because to give them to you is just throwing them away.

- - - - -

Yeah, THIS will really boost morale.

[exboyfil]

15. Alec Baldwin - Glengarry Glen Ross

[jmowreader]

46. Even though I brought it up...

I really, really hate that speech.

"We gave you a portfolio of land no one wants and a list of customers who can't afford to buy land in the first place, so you're not making any sales. And we've been doing it so long you've lost hope. It's obvious you're the ones to blame, so instead of either finding better land for you to sell or better customers for you to sell it to, we're going to scream at you for twenty minutes."

[exboyfil]

48. I like the speech because it shows

cynical immorality - the purpose of the movie. Also shows regular people who are desperate and comprising their values in their desperation.

It is like Gecko's speech. I love it in context of the movies. So many sales people trade on asymmetric information. That is what makes it such a hard career now. It is left for the unethical to prey upon the unsophisticated and the weak willed.

[jmowreader]

50. I liked Gekko's speech a lot

[mopinko]

33. a mercedes you have to pay income tax on.

[7962]

39. I'd sell the car. No car is worth 50k. Sorry to offend those who have actually PAID that much.

But it is what it is. A car is a tool. Safely get you from A to B. Everything added on to that is money I could spend on trips to places I've never been

[Jedi Guy]

65. But wait, there's more!

If you win any of the prizes that fall under the category of "gifts," you get to pay the gift tax, too. So in addition to that $50000 Mercedes you can't afford to insure, you also have to pay a tax on the value of that Mercedes.

As someone upthread noted, you're disqualified from this incentive program if you don't have perfect attendance. So if you take a single sick/personal day, you're screwed. The upshot of this is that people will work when they're sick, thus spreading illness to other employees, as well as passengers.

And United is telling its employees how excited they should be over the screwjob they're getting. If they have an anonymous feedback system, I'd bet it's lit up like a Christmas tree just now.

[rocktivity]

12. Effectively telling 99.97 per cent of their workforce to fuck off is "meaningful," all right...

It means I'm not going anywhere near an airline filled with such resentful, apathetic employees...Mayday, mayday!




rocktivity

[NCjack]

60. Dangerous to fly on an airline that does that to its people, esp. if those affected

include the mechanics, electricians, fuelers, etc. When they no longer care if the company succeeds or not, don't fly with them.

[Throck]

13. Screw management.

Wonder how big their bonuses will be.

[UpInArms]

14. Gonna be HUGE

What with the MILLIONS they “saved” with this shitty miserly idea

[exboyfil]

16. Should our lady pick it

From Evita -

Would you like to try a college education?
Own your landlord's house, take the family on vacation?
Eva and her blessed fund can make your dreams come true
Here's all you have to do my friends
Write your name and your dream on a card or a pad or a ticket
Throw it high in the air and should our lady pick it
She will change your way of life for a week or even two
Name me anyone who cares as much as Eva Peron

[n2doc]

17. Well there goes the incentive for employees to help

I will bet productivity goes to hell. Why even try?

[Angry Dragon]

21. So true...........but some will still care

[n2doc]

29. Sure, but they would help regardless

Frankly, I would find this sort of crap a disincentive to go out of my way to boost productivity. I would still do my job, and would try to help the customers out (which United does precious little of), but as far as suggesting improvements, the heck with that.

And employees will be reminded/have their noses rubbed in this when the next round of bonuses and 'prizes' comes out.

[Submariner]

18. Does this include the master mechanics who make sure the engines do not fail

and the wing flaps do not fall off, and the tires are properly inflated and bolted to the landing gear.

If yes, then fuck flying United.

[ChubbyStar]

63. Oh It Is You! I Love The Smoking Baby

I just had to say hello, I used to see you here a lot in my long ago lurking days and wondered where you had gone. Hi

[Submariner]

71. Me too

I put up smoking baby just before Bush and Cheney's Shock 'n Awe invading Iraq, and only took it down because some PC'er or two got whiny about smoking, blah, blah, blah..

Now that the F'in Moron is contemplating nuking North Korea and appointing himself president for life, the Smoking Baby is back and is staying until at a decent human being like Obama takes office if we're still here.

Cheers

[left-of-center2012]

19. ...

Craig Symons, president of United’s flight dispatchers union:
“We all want to win, but this program doesn’t encourage a team approach to winning.
No team-oriented reward should be dictated by lottery.”

[Weed Man]

24. That is why i quit flying Untied

And flew Southwest exclusively.

I wish Denver would get rid of untieds hub and invite Delta to move to Denver from SLC.

Looking forward to the lovely skies as flown by Southwest . LUV. Wish they would go bigger than these 737s though. ( although their MAX are really nice. Flew from Denver to LaGuardia last week lasting just mite under 3 hours. Not looking forward to their estimated 4.45 hour flight back though set for tomorrow)

[Angry Dragon]

26. must have a layover

[Weed Man]

31. Nope, it's a nonstop.

Long damned flight from East to West.

[crazycatlady]

45. I like layovers

I can't sleep on planes and flying United EWR-SEA (6 hours) in a middle seat was pure misery (they didn't feed you either-- the food for purchase looked terrible).

Give me a layover where I can grab food, pee in a more spacious airport bathroom, and walk around any time.

[Angry Dragon]

25. Greed rules the day

[noneof_theabove]

27. Cook their goose then...

About 30 years ago a worked at a manufacturing plant.
Lead night maintenance.
Company again asked everyone to "submit" improvement suggestions.
Any thing is game, and you have to show some numbers on how your idea would save.
[ For packing people, wrist supports for carpal tunnel injuries ].
An meeting with plant engineer, maintenance has the best people so we should "win".
All the department was "required" to make a submittal.

SO....
I calculated how much money was spent on plant and 7 acres of warehouse lighting.
Major 10,000's of dollars a year.

CONCLUSION...
Turn out the lights and hire the blind. [also supports ADA requirements]

They were not impressed.

So I said, you save thousands and all we get is a T-Day turkey.
How about 1% to 10% of the savings, proven, of the first year because you still keep saving.

I think you know the ending of this story.

Never again have I offered "free" consulting for anyone I worked for.

[rocktivity]

28. But the employees best qualified to "help save money, improve operational efficiency

AND go the extra mile for the company" are the UPPER ECHELON employees: administrators, professionals and management. Change that "and" to an "or" so that ALL United Airlines employees -- including staff and labor -- would be eligible.


rocktivity

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. And the winning employees will be taxed on their prize

for the year they receive it. If they get the $100K, they'll have cash to pay the tax, which, if you include their regular wages, will probably be somewhere around $30K. If they win a Mercedes, though ($60K?), they might have to sell it to pay the extra tax if they don't have the extra cash. And, of course, there's the fact that less than 2% of the work force will get any bonus at all. In contrast, Delta's employees - all of them - got bonuses averaging $13K apiece. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/delta-air-employees-get-bonuses-averaging-13000/ So it isn't like the airline industry is broke.

[rickford66]

32. Watch who wins

I worked for a engineering job shopper company. They also had monthly bonus drawings. The home office of a dozen or so managers etc usually won as many prizes as the hundred or so engineers in the field.

[kaotikross]

58. Exactly!

That's how this will go down too. Watch and see how many upper mgmt are "lucky" and win the prizes.

[mopinko]

35. they should strike.

srsly. wtf is this shit?

[Hoyt]

38. The company continues its profit sharing program, other incentives, and pay structure.

This was a recent program apparently started when some fool dragged a passenger off a plane.

There are a lot of employee abuses, but this really doesn’t appear tp be one. A little research tells you a lot.

[rpannier]

42. Another Libertarian idea... Competition

Ask Sears how well that worked

[Honeycombe8]

51. Never count on a bonus. What the co. giveth, the co. can taketh away. nt

[GP6971]

53. I gave up on United over 20 years ago

they gave me so much grief on a bereavement fare. They finally came around but it was a hassled I didn't need at the time.

[BannonsLiver]

69. Bereavement fare? nobody does that anymore.

[jberryhill]

79. Bereavement fares are useless anyway, since they won't let me bring my emotional support wildebeest

After haggling for hours, I got them to offer me a bereavement fare to visit my dear friend in Hawaii who was mourning the loss of her comfort armadillo.

My wildebeest is afraid of flying, so it needs to have its support penguin, who normally flies as a lap passenger.

You wouldn't believe how rude they were to me.

[kysrsoze]

54. Fuck that shitty airline. Ive begun avoiding them.

United just sucks anymore.

[TexasBushwhacker]

55. If they wanted to make "meaningful" rewards

They would have taken ALL the money, $300 × 89K, and more big prizes. The way they're doing it, they are just saving money.

