Читать реферат по английскому: "Benefit Programs In The Airline Industry Essay" Страница 1

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

Benefit Programs In The Airline Industry Essay, Research Paper

Benefit Programs in the Airline Industry

The Human Resource topic that we selected is to analyze the benefit programs of four major airlines. Benefits are important to employees as well as their families, and can be a powerful recruiting tool. Benefits also play a major role in managerial decisions and wise benefit choices can have a long-term impact on the quality of life. Some characteristics of a sound benefits program are, they must have clear specific objectives, they must allow for employee input, they must be responsive to societal and environmental change, provide for flexibility, and there must be clear communication with employees. One of the main challenges that companies face are the overall costs of these benefit programs to the companies themselves, as well as staying competitive in hopes to attract high quality employees. Almost 40% or $14,678 per employee is spent on benefit programs per year.

American Airlines

American Airlines like many other airlines are facing many challenges in the HR area of benefits and incentives. American Airlines as we all know is one of the leading airlines in today s airline industry. This status reflects upon Americans benefit program. American Airlines realizes that it must stay competitive in this area to ensure that they get the most qualified employees. American Airlines offers many benefits and incentives for their employees with hopes to attract the best. Many of the benefits are standard and required by law such as social security, unemployment, workers compensation, and leaves without pay. What really must be paid attention too are the benefits and incentives that are offered in addition to the ones required by law. These benefits and incentives are what attract individuals to work for American rather than another airline. Benefits such as a 401 K – Super Saver, which allows up to an ample 20% tax provision, a stock purchase plan, a credit union which could help one to buy a house, and personal emergency coupled with sick pay, just to name a few. American Airlines also recognizes ten major holidays for which employees do not have to work, yet they still get paid. Most of these are benefits that competing airlines offer, but one benefit stands out. American Airlines pass travel program is a benefit that many do not tend to overlook. American does not offer free stand-by tickets to its employees until they have been with the airline for 10 years. What they do offer are special discounted rates. This is the major weakness in their strategy to attract employees with benefits. American offers a very long list of benefits and incentives but this is one that is left out. I believe that American Airlines is making a big mistake by not allowing employees to fly for free. To become more effective American Airlines should add this benefit to its list so that it can be competitive with the other airlines. American has many strengths which include benefits that the other airlines do not offer such as a 401 K plans of up to 20%, and a credit union. Although at the same time it has a very large weakness, which is their travel plan that only offers its employees discounted rates, instead of free airfare. American Airlines must feel that it does not have to offer this benefit to attract potential workers, because it has so many other benefits to offer.

Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines prides itself on offering a wide variety of benefits to their employees. The eligibility for these benefits varies according to the length of time an employee has worked for the company, and the position that they hold. One challenge that Continental Airlines face is the cost of providing these benefits to their employees. They have to make sure that they are financially able to provide these benefit programs, while still attracting high quality employees to their company. Some of these benefits include travel passes, profit sharing, stock purchase plans, retirement plans, 401(k) savings plan, vacation and sick pay, an expense reimbursement plan, medical and dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, and accident insurance. Although Continental employees and their families are able to travel at reduced rates; they are not able to fly completely for free, which may be considered unfavorable by some employees. Continental employees are also able to share in the financial growth of the company by purchasing Continental stock at a discounted rate. Continental also provides a fully funded retirement plan, which employees vest in after five years of service. It also provides the 401(k) savings plan, which is a great way for employees to save for retirement. The employees can save up to 19% of their salary before taxes are withheld. Continental also matches a portion of their employees contributions to the 401(k) savings plan. Full and part time employees of Continental are able to take advantage of paid vacations, as well as the sick leave policy which gives employees time off from work, with pay, when they are ill or unable to work. Continental also provides immediate accident insurance upon employment for all of their employees. Continental does provide many benefits upon the initial employment of their employees; however, some benefit plans are not available until seven months after they have been employed. These include medical and dental insurance, vision insurance, long-term disability plan, and life insurance. Most of the plans are pre-tax, which allows employee tax savings. For every employee, there is a benefits program that best suits him or her. Younger employees who do not have the responsibility of families may not be looking for the same benefits as an older employee with a family. Continental needs to realize these differences in employees, in order to provide a benefit program that will attract the high quality employees

Похожие работы