Letters to Ryanair crew reveal punishment for missing targets

Letters to Ryanair cabin crew from their agency employers show that staff face changes to their rosters and monitoring of their work if their in-flight sales underperform.

Ryanair cabin crews are expected to sell drinks, snacks, cosmetics and other products to contribute to its ancillary revenues, which came to €1.8 billion – 27 per cent of its €6.5 billion total – in its last financial year. Staff receive 10 per cent of everything that they sell.

Letters from Crewlink and Workforce International, two Irish agencies that provide many of the airline's cabin crew, show that both companies take the same steps when they believe individual workers are underperforming.

The letters, addressed to individual crew members, give specific details of what they call poor performance, such as “on 100 per cent of the 251 flights in this period you operated you sold no scratch cards” or “on 68 per cent of the 251 flights in this period you operated you sold no liquor”.

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They then go on to state that in 2015, their client airline, Ryanair, agreed a five-day-on/three-day-off roster for cabin crew under a pay and productivity deal.

The letters point out that this was not contractual and that the agreement was made on the basis that cabin crew guarantee no loss of productivity, and could be reviewed or changed where productivity was “adversely affected”.

“At present you are failing to comply with the sales aspect of your contractual duties and our client airline, Ryanair, has no obligation to provide this roster in these circumstances.

“On this basis the fixed five/three roster will be withdrawn from you with effect from December 1st, 2017, and you will receive your roster on a weekly basis to accommodate whatever gaps are necessary in your base,” the letters state.

Monitoring

They add that the individuals’ performance will be “closely monitored” over the next two months and that they could be subject to disciplinary proceedings if they do not improve. If their sales performance significantly improves, they may be restored to the five/three rosters following a review at the end of January.

While the letters do not say that crew must reach a specific target, staff say this is set at €50 in sales a sector (each flight). They also say that individuals who do not perform can be moved from their existing bases.

Ryanair responded that it could not comment in detail on third parties’ letters to their employees and that they do not set any “targets”.

"Like all other employers, we expect underperformers to improve, and they are given time and training to do so," the airline added. Neither Crewlink nor Workforce International commented.