D
deano
Guest
GIVE ME A HUG BUDDYMarkMyWords said:
I’ll take as many female F/A' S as I can hold, they are sweet!!
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F/a Sick Call Comparison From Last Year
- Thread starter songbirdstew
- Start date
I’ll take as many female F/A' S as I can hold, they are sweet!!
MarkMyWords
Veteran
- Aug 20, 2002
- 1,900
- 1
Be careful, those 80 rampers may stick it to you the same way they did the customers on Christmas! 
OP
songbirdstew
Senior
- Sep 10, 2003
- 478
- 51
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
- #19
Everyone here has totally missed the point......if this many people called in sick over the last Christmas holiday shouldn't those high paid execs who do the scheduling been ready for it...or even more sick calls since things have been going so poorly w/ negotiations ?
To want to compare another 4 day weekend over a major holiday is stupid~~of course sick calls would be less.....combine the fact that December is flu season with the cold weather and yes, there are people that called in sick when they weren't and scheduling should have known calls would be up !
When the company made a big stink and said they were up 3 times above normal....hmmmm, what is normal ?
A 4 day weekend in August when the weather is perfect and there are no colds/flu going around ?
Who needs to "Get Real" here ?
To want to compare another 4 day weekend over a major holiday is stupid~~of course sick calls would be less.....combine the fact that December is flu season with the cold weather and yes, there are people that called in sick when they weren't and scheduling should have known calls would be up !
When the company made a big stink and said they were up 3 times above normal....hmmmm, what is normal ?
A 4 day weekend in August when the weather is perfect and there are no colds/flu going around ?
Who needs to "Get Real" here ?
MarkMyWords
Veteran
- Aug 20, 2002
- 1,900
- 1
OK songbird......let's play devils advocate here.
Let's say I am a big wig in the inflight department. For two years now we have had (on average) 275 flight attendant sick calls between the 23rd and the 26th. Over the course of the other 361 days of the year, the average sick number of Flight Attendants that call in sick is 80. Reviewing that data for the year, I find that there are spikes in sick calls on Halloween, Valentines Day and SuperBowl Sunday. During the 11 months from Jan to Nov, 70% of reserve Flight Attendants do not break guarantee (made up number because I don't know the actual percentage).
I am now tasked with coming up with a solution to the spike in sick calls over that 4 day period in December. What could be done to ensure we have coverage? First things off the top of my head.....
1. No vacation awarded over that four day period.
2. No days off awarded over that four day period.
3. All qualified supervisors will be made available to fly and made to work as OPR's
4. Any employee calling off sick will need a note or receipt from a Doctor/Emergeny Room/Urgent Care facility validating their absence.
5. Offer Vacation Fly back for the month.
These are just a few ideas, but I feel that in the end, by doing #1 and #2 you are penalizing those employees that are senior enough to hold that time off. By initiating those recommendations, you would increase the sick call volume, because if the senior employee can't get that time off, they will pay the 25.00 co-pay to go to the Dr just to get a note that they had the flu or a headache.
I realize there is pleanty of blame to go around....and yes, management is just as to blame as those that called in sick, if not more. There is not a person in this company that didn't know that the holidays were going to be a problem. As soon as the 21% pay cut was announced, that was the first thought that came to mind.
I also think that when you took all the problems that took place on those 4 days, you will find that one issue wasn't the cause of the melt down, put when you combined them all together, we had a mess. Would things have been any different if we only had 80 f/a sick calls versus 300? Maybe to a small degree. Would things have been different if ComAir didn't have it's melt down? Maybe to a small degree. Would things have been different if we had full staffing on the ramp in PHL? (By full staffing I mean all vacancies filled and minimal sick calls) Maybe to a moderate degree. Would things have been different if the weather were better? Maybe to a greater degree. So if we only fixed one problem, the out come may have varied slightly, but I think we still would have had problems unless ALL of the problems were addressed.
I'd love to hear any ideas that people have on how to avoid this same situation next year.
Filling vacancies in PHL would be a top priority.
Adaquate equipment would be another.
A better employee incentive program.
Accountability for things this year from top to bottom. Every action/inaction should have a consequence from Al on down.
Just my thoughs......
Let's say I am a big wig in the inflight department. For two years now we have had (on average) 275 flight attendant sick calls between the 23rd and the 26th. Over the course of the other 361 days of the year, the average sick number of Flight Attendants that call in sick is 80. Reviewing that data for the year, I find that there are spikes in sick calls on Halloween, Valentines Day and SuperBowl Sunday. During the 11 months from Jan to Nov, 70% of reserve Flight Attendants do not break guarantee (made up number because I don't know the actual percentage).
I am now tasked with coming up with a solution to the spike in sick calls over that 4 day period in December. What could be done to ensure we have coverage? First things off the top of my head.....
1. No vacation awarded over that four day period.
2. No days off awarded over that four day period.
3. All qualified supervisors will be made available to fly and made to work as OPR's
4. Any employee calling off sick will need a note or receipt from a Doctor/Emergeny Room/Urgent Care facility validating their absence.
