Aer Lingus take flight with outsourcing plans
When people think of an Irish based plane company, it is probably inevitable that they will turn to Ryanair, the low budget airline from Ireland. Ryanair have captured traveler’s imagination due to low pricing and many quirky deals and advertising campaign. The boss of Ryanair is not well liked but he has made a lot of money for his company and no doubt will continue to feed the publicity machine that keeps his company in the papers. However, before Ryanair, there were a number of options open to travelers looking to travel to and from Ireland, with Aer Lingus being one the most popular.
All of the existing firms have struggled with the economic slowdown and the way that companies like Ryanair and Easyjet have came to the fore but Aer Lingus are starting to make moves to move back into contention amongst the top earners in a high flying industry. Like most firms, Aer Lingus realise that reducing their labor costs is just one of the ways that they need to improve their infrastructure and this is forming a large part of their new structure set-up. Inevitably, anything which involves restructuring and people potentially losing their jobs is going to upset people and cause trouble and you can guarantee that the trade unions are looking at what Aer Lingus does next with great interest. There are currently just under 4,000 people employed by Aer Lingus and to become far more efficient and effective, the company is looking to trim around 700 of these jobs. That’s quite a large number for a moderately sized firm and depending on where these jobs are lost from, the impact on local communities could be quite large.
Given the importance of the company in Ireland, a lot of job losses could be extremely harsh on a population that is already struggling with the demise of the Celtic tiger. In order to maintain its effectiveness whilst cutting back on its number of employees, Aer Lingus is the latest firm to go down the route of outsourcing with regards to diversifying their workforce. One great way for an airline carrier to bring outsourcing into their company is through the catering department. Companies like Ryanair and Easyjet no longer offer free meals for their customers but many other firms do and even those who don’t provide free meals will provide some element of food to the travelling public.
Choosing this option should give Aer Lingus a lot of opportunity to improve their economic outlook but this cannot be the only option pursued by the firm. Other options include reducing the pay packets of all their workers or looking to greatly reduce the pension and benefits on offer to their staff. The benefits felt by airline and terminal staffs have been highly attractive for staff but this is no longer likely to be the case as firms have to battle against tough economic times.
These moves may not be the best for current employers but these moves are likely to ensure that Aer Lingus has a future for many years to come.
