Southwest Airlines

3 Pages 674 Words

Southwest Airlines took off in 1969 (then called Air Southwest Company) by businessman Rollin King and Texas lawyer Herb Kelleher, servicing Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio Texas with frequent, low-priced flights. What began as a small Texas airline has grown to become one of the largest airlines in America. Today, Southwest Airlines flies more than 65 million passengers a year to 59 different cities all across the country .
Compared to its competitors, Southwest Airlines’ rates are consistently lower. Southwest’s human resources management is used as a competitive strategy to build a productive workforce to control costs. This is how they can offer the lower fares. Their strategy is to instill a sense of fun not only in Southwest’s passengers but among its employees as well . There are about 3,000 positions available at Southwest, and the most important part of the hiring and training process is the employee’s attitude. They want their employees to be courteous to customers and have a good sense of humor. Every employee plays an important role in serving customers. As part of their aggressive customer service strategy, employees attend training classes to learn about the company and its record of customer service. To learn how the company operates, employees are encouraged to work in departments other than their own. The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit . Southwest recently ranked first in customer service among major U.S. air carriers in a recent survey . Although it is not a major focus of Southwest, financial compensation plays a role in getting and retaining the best employees. It provides incentives to employees through flexible work hours, and there is also a generous profit sharing program. Southwest also has an employee turnover rate of only 6%, the lowest in the ai...