Centerlines - January 2008 - (Page 31)

PASSENGER FOCUS Smiles and laughter are contagious at a Houston Friendly honors ceremony. and consistent training and making certain everyone is aware of the program will yield positives results for the airport, she said. And with any incentive program, added de Rodriguez, it’s important to offer something that lasts longer than a day. For example, she said, “Give 30 days of parking—that’s a good incentive because it lasts more than just one shot like a free cup of coffee. For those 30 days that employee remembers that they did a good job and were rewarded.” With the Houston Friendly concept, said James, the airport is trying to tell people who are frontline workers that it’s fun to help people and that it is an important element to the whole program. “You’re going to get your rewards whether you’re nominated for an award or not. You’re going to get your reward by just helping people,” James said. “It’s going to make you feel good, and that’s really the spirit of the program. And I think that people who are outstanding frontline service employees, they know that and they appreciate that. And the fact that they are appreciated in a formal ceremony by senior management just serves to reinforce that.” “Everyone likes a pat on the back,” said de Rodriguez, “we don’t get enough of those. Anything that an airport can do to instill pride in their employees is going to benefit the employee as well as the airport.” How Employees Win The nomination process for the Houston Friendly award is a “wideopen” one, said James. Their boss, a coworker or a passenger can nominate employees; they can be nominated by e-mail, via the web site or through the nomination process that many companies have in place. “We have comment cards throughout the airport terminals that are also used for that purpose,” he said. “And people can call in by telephone about an outstanding service action.” And, as examples of service actions leading to awards, James told of one employee who was heading to her car after her shift when she stopped to help someone who had fallen down on the escalator. The employee stayed with the injured person until emergency aid arrived. Other people have saved lives by using defibrillators or performing the Heimlich Maneuver, said James. Recently, a restaurant worker volunteered to drive home a serviceman who was stranded at the airport after many hours of delays. After driving him several hours to his home in Corpus Christi, the worker headed back to another shift the following day with “precious little sleep,” added James. “We thought that was an outstanding service action. That’s the kind of thing that we award.” Before the start of Houston Friendly, James said the airports had always had a focus on customer service, but this is the first effort that has been airport-wide. “Previously, we had done a lot of efforts within the Houston Airport System for our own employees. But this is the first program that’s rolled out on a system-wide basis to all our stakeholders and partners at the airports.” To keep the program in the mind of every worker at the airports, banners are placed throughout the facilities to announce the ceremonies, posters are hung in the elevators reminding employees that they are “now entering a Houston Friendly zone,” and posters highlighting recent award winners are placed throughout the break rooms and other public places in the airports, “so that people can see some examples of our shining customer-service stars,” explained James. “We want to keep this program at the forefront of everything that’s happening at the airports and keep it fresh in the employees’ minds.” The Houston Friendly program is sponsored by the Houston Airport System’s Marketing, Communications and Community Affairs department and has an annual budget of $10,000—an investment that James said is minimal for the amount of good the program is doing for the airports and their employees. ■ www.aci-na.org | CENTERLINES 31 http://www.aci-na.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Centerlines - January 2008

Contents President’s Message Canadian Airports Associates’ Corner Policy Center Regulatory Front On the Hill and On the Stump One on One: Dave Barger Revenue: The Concessions Awards Environment: O’Hare Expansion Passenger Focus: Houston Friendly Safety and Security: After Comair, What Next? Air Service Recruiting: Charleston’s Acquisition of AirTran On Management: Performance Benchmarking at DFW Now Underway Grand Opening Conference Previews and Reviews New Members Index of Advertisers/Advertiser.com Box Scores

Centerlines - January 2008

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