We’re on a mission to revolutionise how businesses are measuring (and then design) their Employee Experience.
You may have seen our last case study, exploring the value of Arsenal FC’s Employee Experience. This time, in lieu of any international holidays, we decided to look at three very well known airline companies to see what we could find out about their Employee Experiences.
So fasten your seatbelts, make sure your chair is in an upright position and your tray is folded away ready to take off and explore the value of Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and RyanAir’s Employee Experience.
How do you measure an Employee Experience?
We look at two types of data: commercial data and people data.
We believe there has to be a balance between the amount of value that an employer gets from its employees and the amount that it gives in return. If a company just takes takes takes, people feel unappreciated and disengaged. Hardly an environment for them to be their best. We call this balance Mutual Lifetime Value.
The commercials alone also won’t tell you how engaged people are, which is why we also look at people data.
Understandably there isn’t loads of people data available out there, but you can get median tenure from LinkedIn and employee engagement in the form of Indeed’s Work Wellbeing score.
Some of you might be bored of this caveat by now, but I’ll say it louder for the people at the back. This is based on publicly available data, and doesn’t include anything that the companies keep private. It’s those accurate and up to date figures on the value that a business offers its people, as well as engagement data, that distinguish between a good Employee Experience and a great one.
Regardless, it’s a pretty good indicator.
What is the commercial value of Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and RyanAir’s Employee Experiences?
For every £1 that they spend on their people, how much the three companies make back in turnover over time is shown in this chart.
For every £1 they spend on their people, this is what they get back
In other words, this chart shows the Mutual Lifetime Value since 2020.
Obviously, 2020 and 2021 were bad years for all three companies, but RyanAir’s improvement since 2021 is remarkable. From a return of 70p, not even covering their investment, to £11.90 in 2023.
But is this a case of profits over people?
A cautionary word for everyone chasing a high Mutual Lifetime Value: you have to consider people data as well.
What does the people data tell us?
Looking at median tenure, there is a clear difference between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways compared to RyanAir, meaning the cheaper airline is losing out on retention and loyalty. This will result in a lower Employee Lifetime Value.
Median tenure (2023)
Data sourced from LinkedIn
But are RyanAir’s people as engaged as Virgin Atlantic or British Airways?
Employee engagement
Data sourced from Indeed
As their profits have gone up, their employee engagement is going down, from 51 to 41 on Indeed’s Work Wellbeing Score. Anything below 61 is low, whereas anything above 73 is considered high, so things are going great at Virgin Atlantic.
As a company, RyanAir reminds us of the importance of balancing commercial data and human data, not just chasing profits at the expense of your people. Ultimately your people are your best asset and how engaged they are will affect their productivity and your bottom line.
How to improve employee experience?
As we said at the top, the first thing is to get a really clear picture of these numbers. Up to date, accurate data from multiple sources that demonstrates the true picture.
If you’re interested in what types of data can help you measure your employee experience, watch this space as we’ll be writing a blog about this very soon.
Want to measure your Employee Experience?
Do you want us to take this approach for your company, and provide you with an ongoing measurement framework to define and design your Employee Experience strategy?