5. Offer Vacation Fly back for the month.
These are just a few ideas, but I feel that in the end, by doing #1 and #2 you are penalizing those employees that are senior enough to hold that time off. By initiating those recommendations, you would increase the sick call volume, because if the senior employee can't get that time off, they will pay the 25.00 co-pay to go to the Dr just to get a note that they had the flu or a headache.
I realize there is pleanty of blame to go around....and yes, management is just as to blame as those that called in sick, if not more. There is not a person in this company that didn't know that the holidays were going to be a problem. As soon as the 21% pay cut was announced, that was the first thought that came to mind.
I also think that when you took all the problems that took place on those 4 days, you will find that one issue wasn't the cause of the melt down, put when you combined them all together, we had a mess. Would things have been any different if we only had 80 f/a sick calls versus 300? Maybe to a small degree. Would things have been different if ComAir didn't have it's melt down? Maybe to a small degree. Would things have been different if we had full staffing on the ramp in PHL? (By full staffing I mean all vacancies filled and minimal sick calls) Maybe to a moderate degree. Would things have been different if the weather were better? Maybe to a greater degree. So if we only fixed one problem, the out come may have varied slightly, but I think we still would have had problems unless ALL of the problems were addressed.
I'd love to hear any ideas that people have on how to avoid this same situation next year.
Filling vacancies in PHL would be a top priority.
Adaquate equipment would be another.
A better employee incentive program.
Accountability for things this year from top to bottom. Every action/inaction should have a consequence from Al on down.
Just my thoughs......
OP
songbirdstew
Senior
- Sep 10, 2003
- 478
- 51
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
- #21
Hey MMM....all of your ideas are good ones for employee incentive to work over the holidays....I hope someone in mgmt. reads your post and maybe they get the hint for next year.
Happy New Year !
Happy New Year !
MarkMyWords
Veteran
- Aug 20, 2002
- 1,900
- 1
Awe come on.......someone has to have some other ideas......
MarkMyWords
Veteran
- Aug 20, 2002
- 1,900
- 1
Maybe they wouldn't have a choice. Many MSP / Management employees had to work over the holidays whether they wanted to or not.
My biggest problem with options 1, 2 and 3 are that people senior enough to hold vacation or off days over the holidays would be penalized because a small percentage of employees sick time abuse. You are now penalizing people who had no hand in the sick calls. But if you were a manager, how else would you address this problem?
My biggest problem with options 1, 2 and 3 are that people senior enough to hold vacation or off days over the holidays would be penalized because a small percentage of employees sick time abuse. You are now penalizing people who had no hand in the sick calls. But if you were a manager, how else would you address this problem?
ClueByFour
Veteran
- Aug 20, 2002
- 3,566
- 37
MarkMyWords said:
I think that the number (this year, or year over year) is excessive. It should be addressed.
I think the fundamental problem here is that CCY failed to either address the problem before the holidays rolled around again or plan for it to happen again.
You have to either solve the problem or plan to deal with it. Doing neither gets you what you saw over the holiday.
Now, I've not the foggiest how to do it, since even my nasty old "at will" employer won't rumble you if you are out less than 3 days (by that, I mean that no note is required). I'd personally come up with a list of "critical" holidays, and say that during that whole 10 days out of the year that a note is required for any "sick" time used. However, I'm sure that would entail re-opening contracts, which may or may not happen now, but it sure could have been addressed about a month ago. That it was not is a management failure.
Not having fixed the problem, failure to plan for what apparently is a historical and statistical likelihood of a large number of absent FAs is a management failure.
MarkMyWords
Veteran
- Aug 20, 2002
- 1,900
- 1
I agree......but I haven't seen any other viable solutions.
PSA1979
Senior
- Jan 15, 2003
- 360
- 6
Actually as per side letter of agreement L35 dated May 2000:
"The assignment of Inflight management personnel to uncovered required positions pursuant to this Letter will be as specified in Section 11 (Reserve Duty) of the Agreement. That is, such assignment may be made prior to calling lineholders on day(s) off."
And as in past years the company could have sent out a CBS requiring all F/A's to obtain a dr's note if they called in sick during specific dates, and they could have offered vacation fly back prior to the holiday period. They could have restricted the bid sheet, and also there were reserve blocks with the holidays off. In days gone by that was unheard of, all reserve lines worked all holidays.
This management team was in the ozones this year (and every year). Seems to me, just after the PSA merger I used to joke about upper management yelling at all their underlings "Why didn't you tell me Christmas was in December?"
"The assignment of Inflight management personnel to uncovered required positions pursuant to this Letter will be as specified in Section 11 (Reserve Duty) of the Agreement. That is, such assignment may be made prior to calling lineholders on day(s) off."
And as in past years the company could have sent out a CBS requiring all F/A's to obtain a dr's note if they called in sick during specific dates, and they could have offered vacation fly back prior to the holiday period. They could have restricted the bid sheet, and also there were reserve blocks with the holidays off. In days gone by that was unheard of, all reserve lines worked all holidays.
This management team was in the ozones this year (and every year). Seems to me, just after the PSA merger I used to joke about upper management yelling at all their underlings "Why didn't you tell me Christmas was in December?"
