Qantas HR Case Study Flashcards
Strategic role of human resources
- Qantas employ over 33,000 people (93% in Australia) across 200 separate job categories
- HR needs to effectively manage this relationship and help Qantas achieve its goals, minimise costs, improve working life quality and ensure legal compliance
Interdependence with other KBFs
Finance
Marketing
Operations
Finance:
- Funds are required to remunerate staff and provide effective training and development
Marketing:
- Right staff must be employed and trained to satisfy consumers
Operations:
- Quality of HR determines efficiency
- During GFC, many flights were cut changing the workforce size and type
Outsourcing
- HR functions
- Contractors – domestic, global
Qantas have outsourced operations globally in order to become more simple and cost effective
Domestic contractors:
- Qantas use domestic subcontractors to create cost savings, access greater expertise and cope with competitiveness
- Jetstar call centre was outsourced to the Melbourne Operator Sales Force
- Domestic call services are outsourced to Telstra
Global contractors:
- Qantas uses global subcontractors which has caused union and industrial tension
- Some maintenance jobs are contracted to Singapore and NZ
- Base in London for ~400 flight attendants
- IT support and maintenance is outsourced to 2 Indian companies
- Reservation is outsourced to Amadeus in Munich
Stakeholders
- Employers
- Employees
- Employer associations
- Unions
- Government organisations
- Society
Employers:
- Undergoing a restructuring to cut $1 billion in costs from 2020 to FY23
Employees:
- Concerned with maintaining existing pay levels, working conditions and job security
- Recently employees have been angered by Qantas’s conducts in negotiating Enterprise Agreements
Employer associations:
- Part of the Australian International Airlines Operation Group who ensure that airline concerns are represented to the government federally and to the community
Unions:
- Employees are highly unionised and represented by 16 unions including the Australian Workers Union, Allied Services Union and the Australian Manufacturing Union
- All opposed to pay cuts, outsourcing, casualisation and job losses
Government organisations:
- Must abide by key legislation including Fair Work Act, WHS Act and Workers Compensation
Society:
- Wish for few disputes so they can rely on Qantas’s dependability
Legal
- Employment contract
- WHS and workers compensation
- Antidiscrimination and EEO
Qantas must abide by laws on all levels which include:
- Workplace obligations such as employment conditions, awards and agreements
- Safe workplace obligations
- Insurance obligations
- EEO obligations (41% female employees, board has 25% women)
Economic influences
- GFC caused a reduction in Qantas’s workforce in 2009, cutting size from 34400 to 32800
- Executive pay was frozen
- Cuts were mainly engineering, maintenance and catering
Technological influences
- New security systems had to be introduced in response to terrorism threats
- New planes (Dreamliner and A380)
- New inflight entertainment
- Online check-in and self service kiosks
- Introduced to remain competitive but training required and jobs were lost
Social influences
- More part time and casual employees (19%) reduces costs, improving global competitiveness ($4.5 billion cut in 9 years)
- Higher proportion of women in key roles
- More culturally and ethnically diverse workforce
Ethics and CSR
- Qantas has a health surveillance program to ensure a healthy work-life balance
- Reconciliation Action Plan focuses on employing Indigenous Australians
Environmental targets include (for 2009–2020 unless specified): - 1.5% average fuel efficiency improvement (2018 had 7.5% improvement from 2009)
- Stabilise net global aviation emissions through carbon neutral industry growth from 2020
- 50% reduction in net emissions by 2050
- 35% electricity consumption reduction (2018 had 25.1%)
- 20% water consumption reduction (2018 had 11.6%)
- 30% reduction in landfill waste (2018 had 25.7%)
Acquisition
- Conducting job analysis to identify needs
- Provide a pool of potentially qualified candidates both internally and externally
- Selection is conducted through interviews, personality tests, background checks, selection decisions and physical examinations
Development
- ~$275 million a year investment
- Done on the job through internships and job rotations and off the job through online courses
- Helps reduce accidents and increase service efficiency and quality
Maintenance
- Remuneration is used to increase satisfaction, reward performance and reduce staff turnover
- Qantas has aimed to increase pay at 3% per year
- Excellent staff facilities increase motivation and retention
- 12 weeks maternity leave, 10 days carers leave, a keep in touch program for maternity leave staff, childcare facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane
- 104 weeks total parental leave for primary caregivers
Separation
Qnatas have had to downsize their workforce due to the GFC, global competition, technology changes and profit falls
Involuntarily separated 5000 staff over last 3 years
Leadership style
Autocratic system mainly in the 1990s however shifted towards a democratic system over the past decade
Use both centralised and decentralised organisational structure, differing between domestic and international
Top management is authoritative due to shareholder–employee culture clash
Job design
Qantas require a large variety of tasks, using job rotation, enrichment and sharing to improve jobs
Job design allows employee input, giving employees a sense of accomplishment, balancing static and dynamic work whilst providing feedback about their performance
