The North American aviation industry is luring workers with daycare centers, affordable transportation, and free iPhones, in order to compete in a competitive market where wages for entry-level, low-skilled jobs frequently lag those at e-commerce companies like Amazon.
Last year's peak summer travel season was marred by long lines and delayed luggage due to a lack of workers, such as baggage handlers and customer service agents, which hampered the industry's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and increased demand for new initiatives to recruit workers.
According to Thomas Romig, vice president of airport trade group Airports Council International, or ACI World, "you need to be able to accommodate their family life too if you want people to work crazy shifts, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day.".
"Airports are attempting to recruit, retain, and upskill workers by taking more actions. ".
In order to make jobs at 24-hour centers outside of urban cores more hospitable to workers, ACI, which has airports as members around the world, is currently preparing advice for them.
Part of the issue for the aviation industry is that low wages and taxing work have long made retaining staff at airports a challenge, a problem exacerbated by the pandemic and now, historically low unemployment rates. In the United States, the unemployment rate is at its lowest level in more than 53 years.
U.S. air transportation employment has recovered over the past year to above pre-pandemic levels. But the sector still needs to add jobs as U.S. air travel also rebounds - forecasts show it is set to rise again this year from pre-pandemic levels hit in 2022.
Affordable Day Care
The city of Phoenix's aviation department has launched a childcare program for airport workers and plans to build a childcare facility on airport property.
At Kelowna International Airport in British Columbia, Canada, construction is underway for a daycare primarily for children of employees who work on airport property, and some California airports are adding other services to make life easier for employees.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is considering offering childcare on-site or nearby, and San Francisco is increasing monthly subsidies offered to employees using public transit. Kelowna's airport is also considering shuttle service for hard-to-fill night or pre-dawn shifts.
Iphones, Cars
The city of Phoenix's aviation department has launched a childcare program for airport workers and plans to build a childcare facility on airport property.
Other airports are also offering childcare on-site or nearby, as well as other services to make life easier for employees.
Delta Air Lines is offering a $5,000 sign-on bonus for a ramp agent position, and other carriers are also trying to attract workers with signing bonuses. Unifi, which provides labor and equipment to Delta, United, and Alaska Airlines, has seen costs to bring on new workers rise as much as 60% from pre-pandemic levels, so it has turned to incentive programs to retain talent.
Yavar Qadri, a representative for Unifor, Canada's largest private sector union, told Reuters that his salary was cut by 5%. He also lost dental benefits during two separate flips over the last 15 years while working as a security guard overnight for a contractor at Canada's largest airport in Toronto.
"People are working multiple jobs. Or they are trying to get a lot of overtime hours," added Qadri. "The whole scenario creates a very toxic atmosphere. Everybody is tired."
And then there are others - like Jared Barker, a 33-year-old baggage handler at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport who quit and left the industry altogether last year after mass departures during the pandemic led to a heavier workload.
"It just burned me out," said Barker, who now works in insurance sales.