Three lessons from Jet Airways on how not to treat employees

 

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="284" caption="Jet Airways employees protesting"][/caption]

Last week, Jet Airways in India fired almost 1000 employees (and then re-instated them after a huge furor). In bad times, it’s natural for companies to cut costs, and reducing headcount is one of the ways to do that. But it was the method of communication that infuriated employees and resulted in widespread public protests.

Just like airlines cannot treat customers badly, they cannot treat employees badly too. After all, happy employees make for happy customers, who then form positive impressions of their interaction with the brand. One of the most successful airlines in the world, Southwest, treats their employees like customers and the results are there for all to see. Here are a few things other airlines can do to keep employees happy, by treating them humanly.
No surprises, please!
Most of the Jet Airways employees were hardly given any notice of the upcoming lay-offs. They were informed either a day before they were asked to leave, or on the day itself, in some cases. The news came to them as a shock, especially from …