Presented by :Rajesh Dutta(10DM119)Mukesh Agrawal(10FN062)Nishant Maheshwari(10FN072)Prateek Jain(10FN132)Prateek Shah(10FN133)Nipun Gupta(10IB043)

WESTJET-Building a High Engagaement Culture

History

» Founded in 1994 by Clive Beddoe, Tim Morgan, Donald Bill, Mark Bill

» Low cost carrier

» Differentiator : Caring attitude towards passengers(guests)

» Mission Statement : To enrich the lives of everyone in WestJet’s world by providing safe, friendly and affordable air travel

West Jet took to the skies Feb 29, 1996with 200 people, three Boeing 737-200s,and five destinations…

West Jet Network 1996

West Jet Network 2009

» Friendly, caring, fun and youthful working culture

» Average age of workforce 34, and for leadership team its 38-40

» Creativity and innovation were encouraged and rewarded

Culture

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Corporate Culture

CARE : Creating A Remarkable Experience

» Purpose : To propagate culture throughout WestJet’s operations

» Helped create videos and plays that entertained stuff

» Organized 250 events every year

» Organized the biennial profit sharing events at which WestJetters received their profit-sharing cheques from a WestJet executive as a personal thank you

Recruitment Process

» Group interviews

» People with an outgoing and friendly nature were seen as fitting the culture

» Two desirable traits : enthusiam and a sense of humor

» Candidates were engaged in games, and in team and individual tasks

Talent Management & Orientation

» New employees assigned a sponsor who acted as a mentor

» Helped employees to learn about the organization

» High potential employees given more formal training

» Bottom-up management style

» Employees were deemed as owners of their jobs

PACT : Pro-active Communication Team

» Employee association that allowed management to keep in touch with rank and file

» Addressed concerns before they became problems

» Eliminated the need of union

» Covered the entire company : different chapters represented different work groups

» Making the employees part of the solution, not the problem

WHY : We Hear You

» Internal Twice-annual survey

» Measured employee engagement and culture

» Encouraged feedback

» Helped top management to assess the work culture and make improvements

Adopt a Base program

» A Structured program to allow executives to connect with business

» Executives take ownership of one or more bases and visit them on a regular basis and attend social functions

Infrastructure

» Five different fare classes or buckets

» Online booking system transparent and easy to use

» Flew only 737 models for cost cutting

» Less expense on training crew

Sharing the rewards

» Profit share program– 10-20% of pre-tax operating income is set as bonus

» Employee Share Purchase Plan(ESPP)– Contribution up to 20% of employee income were matched by WestJet– “We are owners” campaign– Average contribution : 15% base salary– 86% WestJetters participating– Bonus checks were given biannually– A way to say personal “Thank You”

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Care-antee

Competitive Advantage

» The fact that West Jet is able to run a profitable business with such low airfares

» Excellent customer service coupled with affordable and cheap rates

» Organic Culture

» Gave people a reason to travel with them

» Owners try harder than employees, both to improve the guest experience and to save costs

» Clan culture

Source of Competitive Advantage

Importance of Culture

» The differentiating factor between WestJet and other airlines

» Employees took decisions that led to cost cutting and innovation

» Fun & friendly environment leads to enjoyable working atmosphere

» Employees happy customers happy Profits

»Was the only airline in Canada to make profits during recession

»Within just 14 years had become the 5th most profitable airline in the

entire world

Copycats

» Difficult to imitate

» Needs extensive restructuring across all operations

» Lacks a proper foundation to create such a culture

» Unable to match West Jet’s low rates

Ingredients for a culture of engagement and ownership

» all employees must be able to enjoy where they are working and have a positive attitude

» Employees are always welcome to voice their opinions or suggestions and never have a problem stepping forward when help is needed

» Link the employee remuneration to organization's profit

The Pilot Problem

» The Problem : 3 year contract with pilots about to terminate. Negotiations for new contract regarding pay structure between management and pilots stalled. Road-shows organized by top executives to build support for it failed.

» Re-engage the pilots

» Explain the potential damage the rejection of contract offer can cause. Use the “you” approach

» Damage to organization culture= Loss for the pilots

Future Course of Action» Use technology as a differentiator

» Manage and accommodate growth with customized connectivity solutions

» Achieve technology innovation while maintaining a low cost business model

» Integrate customer experience monitoring across all customer touch points and interactions to improve customer satisfaction and ultimately, revenue

» Extend its culture and values by sharing what they are doing through social networking sites

» Deploy at least one permanent employee at each overseas location to ensure uniform service standard is maintained across the world.

If you are not having fun, you are fired!!