Boeing overhauls bonus scheme in wake of safety scandals, with 60% of annual ... trends now
Boeing has overhauled its bonus scheme to emphasize safety safety above meeting profit targets in the wake of the Alaska Airlines door plug scandal.
After a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight in January Boeing has been under pressure by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and its investors to appear to be addressing serious quality and safety concerns.
In the company's commercial unit safety and quality metrics will now account for 60 percent of annual bonuses, up from 25 percent.
Previously, financial incentives comprised 75 percent of the annual award.
Now the dominant metrics determining a bonus will be employee safety, work done out of sequence on the assembly line and work required to fix problems, according to an internal memo seen by the Wall Street Journal.
In January, an Alaska Airlines flight suffered a near-catastrophe as a plane door blew out at 16,000ft over Portland
There were no serious injuries from the terrifying air failure, but passenger's belongings including phones flew out of the aircraft
In Boeing's other two units, defense and services, financial metrics will still dominate, determining 75 percent of bonus awards.
However, quality and safety will be the only factors to determine the operational scores.
CEO Dave Calhoun and other executives bonuses will be based on an average of all three units scores.
'It's very, very important to drive the outcomes that we're all committed to, and that's to deliver a safe and quality product to our customer,' Boeing operating chief Stephanie Pope told staff in an employee webcast earlier this week.
It comes as a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by United Airlines veered off the runway after landing in Houston early Friday in the latest near-miss involving the embattled airliner.
The aircraft, which
