Aviation Pwned

Fred, STD,

Yes, nothing's changed. You're better off where ever you went. FSI just recently tried to band-aid fix the problems that they are having with retention and hiring of employees. The attempt is pretty pathetic, and comes with stipulations. Most of it is just plain dumb and proves FSI's Executive Management is out of touch. New hires will now get a $5,000 sign on bonus that will be added to the value of the two-year employment contract that they must sign. The latest information that that trickles down from New York says that the executive managers think "all is well" and that things are cyclical. I don't think they've read an article, book, or have done a study for decades. They think that people work at FSI for quality of life purposes and that money is secondary. Exec Mgmt forgets that, yes people want a good quality of life (which FSI does not offer), and they want to be paid what the market demands. This idea of people wanting either to work their butt off and get paid more, vs work a normal schedule but get paid less, need to go away. It's not one or the other. Its both. Pay what is necessary and offer the quality of life that is required. They pay less and offer little in the way of quality of life.

Recently, a "quality of life" matrix was created to see how bad things were. The data was of course flawed since they didn't take into account thanksgiving, etc. Also, they didn't say what the benchmark was. If they used a regional, major, fractional, and many corporate gigs ad the benchmark, then they would have discovered that FSI's Quality of Life (time off, guaranteed time-off, schedule, etc) is below the majority.

Its been made very clear that executive management will not take the required steps necessary. The centers can't even train the amount of what is requested by clients because they don't have enough instructors - since the current instructors are working ridiculous schedules already.

Fortunately, "union talk" has been increasing so hopefully someone will pull the trigger soon and start a anonymous "interest" drive.

MD11

This is all very interesting considering that many believe Flightsafety to be the gold standard in contract training.
So was Flightsafety this way prior to Buffett?

Windshear

Moving sucks. Why not pick up a bucket of paint (Union), and remodel?

Aviation Pwned

Agreed. I hope someone picks up a bucket of paint soon. The instructors at my center are getting more and more on-board with the idea with each passing day. It's easy to disparage the idea of a union. However, people tend to have a change of heart when they find themselves stuck in a frustrating situation that depletes their mental sanity and physical abilities. The idea of simply "quitting" is unrealistic, and shouldn't be expected. FlightSafety is a net income machine that is run by a team of weak, and out of date executives. They should leave, but they won't. Therefore, employee protections are necessary. Take a look at the Flightsafety leadership team. You may see a familiar face or two. Probably one that ruined one of your current or previous employers (especially those at AA).

Currently, FlightSafety is a horrible place to work.

Aviation Pwned

AFL-CIO any good? Any experiences with them?

zerosink

If ever a company needed union representation, it is FSI. Totally agree with Aviation Pwned. It's as bad or worse at my Center. People are running for their lives. It's a killing lifestyle--quite literally. Money can't fix completely exhausted and demoralized--not that they threw very much at the problems.