United Airlines’ Glenn Tilton. He was the third-worst chief executive officer in a survey of American executives, according to a new employee poll by Glassdoor, a company that conducts online salary reviews.
Employees complained that United’s management treated them disrespectfully, were too bottom-line oriented and had run morale into the ground. Here’s a typical response:
United has the worst management of any airline. The treat their employees with disrespect and have little interest in changing their ways. Upper management have no idea how to manage employees, the airline’s assets or money.
You can read more employee comments here.
There’s something of a silver lining for Tilton. He came in second during the last survey at the end of last year. This time, two other CEOs out-underperformed him: Krishna Srinivasan of Frost & Sullivan and Steve Odland of Office Depot.
The top travel company on Glassdoor’s survey was also an airline: Continental Airlines and its chief executive, Larry Kellner.
He was #12 on the list, exceeded only by superstar CEOs for the likes of General Mills, Apple and Google.
The Continental comments were a little over-the-top. Here’s a typical rave from a happy employee:
Working in reservations was wonderful. Extremely flexible hours with the ability to pick up additional shifts or drop shifts as needed. The commission plan in reservations is one of the best in the industry. There are also many opportunities to take familiarization trips that are organized and leader by the company, giving the agents the ability to visit the location that they are actually selling to our customers. Continental is also very community involved, sponsoring golf tournaments, cook-offs, etc.
Come on. Is this an airline they’re writing about?
And speaking of non-airlines, the other major travel company in the top 50 list was a Marriott. Bill Marriott, Jr. took a respectable 16th place on the list.
I like the idea of employees rating their CEO. It’s usually done the other way around — a boss will review an employee. When the tables are turned, the results can be interesting, don’t you think?
How does this affect travel? Well, competent leadership can improve employee moral and lead to better customer service.
And incompetent leadership, obviously, has the opposite effect.
(Photo: Telstar Logistics/Flickr Creative Commons)
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
INTERESTING UA POSTED A THIRD QUARTER LOSS ALONG WITH DELTA; airlines that posted a profit included JetBlue and Air Tran;i
Interesting! On my recent int’l flight, the Continental folks did seem to be enjoying themselves rather more than I expected and it made my trip that much better. I was even offered a cocktail for giving up my seat to a mom traveling with little ones! (Chris, I still need to read your post about banning alcohol on board, if that includes air) And I’ve stayed at Marriott three times this month – all successful, pleasant and consistent, especially the Crystal City Marriott at Reagan National (highly recommend them). I’m inclined to believe there is some truth in the survey. Keep it up Continental and Marriott and I’ll keep coming back.
Well, with one exception, I have enjoyed traveling with CO. I find the personnel generally friendly and amenable.
Why am I not surprised by this? After hearing about it in some many blogs, I can conclude that it’s probably true. I have an aunt who is a flight attendant for United Airlines; though I have no idea what she thinks of Glenn Tilton. I do find that Ben Baldenza may be near the top of the list; especially after that insulting comment he made to the couple with a bad flight experience that made headlines in blogs everywhere. I haven’t flown on Continental yet though I have heard many good things about them.
LOL well I can see that United still SUCKS!
You might remember when Christopher Elliott posted my revenge against United for messing with me on a flight to Hawaii.
I cost them the possibility of a couple hundred tickets from Alaska to the East Coast.
Revenge is sweet.
I recommed that everyone boycott all these airlines that are constantly providing lousy service, write the CEO telling them why, and PROMOTE those airlines like AMERICAN which in my case went far above & beyond to help me when I screwed up with a ticket.
Remember, support those business that do good, and punish those that don’t.
Except that many here have bashed American as well. All airlines have given people bad experiences.
But….tell me something I didn’t know. Tilton is a crooked oilman, but it is the Bush Administration and all their cronies that allow an a$$ like Tilton to be essentially a legal criminal, and all because he donates to the right people.
Another great reason I hope Continental and United don’t ever merge!
Wow, must be the “trickle-down-effect”. The way the CEO treats his employees, United employees treat their customers the same way. This is why I have refused to fly United since a nightmare overseas flight over 11 years ago. I don’t care if they give $5 flights-I won’t bite. All airlines have their problems, but the manner in which my very young children and I were treated bordered on abuse. I have never encountered such uncaring, thoughtless and unkind staff at any company. I can’t believe they’re still in business.
This is quite obvious for anyone who’s had training on good service. If someone feels underpaid, unappreciated, and overworked, it’s much harder for that person to deliver fast friendly customer service. John Cleese made a series of training videos about customer service that pointed this out exactly.
Frankly, it was clear when I was an elite flyer on United that they did not respect anything other than their own personal profits. I found that their “special” offers were nearly impossible to take advantage of. Whenever they’d send me any kind of communication, it was clear that it was tailored to deliver me minimum benefit with maximum fanfare and noise. I can easily see that if they treat customers like this, they must treat employees with even less respect.