THE GHI CONFERENCE COMMUNITY
THE GHI
CONFERENCE
COMMUNITY
This issue, the great ground handling skills crisis
and fi lling the gaps through cross training
MULTISKILLING
COULD BE
THRILLING
You don’t need a crystal ball to know that contract
margin squeeze will loom large again in 2020.
Flybe’s bailout, hot on the heels of omas Cook’s
collapse, illustrates the harsh realities of a high cost, low margin
game. It’s a gruelling environment in which ground handlers
have had to adapt to thrive. Bolstering operational e ciency,
consolidation, re ning service quality and embracing volume
have all been evolutionary essentials. We’re le with a breed
of lean, mean, turnaround machines who embrace margins so
slender they wouldn’t be out of place in the pages of an A5 jotter.
But, we might just have overlooked something crucial
along the way: getting more out of our people. Drop in on the
typical crew room in between turns and you’ll nd a huddle of
operatives watching TV or checking their phones before the next
arrival. Likewise with PCAs before they’re due back at the gate.
Every employee deserves lunch and tea breaks, of course.
However, we do face a systematic challenge with employee
downtime during the stop-start world of the airport.
Multi-skilling o ers a fascinating, if controversial,
countermeasure. Imagine a station where the team leader
positioning AKEs in the hold is the same individual checking
passports and wishing you a fond farewell at the boarding gate.
‘Impossible,’ I hear you cry. ‘A rampie would turn the airwaves
blue and a PCA would su er a hernia if we got them shi ing
bags in the hold’. Yet, the bene ts of cross training for employee
and employer are compelling. Multi-skilling has been shown
to enhance job satisfaction and personal development. It also
boosts sta retention levels, productivity, exibility and fosters
teamwork between disparate areas of the business.
Projects could start small: operatives assisting with laboursapping
PRM requests or pairing up with agents on continuous
improvement project groups. It’s down to us, the business
leaders, to change the culture. So, let’s stop pigeonholing people
as either front or back of house and shake up the way we hire,
train and task our employees. Expect plenty of angst along the
way; but if multi-skilling enables a happier, more agile
station operating on a much-improved margin, then the
end surely justi es the means. What do you think?
Max Gosney
Conference Chairman, GHI, max@groundhandling.com
THE BIG DEBATE
Skills crisis
deepens
Acute ground handling skills
shortages are jeopardising
safety at European airports,
with the drought in personnel
getting worse, GHI can
exclusively reveal.
Almost 80% of operators
reported a skills shortage in
our Skills Survey 2020 – a
25% increase since the survey
was last conducted in 2017.
A further 77% of the 100+
aviation business leaders
surveyed, said that they had
suffered a lost time accident
or near miss as a direct result
of the dearth in personnel.
At least one in ten fl ights is
adversely affected because
of ground handling skills
shortages in more than 50% of
operations, the survey found.
“There is a general lack
of people with skills who are
interested in working at the
airport,” said one respondent.
Another added: “It’s very
challenging to recruit and
retain high quality staff as
plenty of opportunities exist in
adjacent industries that offer
better pay and more familyfriendly
working hours.”
Ramp operatives and
passenger check-in agents are
the most problematic positions
to fi ll, according to GHI’s Skills
Survey. Poor pay was named
the top reason why employees
in these roles quit. However,
43% of aviation leaders said
they felt current pay levels for
ramp operative and check-in
roles were commensurate with
the responsibilities of the job.
Only half of ground
handling respondents said
they had communicated
their challenges with skills
shortages during contract
negotiations with airlines.
MEET THE GHI DELEGATE
Roswitha Becker, MD at GLC,
on
the need for greater diversity in our
sector and sunsets over Cape Town
GHI: What’s your favourite GHI
Conference memory?
Roswitha: “I have a few that really
stand out so it’s a tough task to
choose one, but it would have
to be Bali – the combination of
the hard work, great cuisine,
beautiful location and a ordable
massages are hard to beat.”
GHI:Who/what inspired you to
seek a career in aviation?
Roswitha: “I am in love with the
idea of distant exotic places –
being an avid traveller already in
my youth, I was always intrigued
by the way the world and its
people live.”
GHI: Best bit of career advice?
Roswitha: “Know yourself,
surround yourself with a
great team whose strengths
complement yours and say ‘yes’
to challenges.”
GHI:What one thing would you
change about our industry and
why?
Roswitha: “I would like to see
greater diversity in leadership
36 February 2020 Ground Handling International
link