Virgin defends culture after exits
VIRGIN Australia says the airline’s culture has not changed since the 2020 sale to US private equity firm Bain Capital and employees continue to enjoy a “fun-loving and irreverent challenger” workplace.
The statement, issued by the airline’s chief people officer Lisa Burquest, followed a string of high-level departures.
Ms Burquest said Virgin employed 6300 staff, of whom 38 per cent had been with the airline for over 10 years.
“Annualised voluntary turnover is 8.5 per cent, well within what is considered normal and healthy; and executive and management level turnover rates are also normal and healthy: 4 per cent voluntary turnover and 2 per cent involuntary turnover this financial year,” Ms Burquest wrote.
“A recent survey of leaders in the business shows … 90 per cent feel supported by leaders.”
Among staff to leave in the last year were chief medical officer Sara Souter, chief pilot Michael Fitzgerald, head of crew culture Ryan Bradshaw, people safety and wellbeing manager Liv Hewitt, two heads of revenue, team travel leader Kerri Homann and customer experience manager Caitlin Malone.
Almost the entire corporate affairs team had turned over since November 2020, and out of 40 staff in the workplace relations and human resources team, only four pre-Bain employees remained. In a further blow, Mr Fitzgerald lodged an unfair dismissal claim in the Federal Circuit Court on Tuesday, citing bullying by chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka.
Ms Burquest said Virgin Australia had engaged an external party to investigate allegations made against Ms Hrdlicka in December 2021, and they were found to be unsubstantiated.
Ms Burquest said everyone who was an employee of Virgin Australia at the start of 2020 had experienced a very difficult and emotional time due to factors such as staff standdowns and the company’s voluntary administration.
“It is natural that some managers will not enjoy this much change in their work practices and choose to leave, despite the fact the culture has not changed,” she said.