Client Case Study

Engaged employees to deliver record-breaking performance

Challenge:

As it worked to successfully exit bankruptcy, United Airlines needed to engage employees to improve performance amid a complex restructuring. Key to the company’s success was launching a new performance incentive program — Success Sharing — to build trust in leadership and align employee actions with United’s overall business strategy.

Actions:

• Built an implementation advisory team comprised of leaders from across the organization and each union — the first collaborative effort of its kind.
• Developed a communications strategy and “high-touch” implementation plan to cascade information to the front-line using multiple channels.
• Linked everyday employee behavior to the overall business objectives (created a clear line-of-sight) through business education, story-telling, visual mapping and online tools, tailoring communications to employee segments.
• Ran an effective campaign to ensure employees received a “drumbeat” of messages as opposed to one program splash, using corporate, division and union communication channels.
• Coordinated efforts and resources spanning multiple divisions, geographical locations and outside partners.

Results:

• Exceeded Q1, Q2 and Q3 operational goals for the year — surpassing the reliability goal by 9 percentage points.
• An employee survey on communications effectiveness reported:
• 81 percent of respondents recognized that Success Sharing was important to the company.
• 76.8 percent of respondents understood how individual actions on the job drove company performance and incentive payments.
• 63.1 percent of respondents agreed that Success Sharing motivated them to improve performance.
• 54 percent of respondents were most likely to hear about Success Sharing through their supervisor or manager, reinforcing the effectiveness of the cascade approach.