[YOHABLO]

56. I'm feeling sorry for their employees. People gotta work. They didn't come up with this.

So don't punish them by not flying their Airline.

[Doitnow]

57. Sounds a lot like a version of Work More For Less.

[kaotikross]

59. NEVER trust The Boss to "give" you anything. Always a catch.

I worked for a company that was known for it's tight fisted Boss/Owner. Suddenly, out of the blue, after years, he's gonna "have a cookout for the employees". I told a coworker- "Dave, you don't wanna go to that, don't eat his food, I'm telling ya.." . I think the Boss knew nobody was going to come so suddenly it's mandatory attendance. We grunts shuffle in, most hit the food table- not me! I just take a seat and wait, and sure enough, here comes the Boss- the whole thing is a beat down in disguise about how we need more productivity, more "teamwork", etc, etc. A big pep-guilt- talk on let's all work harder for the same pay to make him even more money.
He'd make eye contact, and the ones with mouthfulls of his food couldn't keep it, i did, and smiled right back. Unsurprisingly, he and his Missus left on vacation to the Bahamas the very next friday for two weeks, which suddenly explained why he wanted a few extra bucks poured in from our sweat.
On the flip side of that coin i also worked for a guy who went above and beyond for the employees and as a result- we loved the dude. We would have literally fought anyone who had a bad word to say about him. He didn't hide when you wanted to discuss a raise, and if he couldn't , he told you why in detail. Gave out Turkeys for thanksgiving, Hams for Xmas, Toys for Tots, you name it, he did it or was helping to do it. I would have did anything he asked with no questions. Just an outstanding human being and employer- and it showed, we made the guy pretty wealthy. He deserved it. He was always first to work and last to leave, unlike the first boss i discussed who was the exact opposite. He sold the place to some jerk who wasn't anything like him, and it went right into the crapper in two years.

[ProfessorGAC]

61. This Is Really Dumb

It's smoke and mirrors, because they could have saved the same cash by making the bonus $200 instead of 3.

But, that would be bad PR, to suddenly just cut everybody's bonus by a third. So, they make up this lottery nonsense so it looks like some incentivizing idea.

It's just dumb. They could have cut the bonus to 200, taken the slings and arrows of negative press and the issue would go away.

Now, they're prolonging their own agony because while the "lottery" is in place, nobody is going to forget about this.

[IronLionZion]

62. It's a good way to encourage their best employees to leave

and seek employment at their competitors who might value their people more.

I never understood the benefit of company leadership trying screw over their employees and their customers as much as United does.

[rocktivity]

67. Just remembered a chapter from the Christie Crime Digest

The United States attorney for New Jersey has been investigating whether United, the nation’s third-largest airline, agreed to reinstate money-losing flights to the airport nearest the weekend home of (Port Authority of NY and NJ chairman David) Samson, in return for improvements the airline wanted at Newark Liberty International Airport, where it is the biggest carrier...Mr. Samson was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey in 2010. He stepped down in March 2014...United discontinued the flight to South Carolina within days of Mr. Samson’s resignation...

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7155524

Volume I | Volume II | Volume III | Volume IV | Volume V

rocktivity

[kimbutgar]

72. On the United employee page they announced they are going to pause from this new change

Because the feedback was fierce.

“Dear United colleagues,

Since announcing our planned changes to the quarterly operations incentive program, we have listened carefully to the feedback and concerns you've expressed.

Our intention was to introduce a better, more exciting program, but we misjudged how these changes would be received by many of you.

So, we are pressing the pause button on these changes to review your feedback and consider the right way to move ahead. We will be reaching out to work groups across the company, and the changes we make will better reflect your feedback.

Appreciatively, “

United employees ares super pissed.

[UpInArms]

74. Thanks for that update

Am glad everyone gave them feedback on their nasty stingy asinine plan

[malthaussen]

73. And the CEO will win all the prizes. n/t

[Nitram]

75. The government in the novel "1984" used the lottery to pacify the people.

Looks like capitalism is following suit.

[TwistOneUp]

76. Just another way..

That corporate management screws labor.

[Blue_Tires]

78. Debate over at airliners.net

http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1388079&sid=02cd009df2b06214b5211e7422693ba9

[marble falls]

80. In the next five years or so they'll bring on the ThunderDome. "Two men enter, one bonus leaves."