High-Flying Hijinks: Southwest Boards Humor Along With Passengers

At 30,000 feet, it wouldnıt be unusual for a Southwest Airlines Customer to hear a flight attendant say something like, "This will be a non-smoking flight. Federal law prohibits smoking on board and in any aircraft lavatory. Passengers wishing to smoke will be invited to our lounge on the wing where todayıs movie is Gone With the Wind."

No one ever said humor had to be left at the office front door. In fact, at Southwest Airlines the corporate culture encourages employees to be themselves and have fun at work. That includes the thousands of flight attendants that work for the airline and spend their days singing, making jokes and telling stories daily aboard Southwest's jets.

Itıs a formula that has worked well for the once-tiny Texas-based airline. Southwest began service in June 1971 with service between Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Today, the airline is the nationıs fourth largest in terms of Customer boardings. Southwest operates nearly 2,500 daily flights from 55 U.S. cities with a fleet of more than 300 Boeing 737s. Southwest is the nationıs only shorthaul, point-to-point, low fare, and high frequency carrier.

Customer-focused Southwest has long been lauded for its service record, providing unparalleled on-time performance, baggage handling and Customer Service to the more than 50 million passengers it carries each year.

Many of those Customers are increasingly representing the diverse ethnic populations thriving all over the country.

Southwest recognizes the importance of targeting those diverse cultural populations and introducing the airlineıs special brand of service to them. Part of that effort is marketing the Southwest brand to current and potential Hispanic, African American and Asian consumers.

The airline also is working on recruiting efforts in its People Department (human resources at more traditional companies) to get more candidates from multicultural backgrounds to consider employment at the airline. Southwest, long a sought-after employer, has been named one of the "Best Companies to Work for in America" in a survey published in Fortune magazine for the last two years. It topped the list in 1998.

Southwest spends a great deal of time on the recruiting and interviewing process to ensure a good fit with its deeply entrenched corporate culture. Make no mistakes; the airline wants altruistic, good-natured people who are willing to work hard. Southwest prides itself on being consistently able to offer its 28,000+ employees job security and profit-sharing partly because of the continuing dedication and productivity of its employees. That focus on providing low-cost, highly efficient air travel has helped Southwest stay on top of its game for the last 28 years.

It has long been said that Southwest "hires for attitude and trains for skill." Employees at the airline understand the importance of doing "whatever it takes" to get the job done, and they have worked hard to create a family-like atmosphere. The airlineıs CEO, Herb Kelleher, says of Southwestıs employees: "I salute their spirits, their boundless energy, their immense goodwill and their burning desire to excel."