Kudos to Emirates for looking after its people.
Having announced the painful decision to suspend most flights from March 25, Emirates Chairman and CE Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum personally advised the troops that senior management would take the biggest hit in order to ensure jobs were not lost.
In a communication to staff, he wrote: “For us, rather than ask employees to leave the business, the executive team has taken the difficult decision to temporarily reduce basic salary for the majority of Emirates group employees.” And here comes the good bit.
- Presidents: 100% basic salary reduction
- Grade 9 and above: 50% reduction
- Grades 4 to 6 and cabin crew: 25% reduction
- Grades 1 to 3, including cabin service attendants: no reduction
The Chairman explained the cuts would apply for three months and all fixed allowances would remain in place. Employees who had previously opted for voluntary leave could opt to cancel the leave in lieu of the above.
“We have never done such a thing before and we hope we won’t have to do it again. However we chose to implement a temporary salary reduction as we want to protect our workforce and keep our talented and skilled people as much as possible,” he said.
Let’s hope others follow suit.