United Airlines Awards 11 Vehicles to Employees With Perfect Attendance:

Here's my professional duty: Not to work sick, impaired, on medicine I shouldn't be taking, an emotional wreck, tired, stressed-out and on the verge of a diabetic seizure because my blood sugar is low because I didn't get my Doritos Locos Taco Supreme.

If a crewmember comes to work sick, then he gets me sick. Now I have to take sick time off, spend a week feeling like crap all because that crewmember may have an incentive (positive: might win a car / negative: has been sick a lot and doesn't have any sick bank left) to do so.

The sickest I've ever been is from a crewmember came to work, sick as a dog, because that crewmember had planned on using a mess of sick days after vacation for elective surgery recovery. What what WHAT?!
 
ATN_Pilot said:
You'll just have to excuse me for not jumping up and down cheering for a company that raped its employees of their pensions, slashed their pay and benefits, and furloughed them to make a merger easier, just because they give out a few cars.
Click to expand...
This is was frustrating about discussions these days. People take their opinions to the extreme. No one is asking you to jump up and down in excitement. No one is asking you to fall in love with United Airlines. Why can't we smile at a good deed of a company?
 
titansox said:
This is was frustrating about discussions these days. People take their opinions to the extreme. No one is asking you to jump up and down in excitement. No one is asking you to fall in love with United Airlines. Why can't we smile at a good deed of a company?
Click to expand...

Because it's not a good deed. At all. It's a blatantly obvious attempt on the part of the company to encourage employees to show up to work while they're sick.

Want to reward employees for actual job performance? Great! But perfect attendance is not actual job performance.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
At all. It's a blatantly obvious attempt on the part of the company to encourage employees to show up to work while they're sick.
Click to expand...


I don't even know what else to say.

picard-facepalm.jpg
 
ATN_Pilot said:
You'll just have to excuse me for not jumping up and down cheering for a company that raped its employees of their pensions, slashed their pay and benefits, and furloughed them to make a merger easier, just because they give out a few cars.
Click to expand...
That wasn't a UAL tradition...it was a CAL one. Not so?!
 
titansox said:
I don't even know what else to say.

picard-facepalm.jpg
Click to expand...

Do you agree with the following facts:

- Human beings can fall ill through no fault of their own, at any time.
- The ailment may last days or weeks regardless of modern medicine.


If yes, then:

Do you believe that it is a good technique to place an employee in a position of having to choose sacrificing their spot in a free-entry lottery for a vehicle, or taking off work because they are ill?


Do you really think forced binary choice is a good idea in this situation?
 
Nick said:
Do you believe that it is a good technique to place an employee in a position of having to choose sacrificing their spot in a free-entry lottery for a vehicle, or taking off work because they are ill?
Click to expand...
They aren't.

United isn't forcing anyone's hand. You are being paid to do a job. They are not putting any of their employees in any position. If you are sick, you stay home. If you are healthy, you go to work. United Airlines expect you as an employee and an adult, to make that call. If you become ill, and you miss a day, than you wait for the next 6 months cycle. Its as simple as that. This isn't a one and done deal, this sweepstakes has been going on for over 15 years.
 
I understand the sentiments that are being echoed about people coming to work sick. However, this wasn't the original intent of this program when it was first instituted when Bethune was trying to restore Continental. This, along with other incentive programs like performance rewards, profit-sharing, etc., were designed to raise company morale. Happy employees make for happy service, which in turn makes for a good company to work for.

That being said, I can see how people can take what seems to be a good idea and abuse it, thereby putting others at risk. With Adam Smith's invisible hand principle based on the fact that people are inherently selfish, of course people can be shallow enough to come to work sick just so they can win a car. Then again, I am inclined to believe that these same people wouldn't even need that as a reason. Things like:
  • No more sick time.
  • Need the money.
  • Trying to save the sick time.
  • Have plans on this trip and don't want to cancel it.
...are just some of the reasons I can come up with, and I'm sure there are more that I haven't thought of. The point is it's nice to honor people, but some take it too far and not use common sense just to receive that nice carrot. Is it the program's fault, or the people's level of thinking?
 
Again, incentivizing employees for good performance is a great thing. But attendance is not performance. Being sick is a normal part of human existence. No one should be rewarded for not calling in sick.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Again, incentivizing employees for good performance is a great thing. But attendance is not performance. Being sick is a normal part of human existence. No one should be rewarded for not calling in sick.
Click to expand...
How does one measure pilot performance?
 
From a United pilot's perspective, it's probably more lucrative to just use his sick time than try to come to work as much as possible to win a ford focus. Let's say a guy earns $100 an hour (WAG amount). If he takes sick time for two 20 hour trips, that's $4,000 a year plus extra days off. The MSRP of a new Explorer is about $29,000. Unless they're giving this guy a car every seven years, he's much better off just calling in sick.
 
I see that a Ford Mustang was also one of the options. It probably wasn't even a convertible or a GT!

"I came to work with the flu for the stupid 6 cyl model?? This is BS!!!"
 
wildfreightess said:
I see that a Ford Mustang was also one of the options. It probably wasn't even a convertible or a GT!

"I came to work with the flu for the stupid 6 cyl model?? This is BS!!!"
Click to expand...
I saw the selection, why go for a $15,000 focus instead of the $35,000 expedition? I wonder if they have to hold it a period of time before selling like we had to on GM vehicles. Longest 6 months on my life....
 
Though I agree with not wanting to work with someone who is sick... Ever consider that being stuck in an aluminum tube with every facet of society can also be hazardous to ones health despite the guy sitting next to you?

There's a reason airports, hospitals,and prisons are always so cold inside!
 
HVYMETALDRVR said:
Though I agree with not wanting to work with someone who is sick... Ever consider that being stuck in an aluminum tube with every facet of society can also be hazardous to ones health despite the guy sitting next to you?

There's a reason airports, hospitals,and prisons are always so cold inside!
Click to expand...

However, if someone is in 26B, I have limited exposure. If that same person is serving the cockpit food and drink or is in the cockpit touching things in the cockpit, it's entirely different.
 
Derg said:
However, if someone is in 26B, I have limited exposure. If that same person is serving the cockpit food and drink or is in the cockpit touching things in the cockpit, it's entirely different.
Click to expand...

Precisely. Sicko in 26B for an hour and a half doesn't nearly pose the same risk as a 4-day with Captain Sicko touching the same stuff I have to touch. Can you really wipe down everything perfectly EVERY time he touches his runny nose and then the flight guidance panel?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top