Hr practices in emirates airlines
- 1. HR Practice of the Emirates Airlines BY KHAWLA MOHAMED
- 2. Overview of the Airline Emirates Airlines is a Dubai-based airline company, which was founded in 1985 Emirates Airlines operates a total fleet of 270 aircrafts, flying passengers to over 150 destinations Vision Emirates Airlines’ vision is to be the leader in the aviation industry through ensuring safety and quality of its products and services In the same fiscal year, the airline achieved a total revenue of around AED 91.97 million, which was a decrease from its previous fiscal year
- 3. Structure of the Organization The structure of the organisation is depicted below: Power and authority is not centralized in the organisation HH. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum (Chairman and CEO) Sir Tim Clark (President) Adel Ahmad Al Redha (Chief Operating Officer) Adnan Kazim (Chief Commercial Officer) Ali Mubarak Al Soori (EVP Facilities & Projects Management) Abdulaziz Al Ali (EVP HR) Nigel Hopkins (EVP Service Departments)
- 4. Strategic Planning of the HR The strategy of the HR is built upon the bedrock of recruiting, developing and retaining competent workforce that will support the needs of the organization Ensuring that the HR strategy and initiatives are aligned with the company’s overall strategic direction is also a key aspect that the entire HR department will have to uphold One way of ensuring such strategic alignment is to always understand the overall corporate strategy and vision
- 5. HR Strategic Planning Cont. The linkage between HR’s organizational objectives and strategy is achieved in the airline through continuous assessment of internal and external environment and corporate situation The HR managers of the airline also aligns their work and strategy with the Group’s by ensuring that they fully understand the environment the Group is in, like evaluating the general business environment, the risks the industry is taking, and the current market position that company is in Such an understanding is used to ensure that the HR department’s goals and programs are in aligned with the Group’s strategies and direction
- 6. Job Analysis Job analysis is the term used to explain the processes that is carried out by the HR managers which involves the identification and evaluation of the duties, the roles and responsibilities and specifications related to a certain job The Emirates group has a database which contains a list of job roles and descriptions. These are used to implement job analysis for the purpose of updating information concerning a particular job description, the specifications or other contents in the job Based on the data gathered from the HR manager interview, Emirates have repository or database for job description and specifications
- 7. Job Analysis Cont. The HR manager of the Emirate Airlines consults with third-party experts on the specific job for which they are updating, and they gather information from the experts about the current skills and competencies related to the job The management also gathers information from these experts to identify the job roles and responsibilities and the qualifications for the job Once the team gathers the information, they make drafts on the job description and specifications, which is verified and approved by the subject matter experts Updates are made in the current record of job description and specifications in the system
- 8. Recruitment & Selection Process The processes of recruitment and selection are considered as the most basic, but important functions or activities carried out by the HR professionals at any organization When it comes to the strategy of retention, the Emirate Airline relies heavily on rewards and benefits packages, both financial and non-financial The strategy of recruitment performed by the Emirate airlines is sound and robust
- 9. Recruitment & Selection Process Cont Some modifications were made on the strategy of the Emirates Airlines, but the management continued to ensure they recruit employees based on the organization’s staffing needs. For instance, the management made some decisions to suspend the recruitment as response to the pandemic and some layoffs were carried out to reduce payroll If there is a need for new hire, then the HR team will then create job descriptions for the positions needed to fill
- 10. Employee Benefits Allowances – e.g. meal allowances, hotel accommodation and transport allowances Concessional travel – inter-airline travel benefits Accommodation – full accommodation at various designated apartment complex at Dubai Leave and Leave Travel – 30 calendar days leave annually Medical and dental services Insurance – life insurance and personal accident insurance Non-contributory end of service benefit (EOSB) The benefits issued to the employees varies depending on the position being occupied by the worker
- 11. Compensation The compensation strategy include fixed and variable compensation Basic monthly pay and pay per flight hour are paid using UAE currency, while overseas night stop allowances are paid using the foreign currency depending on the location Cabin crew pay grade scale consist of two - Cabin Crew Grade 1 are those who work in either the business or first-class cabin, while Grade II are those in the economy class The pay structure depends on the position and pay grades.
