Paying the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg Properly

It would not take a rocket scientist or a PhD in psychology to know that if you treat someone really well, that person will also give you back his loyalty and dedication. Respect is a two-way street – something which, I think, some of our Filipino-Chinese taipans may have forgotten, on their path to make millions for themselves. It is an unwritten fact here in the Philippines that when you graduate, you should avoid working for a company owned by a Filipino-Chinese because they will pay you a pittance. That was a fact handed down to me by my sisters 15 years ago, something which I think is true, up to now. What they pay you is not worth your self-respect. (Although I wouldn’t mind working for SM even for a year or two, just to get some sort of experience in the retail trade.)

That’s why I still don’t understand why an airline could not pay its pilots properly? Is it could not or is it would not? Airlines around the world face the same economic variables so why would a pilot in a local airline not have, at least, a competitive salary as, let’s say, a CX pilot. As to why you would pinch-hit the most valuable person in your company’s food chain boggles my mind. I am just a small-time businessman but I’ve learned early enough that it is the quality of your employees that determines the survival and growth of your company. If you pay them properly, they will respond accordingly in their performance. In a restaurant, it would be the chef. In an airline, it would have to be the pilot. And I’m sure the airline-riding public would not mind compensating pilots properly, if only for our own peace of mind!! Yeah, the restaurant chef may be replaceable, but an experienced pilot?!! I really would not want to fly with someone who has a grudge up his sleeve or who is unhappy with his job! Even if airlines reduce their fares to 100 pesos, I will definitely not fly with them, because most likely, those cost-cutting measures have been extended to pilots who are unhappy with their jobs and their working conditions! The stress alone of having to ensure the safety of hundreds of lives every time you do your job is, I believe, not easy at all, and compound that with money problems – that feeling na parang naisahan ka – not a good recipe for a safe flight!

Maybe this local airline company just needs a good HRM person who is astute enough to meet the needs of the pilots and the difficulties being faced by the airline industry in general. The public will not mind paying proper fares if only it assures us that we will get to our place of destination in one piece. Their decision to outsource their catering services is fine. Everyone outsources many of their activities now. Yes, 3000 jobs will be lost but those jobs are replaceable since they are low-skilled anyway, and those people will find jobs somewhere else, no need to cry for them since they have your company’s reputation on their resumes. But I don’t think you can outsource the skill of piloting an Airbus. It’s a specialized skill which requires specialized training! Yes, you may have to cut costs to be competitive but to hurt the person that is the most important variable in achieving your company’s profits? Yes, take out the frills and streamline, but do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg!