Flight Centre rewards staff with share offer
TRAVEL giant Flight Centre is splashing out $30m to reward and retain staff only a year after it shed thousands of people.
Brisbane-based Flight Centre announced on Friday that staff would receive 1.9 million company shares under a program targeted at keeping its sales force and support staff.
The tourism and hospitality sector was among the hardest hit during Covid-19 but is now struggling to retain and recruit workers as visitors start to return.
Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner said the offer was aimed at keeping staff over the next 18 months as the company recovers from the impact of the pandemic.
“It encourages our people to continue their careers with us during what will be an important period as vaccinations increase and the recovery starts to gain momentum,” Mr Turner said.
Mr Turner said the company had gone from 21,000 staff globally before the pandemic to roughly 8000 but operations in the US and other international markets were recovering.
“We expect to get back to about 16,000 people by June 2024,” he said. “The crucial thing is to get borders open.”
The share offer will see each staff member given 250 share rights if they stay with the company until December 2022. About 7500 staff will qualify for the shares, which will vest in February 2023.
“It underlines our people’s importance and recognises their efforts and loyalty since the pandemic began and heavy travel restrictions were imposed,” Mr Turner said. “It is a small reward for the people who stuck by us during the past year.”
He said staff had continued to work incredibly hard to help customers secure refunds or rearrange their travel plans.
“The offer will give our people a stronger degree of ownership of the company and thereby strengthen the ties between their interests and our other shareholders,” Mr Turner said.
Air New Zealand announced last week it would reward workers for their labour during the pandemic with $1000 worth of shares for every employee.
The offer came as domestic capacity in New Zealand returned to 90 per cent of preCovid levels, and the transTasman bubble helped lift capacity across the ditch to around 70 per cent.