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I thought there was govt support given to the airlines (and other companies) to keep people on staff? Did this not occur or was it used for other non-employmen

I thought there was govt support given to the airlines (and other companies) to keep people on staff? Did this not occur or was it used for other non-employment purposes?

cratermoon 4y ago
Oh there was, and they did keep lots of people on staff. I am on a contract with an airline now and I talked to some gate staff who said they would go to the airport and stand around for 8 hours, but they kept getting paid. What happened, though, was the Great Resignation. Folks with many years either retired or just left. Many of the folks who worked with passengers quickly got burned out because of all the anti-maskers and generally entitled people ran rampant during the pandemic. Many of them peaced out for less stressful jobs. I've personally met people now working in the HQ who said they would rather quit than go back to airport guest work. A lot of institutional memory and tacit knowledge walked out the door, taking with it cumulative decades of understanding how to run an airline. Even if the airlines can attract replacements, they'll never recover the knowledge. And the airlines are not making much money, they are scrambling for revenue, hurting with the rising costs of fuel and the consequences of climate change, and can't afford to hire enough people. Personally, I wonder if the age of wide-spread passenger air travel is over, and if we're going back to the way things were before deregulation, when air travel was for business and the well-off.
- jleyank 4y ago
  Makes sense. As an old fart, covid was the last straw and I pulled the plug. I would assume this would open up jobs at the bottom as well as people moved to fill the positions old farts (and near old farts) are leaving behind. But it’s curious if there are more low end positions than people willing to fill them. If the shortage is real, there’s going to be a lot of scut work positions that remain open. And that’ll remove more of the magic of travel - having to keep your own room clean, etc, make your bed… I’m a bit of a cynic. I thought in tech “old people taking their knowledge out the door” was considered a good thing. “About damn time…”
  - cratermoon 4y ago
    for tech, it can be. But for the business knowledge itself, which lots of tech old-timers have in addition to expertise about actual software, when that walks out the door the organization loses. Even if the remaining people remember what, they lose the why, and the result can be cargo cult management.

I thought there was govt support given to the airlines (and other companies) to keep people on staff? Did this not occur or was it used for other non-employment purposes?

cratermoon 4y ago

Oh there was, and they did keep lots of people on staff. I am on a contract with an airline now and I talked to some gate staff who said they would go to the airport and stand around for 8 hours, but they kept getting paid. What happened, though, was the Great Resignation. Folks with many years either retired or just left. Many of the folks who worked with passengers quickly got burned out because of all the anti-maskers and generally entitled people ran rampant during the pandemic. Many of them peaced out for less stressful jobs. I've personally met people now working in the HQ who said they would rather quit than go back to airport guest work. A lot of institutional memory and tacit knowledge walked out the door, taking with it cumulative decades of understanding how to run an airline. Even if the airlines can attract replacements, they'll never recover the knowledge. And the airlines are not making much money, they are scrambling for revenue, hurting with the rising costs of fuel and the consequences of climate change, and can't afford to hire enough people. Personally, I wonder if the age of wide-spread passenger air travel is over, and if we're going back to the way things were before deregulation, when air travel was for business and the well-off.

jleyank 4y ago
Makes sense. As an old fart, covid was the last straw and I pulled the plug. I would assume this would open up jobs at the bottom as well as people moved to fill the positions old farts (and near old farts) are leaving behind. But it’s curious if there are more low end positions than people willing to fill them. If the shortage is real, there’s going to be a lot of scut work positions that remain open. And that’ll remove more of the magic of travel - having to keep your own room clean, etc, make your bed… I’m a bit of a cynic. I thought in tech “old people taking their knowledge out the door” was considered a good thing. “About damn time…”
- cratermoon 4y ago
  for tech, it can be. But for the business knowledge itself, which lots of tech old-timers have in addition to expertise about actual software, when that walks out the door the organization loses. Even if the remaining people remember what, they lose the why, and the result can be cargo cult management.