Critical Analysis of Corporate Culture at WestJet

Comapany Name- WestJet Airlines Ltd.

 Canada Based Company

 Started in 1994
 Randstand Awardee and “Canada’s Most Attractive Employer”
 10000+ empowered WestJetters
 Flights to 90+ destinations
Founders:

 Clive Beddoe (Chairman & CEO)

 Mark Hill (Director of Strategic Planning)
 Tim Morgan (Operations)
 Don Bell (Customer Service)
History-

 First Flight from Calgary base to Edmonton and cost just $42.
 WestJet was a “No-Frills Airline”.
 Mission of the 4 entrepreneurs was to enrich the lives of everyone in WestJet’s world
by providing Air Travel that was safe, friendly and affordable.
Timeline-
1994 – Origin of WestJet Airlines Ltd.
1998 – Fleet size went up to 11 and completed IPO.
2000 – Began serving Eastern Canadian destinations.
2003 – Were Flying to 24 destinations.
2007 – First Airline to introduce “Electronic Boarding Passes”.
2008 – Added 8 routes and served 30 Canadian,14 U.S., and 11 International destinations.
2011 – Designated as “J.D.Power Customer Service Champion”.
2013 – More than 9000 employees & 103 Boeing Aircrafts reaching 80 Destinations.

Employees & Departments-

 Flight Attendants
 Pilots
 Airport Staffs
 Finance
 Maintenance & IT
 Marketing
 Human Resources
 Flight Operations
Corporate Culture At WestJet
The Founders wanted to develop a company with a culture of participation and
commitment, where employees were friendly and caring in order to provide customers with
a great flying experience.
They insisted on developing a non-hierarchical structure with every employee being a
shareholder in the company. The highly empowered employees were free to take any
decision that would help provide customers with the best service.
The employees were made to understand their role and were given the freedom to do what
they thought would benefit the company the most.
The goal is to enrich the lives of everyone in WestJet's world by providing safe, friendly and
affordable air travel (and have some fun while doing it). Their passionate, caring attitude is
the foundation of the corporate culture. They like to think that their business cares for the
WestJetters, who then take care of the guests, who in turn support the business. This cycle
aligns the interests of WestJetters(employees) with the business and emphasizes an
appreciation for the guests.
WestJetters take their jobs seriously, but not themselves. They are fun, friendly and caring.
WestJet and WestJet Encore have many events that help them celebrate their success
throughout the year ranging from profit-share parties to family-friendly events such as
WestJet's birthday party, family ski days and their annual holiday parties. They even have a
department dedicated to their culture. The award winning CARE (create a remarkable
experience) team is responsible for turning our values into experiences and helps to ensure
a world-class employment experience that takes care of all WestJetters, and recognizes and
rewards their accomplishments.
The culture at WestJet was guided by a set of values.

• Commitment to safety

• Positive and passionate in everything they do

• Appreciative of their People and Guests

• Fun, friendly, and caring

• Align the interests of WestJetters with the interests of the company

• Honest, open, and keep their commitment

Highlights of WestJet’s Corporate Culture:

 Passionate, Caring Attitude is the foundation of their Corporate Culture.

 Casual and Friendly working environment.
 They even have a Department related to their Culture.
 They focus on: Highly Productive Work Environment, Strong Management and
Interesting Work and Training
  They believe Culture is a way of Differentiating WestJet from other Competitors.
 They focus on motivating their staffs by encouraging them to become Co-Owners of
the Company through “Stocks Sharing Program”.
 Pre-Defined Principles and Standards for Employees.
 Did not Lay-Off their employees even when there is disruptions in their business.-
This shows that they care for their Employees.
 Even pilots and co-pilots help attendants and cabin crew to clean the Compartment
after the Operations.
 It has a People-Centric Culture.
 The Atmosphere is Informal
 There is total absence of Hierarchy.
 Profit sharing a norm in the Company.
 They do not provide special privileges to Top Managers.
 They believe maintaining Equality would help in creating Open Communication.
 Analysts believe that WestJet’s ability to provide Best Customer Service in the
Airline Business is mainly due to its Employees Centric Attitude.
 Hill(Founder), felt the Culture in the Company was reflected in the way the
Customers are treated.
 Hill believed that by Aligning the interest of the people with business interest, it
would be possible to foster a Great Culture.

Recruitment: Choosing the Right People

 It is important to recruit people who fit in with the Culture of the Organization.
 One of WestJet’s Recruitment Ads- “Dynamic, high energy, team professionals to
work in a Non-Conventional Airline Environment” says much about their work
culture.
 For recruitment, they conduct two types of interviews –
1. Personal Interviews 2. Group Interviews(Behavioural Interviews)
 Group Interview Consists of Mgmt. Games, Individual tasks and Presentations to
assess how comfortable someone is with a team.
 The First batch of Pilots were told that the Airline was theirs and they could design
their own jobs.- This gives flexibility and a feeling of belongingness to the
Employees.

Threats to WestJet’s Corporate Culture:

 As the size of Workforce is growing yearly it will be a tough task to get them
Connected with each other.
 Some employees were fueling a Unionization drive which is not in best interest of
WestJet’s Corporate Culture as CEO has said- “Union is We and They, And WestJet is
Us”.

Challenge-

With the Growth in the Number of Employees and threat of unionization Can WestJet will be
able to sustain the Culture nurtured so carefully while achieving Growth?
Conclusion-

WestJet has Less Formalized Non-Hierarchial Organizatinal Culture where there is Equality
among Employees which in turn destroys the boundary and gap between top management
and other employees and creates a positive working environment.

WestJet has a Culture of Open Communication and all the Top Executives remain
approachable.

WestJet has shown other organizations the power of Alignment between the Employees and
the customers and a ultra friendly and non-hierarchial Corporate Culture.

How Top Management and Leaders treat their Employees will result in how an employee will
treat the Customers creates a Work Culture.