Roberto Ceniceros
The JetBlue Airways Corp. flight attendant who reportedly plunged down an emergency chute, beer in hand, to become an instant symbol of stressed-out workers underscored discussions I heard at a recent conference.
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Ironically, I was dealing with a potential work-travel disaster that was causing me an abundance of stress just days before the JetBlue incident when I discovered my own air-travel hero, but this was a helpful employee.
More on that in a moment.
First, let me tell you about the annual Disability Management Employer Coalition conference earlier this month in San Diego.
There were the expected discussions about integrating disability programs, return-to-work strategies, and managing absences and worker productivity.
But more than in past years, speakers commented on the economy and operating with streamlined workforces.
They talked about disability management strategies being even more significant today as workers and managers do so much more with less help, which drives increased stress and mental health challenges.
Employees are dealing with record stress levels, a keynote speaker told the conference. He quoted a May Bureau of Labor Statistics report that said U.S. worker output increased 3% while work hours fell 3.1% in the first quarter of this year compared with just one year earlier.
“Fewer employees to do the work, but more is getting done,” the speaker said. “That's a double whammy on employees. That's stressful.”
A few days later, a CNNMoney.com story reported that worker productivity fell by 0.9% for the second quarter. The story had a headline that said, “It's Official: We're All Burnt Out,” and reported that perhaps workers “are simply stretched too thin.”
Whether thinner staffs are driving more or less productivity, I'm not certain. There is widespread agreement, however, that the recession is causing more job-related stress.
So it wasn't a surprise when news organizations reported that Steven Slater became an instant folk hero to flight attendants and other workers feeling overstretched. Mr. Slater is the flight attendant who reportedly swore at a passenger, grabbed some beers, pulled the emergency chute lever and headed home.
T-shirts went on sale proclaiming, “I wish my job had an emergency exit.”
It's hard to say whether job stress drove Mr. Slater's behavior, and some observers see him more of a jerk than a hero.
But after his escapade, a New York Times travel blog reported that domestic airlines employed 462,977 full-time workers this summer, down from 607,387 in 2009. Meanwhile, the number of people who flew in 2009 rose to 769 million, up from 629 million in 2000.
As speakers at the DMEC conference said, customer service suffers when employees are absent from work.
I might add that it suffers when they are at work but are stressed out.
But that isn't always so.
On the way home from the DMEC conference, I left my digital tape recorder containing valuable quotes from the event in a rental car. I usually guard those things with my life.
Luckily, I reached a Hertz Corp. worker named Olga at Hertz's San Diego airport car rental facility. She was the epitome of excellent customer service. Then she headed off to search for my recorder and called back with great news.
Out of curiosity, I looked it up and found that Hertz has cut its workforce by 32% since 2006. Olga is probably being asked to do more with less, but she's found a way to do it with a smile in her voice.
From business insurance published on Aug 30 2010