WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE (June 9, 2008 issue): Taking Flight
Internal Hostilities at the Federal Aviation Administration Have Sent Air Traffic Controllers Rushing for the Doors as soon as They Can Retire, Triggering a Staffing Crisis and Questions About Whether the Agency Can Repair Its Crippled Morale
by Jessica Marquez
The best part of Bobby Fierro’s workday used to be driving into Los Angeles International Airport and seeing friends and family reunite at the different terminals.
“I took a lot of pride in my work, and seeing that every morning was very rewarding,” he says.
But because of an impasse in negotiations between his union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and Federal Aviation Administration management, the environment in airport control towers has become downright hostile, he says.
That’s why Fierro walked away from his annual salary of $160,000 and retired after 25 years on the job. He announced his retirement August 16 – his 50th birthday – the first day he was eligible for retirement benefits.
Such early retirements are increasingly common in an agency that struggles with constant accusations of mismanagement and a dispirited workforce. High wages and good benefits may not be enough to keep air traffic controllers on the job.
Officials say they’re seeing progress addressing steep recruiting and retention challenges for air traffic controllers, but whether the agency can ease deep-seated employee dissatisfaction and fix its damaged culture remains to be seen.
“Morale is not high on companies’ priority list when they are thinking about how to address the pending talent shortage,” says Arthur Wheaton, a workplace and industry education specialist at Cornell University. “The situation at the FAA shows how crucial it is.”
Air traffic controllers are eligible to retire at age 50 with 20 years of service or at any age with 25 years of service. And the onset of baby boomer retirements also raises serious concerns. These early retirements come as the FAA expects 72 percent of its air traffic controllers to become eligible for retirement by 2016.
In January, there were about 11,000 fully certified air traffic controllers – the lowest level in more than 10 years.
The FAA has known for some time that it would have a staffing problem. The majority of its air traffic control workforce was hired in the early 1980s after President Ronald Reagan fired 10,438 of them for striking.
Now, 27 years later, these hires are hitting retirement age, and the FAA has launched a number of initiatives to recruit and, in some cases, retain key staff in high-traffic areas, officials say. The agency aims to hire more than 15,000 air traffic controllers in the next decade.
By establishing more face-to-face contact with new recruits and increasing manager training, the agency believes it can deflect the increasingly loud criticism lodged by the air traffic controllers union.
FAA officials insist they are seeing progress. In its last call for controllers, the FAA attracted more than 3,000 candidates, says Karen Johnson, executive director, HR management field operations. In the last fiscal year, the agency hired more than 1,800 controllers, exceeding its target of 1,300. And the FAA hired 60 percent more controllers last year than in 2006, Johnson says.
But even if the FAA’s HR staff can replace controllers as quickly as they are losing them – which remains to be seen – the bigger morale issues are going to take longer to fix, experts say.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents 14,800 controllers and trainees, has a new card that it is playing with as much fanfare as possible: It is questioning whether the staffing shortage is affecting public safety.
“We had 1,600 controllers leave last year, and many more are expected to leave next year because of how the employees are being treated,” says Patrick Forrey, president of the union. “Either we are going to have a major accident or the system will have to be slowed down, which will add to the demise of an already struggling airline industry.”
As long as FAA management has such a contentious relationship with the union, it’s going to be impossible for the agency to have the most talented and engaged controller workforce that it can, says John Palguta, vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service, which with American University’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation annually publishes “The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government,” a list providing rankings of 222 government agencies.
Last year, the FAA came in at 204 among the 222 agencies. “The FAA simply can’t afford to not have well-qualified and engaged controllers,” Palguta says. “They need them to carry out the mission and prevent mishaps.”
Continued in part 2 ...
Taking Flight (Part 1 of 3)
