Any person who has had the opportunity to travel on the Virgin America airline will attest to the fact that the airline’s employees are usually very highly motivated individuals. This sets Virgin America airline apart from many other airlines, whose employees tend to suffer from (apparent) chronic apathy. This also sets Virgin America airline apart from certain other airlines, whose employees always seem to be keen on doing the minimum necessary for them to keep their jobs. And the trend is repeated at other Virgin airlines, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, where the employees seem to be exceptionally well-motivated.
A question naturally comes up, as to how Virgin America manages to keep its employees so well motivated. The answer to this question is easy to find, thanks to the fact that the Virgin Group CEO, Richard Branson, is never shy to speak about the strategies employed in the various companies that are under the Virgin umbrella. Reading through the various articles and books that Richard Branson has written on matters to do with employee motivation, it becomes clear that there are at least four main ways in which the Virgin America Airline (alongside the other airlines under the Virgin umbrella) manages to keep its employees highly motivated, namely:
- A positive company culture: the company culture at the Virgin America airline (as well as the other companies under the Virgin umbrella) is highly positive and vibrant. Effort is made to ensure that the employees have fun at the workplace. Even more effort is made towards ensuring that all tasks are performed with the ultimate objective of maximizing customer satisfaction. The end result is a situation where the employees are very well motivated on an ongoing basis.
- Competitive salaries: the Virgin America airline goes out of its way to ensure that it offers its people salaries that are competitive. Virgin America airline employees may not command the topmost salaries in the industry, but the packages they are offered certainly tend to be good enough to keep them well motivated on an ongoing basis.
- Competitive benefits: beyond the salaries, Virgin America airline employees get to enjoy several competitive benefits, ranging from medical insurance to free travel benefits, 401(k) contribution opportunities and so on. The entire benefits package available to Virgin America airline employees seems to be good enough to keep them well motivated on an ongoing basis.
- Opportunities for advancement: it is easy for employees to lose zeal for their work, once they realize that they are stuck on dead-ends. Aware of this fact, progressive companies such as Virgin Airlines (and all the other companies under the Virgin Group) tend to go out of their way to ensure that their employees have opportunities for career advancement. The employees therefore have something to look forward to — and this seems to have the effect of making the employees to be well motivated on an ongoing basis.
Links:
- Virgin America airline website: https://www.virginamerica.com/
- Virgin America airline employees benefits: https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/airline-jobs/benefits.html
- Virgin America airline careers page: https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/airline-jobs
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