United Officially Ends Potential for Employee Lottery Bonus Through 2018
United has officially killed its controversial plan to offer employees a lottery-style incentive after much backlash from employees.
In a memo sent to some 90,000 United employees, Vice President of Human Resources and Labor Relations Kate Gebo said that the airline's existing quarterly operational incentives bonus program will remain as such for the rest of 2018.
The current bonus program rewards most United employees up to $300 per quarter when the airline hits its performance metrics. However, the proposed lottery aimed to take away that guarantee for qualifying employees. Instead, all qualifying United employees who had perfect attendance for that quarter would be entered into a lottery for a grand prize of $100,000, with 10 secondary prizes of either $40,000 cash or a Mercedes-Benz C-Class and 1,350 smaller prizes.
In all, the move to a lottery-based system was a cost-saving measure, slashing employee bonuses by tens of millions of dollars each year.
Employees immediately reacted to the negative change, venting their rage at management in internal United forums. Following the reaction, United soon switched to "pressing the pause button" on the incentive program. Now, we know that there will be no changes — at least through the remainder of 2018.
Gebo indicated in Tuesday's memo that the decision to keep the old plan in place comes after more than 50 listening sessions around the United network. In addition, Gebo called the feedback the airline received from its employees "thoughtful, honest and passionate." She continued: "When it comes to operational performance, you want to be rewarded as a team for what is truly a team accomplishment."
On the other hand, Gebo said perfect attendance is an individual accomplishment and should be recognized by the airline separately.
Although the bonus plan will stay in place through 2018, there's no guarantee that it will last beyond that. "Looking forward to 2019 and beyond, our goal is to ensure that you feel truly valued for your contributions to United's ongoing success," Gebo said.
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The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
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- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month