- 12. Cabin Crew Payment Structure Position/Grade Monthly Fixed Pay Variable Pay (flying Cabin Crew Grade II (Economy Class) AED 4,260.00 AED 61.26 Cabin Crew Grade I (Business Class) AED 4,360.00 AED 67.00 Cabin Crew Grade I (First Class) AED 4,360.00 AED 72.50 Cabin Crew Senior Supervisor AED 4,825.00 AED 84.00 Cabin Manager AED 5,515.00 AED 90.00 The Emirate Airlines benchmarks existing employee compensation and benefits packages against industry or competitors
- 13. Training & Development The training and development of employees within an organisation is an important workforce and talent management procedure ensured by the HR Manager of the Emirate Airlines Providing appropriate and sufficient training and development opportunities for employees has caused positive implications on the employees and the overall organizational performance and productivity Employee satisfaction within the airline has been improved tremendously as a result of the training and development scheme ensured
- 14. Training & Development Cont. The training provided by the company depends on the position, which is also specified on the website of the airline Pilots and cabin crews have different process for implementing their training For pilots, the first training carried out is the Type Rating course. This course aligns the pilots to the different aircraft category that will be flown. Simulation training is the second form of training given to the newly employed pilots
- 15. Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal enables the management of the airline to best measure the work process of the employees Performance appraisal is useful for improving productivity by helping employees discover their strengths and weaknesses, and assists them in leveraging their strengths and address their weaknesses Performance appraisal is also used by the airline to understand how well the employees are contributing to the goals of the company It is very important for the HR team to determine what types of trainings they need to provide to their employees
- 16. Performance Appraisal Cont. For pilots, performance appraisal have their standard performance appraisal procedure, which involve evaluation teams comprising of experts such as senior pilots. For cabin crew, cabin crew manager and cabin crew senior manager are responsible for evaluating cabin crew personnel. For ground operations, direct managers or supervisors usually handles the performance appraisal. The evaluation involve certain performance criteria, which vary depending on the position and expected KPIs
- 17. References Coral. (2021). Emirates Airlines Flight Attendant Salary & Benefits (2021 Updated). Retrieved March 23, 2021, from These Gold Wings Website: https://www.thesegoldwings.com/emirates-flight-attendant-salary Emirates Group Careers. (2021b). Customer services. Retrieved March 23, 2021, from Emirates Group Careers: https://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/customer-services/ Jehanzeb, K., & Bashir, N. (2013). Training and Development Program and its Benefits to Employee and Organization: A Conceptual Study. European Journal of Business and Management, 5(2), 243-252 Nda, M., & Fard, R. (2013). The Impact of Employee Training and Productivity on Employee Productivity. Global Journal of Management & Management Perspective, 2(6), 91-93.
Editor's Notes
- #3: The Emirates Airlines is a company founded by the government of Dubai which operates under the supervision of the Emirate Group of companies. The airline was formed in the year 1985 and has emerged as a world competitor ever since
- #4: The organization is headed by the chairman and CEO, His Highness Sheik Ahmed and the president is Tim Clark. The hierarchical structure comprises of the president at the top and the COO, the EVP HR manager and the EVP project manager
- #5: According to the HR Manager, for the Emirates Airlines to link their HR strategy and programs with the overall strategy of the Group, they need to make sure that they fully understand what the Group is all about, what the Group wants to be in the future.
- #6: When it comes to the workplace planning, especially future planning regarding the needs of the workforce, the HR manager being interviewed noted that they plan the future needs of the workforce by gathering and assessing various forms of data, which include data on labor market, existing retention rates, organization growth and long-term plans, employee-based satisfaction, and many more
- #7: The process of job analysis begins by creating a team that will do the job analysis, which also include experts from the job field
- #8: The expert opinion of third-party consultants are sought by the HR Managers of the Airline. These experts provides the management with the right information which is needed to group and classify the job roles and responsibilities
- #9: According to the HR manager of the airline, the company’s core direction focused on organic growth, and that part of the recruitment strategy is to support such organic growth by recruiting local and foreign nationals ‘depending on the staffing needs before the Covid-19 pandemic
- #10: The first step in the recruitment and selection process of the company is to identify the staffing needs of the organization. That means a check is made to check whether the organization needs additional people to hire
- #11: The Emirates customer sales and service agents enjoy benefits such as accommodation and transport allowances, medical, life and personal accident insurance, education support allowances of children of employees, 30-day annual leave, annual leave travel, end of service benefits, pension schemes, discounted group travel, and Emirates Platinum Card
- #12: Bonuses for employees are provided by the HR. Performance bonus are based on the performance assessments system and document
- #13: The HR Manager of the Emirate Airline regularly checks industry average for salaries on a particular position. The same goes to rewards and benefits offered, in which HR department constantly review industry benchmarks depending on the position
- #14: At Emirates, employees are given training and development opportunities right after on-boarding, as well as throughout the employees’ tenure
- #15: The training and development structure of the company shows that the company have clear training strategy that aimed in equipping employees with the necessary advanced skills in order to deliver services and carry out their responsibilities within the company
- #16: At Emirates, performance evaluation is conducted annually, usually every November to early December. Ground and inflight personnel are appraised differently.
- #17: The development plans are well established between employees and their direct supervisors