ATA not OK
April 4th, 2008 by Matt WestThe aviation industry is hurting these past few weeks. First, multiple airlines cancelled hundreds of flights for emergency safety inspections, then Aloha Airlines halted all passenger flights and filed for bankruptcy, then Congress kicked off a high profile whistleblower hearing involving the FAA and Southwest Airlines.
Now comes news that ATA airlines has abruptly shut its doors, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. But what about ATA employees? Check out how they received the news, according to the Chicago Tribune:
Even ATA employees were caught off guard by the sudden declaration. Gladys Becker, 50, who worked as a customer service agent with the airline for 15 years, said she received a phone call at 3 a.m. telling her she did not have to show up for work Thursday, or in the future.
Yikes! What went wrong here? I can appreciate the need to move quickly with these kinds of announcements, but this just seems wrong.
At least they didn’t get an email laying them off.
Tags: crisis communication, layoffs
April 4th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
The way ATA handled notifying employees to me was particularly troublesome. I don’t like receiving any calls at 3AM, let alone one telling me I’m out of a job and that my company just went under.
But seriously, experiences like these leave people scarred by organizations and feeling very bitter. This is part of the erosion of trust between organizations and individuals that we often encounter as we work with our clients.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Such a interesting site
wow!