Presented by : Rajesh Dutta(10DM119) Mukesh Agrawal(10FN062) Nishant Maheshwari(10FN072) Prateek Jain(10FN132) Prateek Shah(10FN133) Nipun Gupta(10IB043)

History

West Jet took to the skies Feb 29, 1996 with 200 people, three Boeing 737-200s, and five destinations

Founded in 1994 by Clive Beddoe, Tim Morgan, Donald Bill, Mark Bill Low cost carrier Differentiator : Caring attitude towards passengers(guests) Mission Statement : To enrich the lives of everyone in WestJets world by
providing safe, friendly and affordable air travel

West Jet Network 1996

West Jet Network 2009

Culture
Friendly, caring, fun and youthful working culture Average age of workforce 34, and for leadership team its 38-40 Creativity and innovation were encouraged and rewarded

CARE : Creating A Remarkable Experience

Purpose : To propagate culture throughout WestJets operations Helped create videos and plays that entertained stuff Organized 250 events every year Organized the biennial profit sharing events at which WestJetters

received their profit-sharing cheques from a WestJet executive as a personal thank you

Recruitment Process

Group interviews People with an outgoing and friendly nature were seen as fitting the
culture

Two desirable traits : enthusiam and a sense of humor Candidates were engaged in games, and in team and individual tasks

Talent Management & Orientation

New employees assigned a sponsor who acted as a mentor Helped employees to learn about the organization High potential employees given more formal training Bottom-up management style Employees were deemed as owners of their jobs

PACT : Pro-active Communication Team

Employee association that allowed management to keep in touch with
rank and file

Addressed concerns before they became problems Eliminated the need of union Covered the entire company : different chapters represented different
work groups

Making the employees part of the solution, not the problem

WHY : We Hear You

Internal Twice-annual survey Measured employee engagement and culture Encouraged feedback Helped top management to assess the work culture and make
improvements

Adopt a Base program

A Structured program to allow executives to connect with business Executives take ownership of one or more bases and visit them on a
regular basis and attend social functions

Infrastructure

Five different fare classes or buckets Online booking system transparent and easy to use Flew only 737 models for cost cutting Less expense on training crew

Sharing the rewards

Profit share program
10-20% of pre-tax operating income is set as bonus

Employee Share Purchase Plan(ESPP)

Contribution up to 20% of employee income were matched by WestJet We are owners campaign Average contribution : 15% base salary 86% WestJetters participating Bonus checks were given biannually A way to say personal Thank You

Competitive Advantage
The fact that West Jet is able to run a profitable business with such low
airfares

Source of Competitive Advantage

Excellent customer service coupled with affordable and cheap rates Organic Culture Gave people a reason to travel with them Owners try harder than employees, both to improve the guest experience
and to save costs

Clan culture

Importance of Culture
The differentiating factor between WestJet and other airlines Employees took decisions that led to cost cutting and innovation Fun & friendly environment leads to enjoyable working atmosphere Employees happy
customers happy Profits

Was the only airline in Canada to make profits during recession Within just 14 years had become the 5th most profitable airline in the
entire world

Copycats
Difficult to imitate Needs extensive restructuring across all operations Lacks a proper foundation to create such a culture Unable to match West Jets low rates Ingredients for a culture of engagement and ownership all employees must be able to enjoy where they are working and have a
positive attitude

Employees are always welcome to voice their opinions or suggestions

and never have a problem stepping forward when help is needed

Link the employee remuneration to organization's profit

The Pilot Problem

The Problem : 3 year contract with pilots about to terminate. Negotiations
for new contract regarding pay structure between management and pilots stalled. Road-shows organized by top executives to build support for it failed.

Re-engage the pilots Explain the potential damage the rejection of contract offer can cause.
Use the you approach

Damage to organization culture= Loss for the pilots

Future Course of Action

Use technology as a differentiator Manage and accommodate growth with customized connectivity solutions Achieve technology innovation while maintaining a low cost business
model

Integrate customer experience monitoring across all customer touch

points and interactions to improve customer satisfaction and ultimately, revenue social networking sites

Extend its culture and values by sharing what they are doing through Deploy at least one permanent employee at each overseas location to
ensure uniform service standard is maintained across the world.

If you are not having fun, you are fired!!