United Retains Employee Bonus Structure for Now, But It Will Eventually Change

United Airlines really makes its public relations team earn its keep. In the most recent update on the airline's employee bonus situation, things will stay the same — but not for long.

Let's backtrack a bit. Last Friday, the carrier announced it was striking employee bonuses from the 2018 budget, replacing them with an arbitrary lottery giveaway each quarter.

Based on the swift and outraged employee backlash, United backpedaled on its announcement a couple of days later, in order to "consider the right way to move ahead."

Today, Brian Sumers tweeted a leaked internal memo from United CEO Oscar Munoz with the subject line: "A message from Oscar and Scott: Quarterly Operations Incentive Program."

Based on this message, United employees will still receive their standard bonuses for Q1, based on the same criteria as used in the past. The new bonus plan has yet to be decided, but will be determined based on "a series of listening sessions" between employees and management.

United also recently announced a "compassion training" workshop that will be mandatory for all consumer-facing employees.