OVER RECENT years some Aer Lingus managers have lost touch with what managing staff is all about, the airline’s chief executive has said.
Christoph Mueller said the outcome of a survey of employee views on the company conducted at the end of last year had been “disappointing”, but not surprising. He added that the findings represented “a call for action”.
Mr Mueller said that among the key outcomes of the workplace survey were that the overall level of engagement between management and staff was low.
“Although many of you have a good sense of what the future will look like . . . you have expressed that you do not always receive the management support . . . to deliver excellent achievements. It seems that over the past years, part of our management has lost touch with what managing people is all about.”
He said this might be the result of having suspended management training for nearly a decade.
Job satisfaction in the airline was rated as “average”.
However, he said although the workload and financial conditions were reported as being of concern to some workers, the survey revealed a strong loyalty among staff across the whole company related to “the Aer Lingus brand”.
Mr Mueller noted a lack of effective communication across the company, although many said they knew what was expected of them. He said it seemed “that we speak more than we listen, we do not appreciate or stimulate opinions and we are vocal especially when things go wrong”.
The findings of survey were based on responses from just over 41 per cent of staff.
Mr Mueller said the results of the survey had been discussed by management and were on the agenda. He said Aer Lingus would focus on the quality of people- management skills among managers to ensure staff were well managed and treated with respect.