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Fantastic post and peek into the past! I cannot wait to see more.
It is interesting that in the first year Employees were already demonstrating industry leading productivity and being rewarded for that even in the absence of profits. Lamar Muse wrote the following in a June 1972 memo:
"In a recent issue of the Aviation Daily there was a short article attributing Continental Airlines' success to employee motivation. There is no question whatsoever that Continental Airlines is generally regarded by both other airlines and airline passengers as being the best of the CAB certificated carriers from the standpoint of service to the passenger and productivity of its employees. Therefore, I am sure you will be pleased to know that during Southwest Airlines' first year of operation, we provided our customers with a substantially more reliable service than Continental, and the productivity of each of our employees was, practically speaking, 100% better than that of Continental's [...]
Even though our passenger loads are not yet sufficient to produce a profit from our operation, our 195 employees have performed much better than any other airline in the world, and it is for this reason you will receive substantial increases in take-home pay effective July 1, 1972.
If each of you continues to perform in our second year the way you have in our first, and I know you will, no one including 'Brand X' will be able to stop us, and you may be assured that you will share in the rewards!"
As most of you know, last week, we celebrated our 38th Birthday on June 18. We had several big public and Employee events, starting with our annual Awards Banquet, to celebrate this milestone, and in a post later today, we will show you this year's Birthday Bash. There is no question that we currently are in a very difficult time for our industry. However, for our Original Employees, ou

Categories: Working at Southwest

Posted by: Brian Lusk | Jun 24, 2009 at 7:53 am |