On a date associated with gags and practical jokes, 21 Southwest Airlines Employees are counting quite a few extra pennies this April 1st -- a million of them!
Even Ed McMahon might tip his hat to our prize patrollers who have been reaching across the Southwest system to bring sky-high joy to 21 Southwest Employees as the Grand Finale to our year-long incentive contest, Operation: Kick Tail (OKT).
As you'll see, each winner got the news in a very surprising way before that $10,000 deposit hit their bank accounts.
The winners were drawn randomly from a pile of more than 180,000 "Kick Tail-A-Grams," commendations awarded by their fellow Employees for Positively Outrageous Customer Service and, simply, Living the Southwest Way. In all, more than 200 Southwest Warriors received various prizes as a part of OKT after the 35,000 Employees of Southwest worked together to meet all our year-end performance goals for 2008.
Times are tough all around, but we're as proud of the fact that we're taking care of our Employees as we are proud of their accomplishments of enduring strength. (Oh, we also took care of Uncle Sam, too. None of our winners is having to spend their prize money on taxes!)
Comments
Congrats to all of the winners! As a SWA customer, it;s good to see that the company takes good care of it's employees while at the same time everyone has a little fun! You don't find that much anymore with the legacy carriers. Cheers!
This is just another reason I have come to Love Southwest. I recently started flying with Southwest and quickly decided it is the only airline for me. A company who values their employees hard work and dedication to customer service will continue to have my loyalty. Way to go Southwest.
This is just another reason I LOVE Southwest. I just started flying with Southwest and have already decided it is the only airline for me. Companies who appreciate their employees hard work and customer service talents are rare so hats off to Southwest!
Steve, I heard that they were going to get the money no matter if they chose the passes.
When I was editing this piece, I kept wondering what they would have done if someone had. No one picked the passes.
Did anyone pick the two gold passes?
LUV Southwest Airlines for their people! Totally awesome. Congrats to all.
I LUV my company! SWA rocks!
Absolutely amazing. I have never heard of anything like this . . . ever.
Erica from Dallas
This story is amazing! Congrats to SWA and its employees. Atleast there is still some good in the world and its coming from a great place. Congrats to the 21 winners.