The aviation industry is currently under serious pressure to retain flight crew and deal with pilot shortages. The last two years have seen many crew, especially experienced pilots, retire or leave the industry, or move to other airlines and better paid positions. Now more than ever, it’s proving crucial for airline management to re-focus on crew retention and keeping their current workforce happy.
Airlines around the world have come up with a variety of solutions to boost staff morale and prevent further shortages.
Training and Development Incentives
Many airlines are offering additional training and career advancement opportunities in order to fill Captain and First Officer roles. Experienced FO’s are advancing to Captain more rapidly than they would have expected and airlines are stepping in to fund training for new entrants to reduce or remove a costly barrier to entry. While airlines are being more creative in how they train their people this is also providing more opportunity for rapid career advancement. Training and upskilling is a necessary constant as regulations and technologies continue to evolve. To develop and retain flight crew, airlines need to continually improve how they train their crews.
Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is a growing concern for flight crew. Time away from base and the ‘operability’ of crew rosters is a strong focus as airlines battle to maximise revenues in efforts to accelerate recovery. Airline staff need a balance between time working and downtime at home with their families. If their current employer fails to offer them a stable roster with manageable hours, crew will be forced to find a new airline with a more favourable schedule.
Retention Bonuses and Incentive Pay
Increasingly, airline companies offer their flight crew retention and performance bonuses in recognition of loyalty and commitment to the company. Loyalty bonuses would typically increase incrementally with the number of years served. Airlines are also devising pay schemes to incentivise crew towards higher productivity in return for increased pay and stable rosters. Other monetary benefits such as increased retirement contributions and annual bonuses are designed to encourage staff not to leave their position.
Keeping Crew Informed and Motivated
In a time when it has never been more important to retain flight crew and keep them motivated, Rainmaker comes into its own. Accurate and transparent pay is a fundamental motivator. Rainmaker Crew Pay Manager automates the entire pay cycle, pays accurately every time and makes every detail that influences pay available to crew members on whatever device they choose to carry. The Rainmaker Crew Pay solution can be quickly configured for new pay rules such as incentive pay, longevity bonuses, and much more. The Rainmaker analytics solutions provide chapter and verse on crew costs and any deviations from budget. Crew Analytics also gives you the granular information you need from Day of Operations to know how your Manpower Plan has worked out, how well optimized your crew schedules are, what levels of stability you are achieving in published rosters, what trips are difficult to operate – anything you want to know about flight crew costs and performance at your fingertips.
Rainmaker’s Hotel and Transport booking module helps you make sure that crew have a hotel room when they need one and that they get to where they need to be on time.
If you want to retain you flight crew and motivate them to achieve your operating goals then you need to look after them properly. That starts with pay and extends all the way to making sure they have a comfortable bed to sleep in. In the broader operation it means knowing what is going on throughout the ‘crew supply chain’ to have enough of the right crew in the right places every day as efficiently and as cost effectively as possible. To be able to achieve that consistently you need Rainmaker. Let us show you how we do it.
Don’t just take our word for it – Contact us today at: sales@nullrainmaker.aero
