<p><strong>Update: March 6, 2018 at 8:55 a.m. ET</strong></p><p>After United Airlines announced earlier this month it planned on doing away with performance bonuses in favor of a raffle-style incentive program, the backlash from employees Monday caused the carrier to abandon the changes.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-unitedairlines-bonus/united-air-hits-pause-on-changes-to-bonus-program-after-employee-uproar-idUSKBN1GH31J" target="_blank">Reuters.com</a>, United President Scott Kirby announced the airline was "pressing the pause button" on the financial changes after employees expressed outrage at the elimination of regular bonuses.</p><p>"Our intention was to introduce a better, more exciting program, but we misjudged how these changes would be received by many of you," Kirby said in a memo to employees obtained by Reuters. "So, we are pressing the pause button on these changes to review your feedback and consider the right way to move ahead."</p><p>The previously proposed bonus system would have offered employees lottery drawings for cash prizes, luxury cars and vacation packages instead of the currently approved quarterly performance bonuses.</p><p>---</p><p><strong>Original Text</strong></p><p><a href="The core4 program was first rolled out by Kirby in in January, as an employee incentive to help build up the airline's new, more "caring" image. United, of course, suffered a series of disastrous public relations incidences last year and has been struggling to rebuild its image. Now however, it looks like quarterly bonuses are being rolled into the program." target="_self">United Airlines</a> employees hopeful for an early-year boost to their paychecks are waking up to some unfortunate news after United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby revealed that the airline is doing away with performance bonuses in favor of rolling out an "exciting" raffle-style incentive program.</p><p>The details, released in an internal memo acquired by <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2018/03/02/united-airlines-replaces-bonuses-with-lottery.html" target="_blank">The Chicago Business Journal</a>, include a quarterly raffle-style giveaway. One lucky employee per quarter will take home a grand prize of $100,000 while others could win smaller prizes ranging from $1,000 to $40,000.</p><p>"As we look to continue improving, we took a step back and decided to replace the quarterly operational bonus and perfect attendance programs with an exciting new rewards program called 'core4 Score Rewards'," Kirby wrote in the memo.</p><p>
</p><p>The core4 program was first rolled out by Kirby in in January, as an employee incentive to help build up the airline's new, more "caring" image. United, of course, suffered a series of disastrous <a href="https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/united-paying-the-price-over-dragging-incident.html" target="_self">public relations incidences</a> last year and has been struggling to rebuild its image. Now, however, it looks like quarterly bonuses are being merged into the program.</p><p>Although, the quarterly bonus is separate from the airline's profit-sharing payouts, according to <a href="https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/united-airlines-employees-were-shocked-to-learn-about-this-stunning-new-company-policy.html" target="_blank">Inc.com</a>, the news seems particularly jarring after Southwest Airlines and American Airlines announced in January that <a href="https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/american-and-southwest-announce-bonuses-for-employees.html" target="_self">employees will receive a $1,000 bonus</a>, thanks to projected savings from the new tax bill. In February, Delta announced it would pay more than $1.1 billion in profit sharing bonuses, thanks also in part to tax bill savings-although this is also the fifth consecutive year that Delta has paid employees more than $1 billion in profit sharing.</p><p>United's new incentive program also comes with a catch. The airline would have to meet at least one of four performance goals before holding a quarterly giveaway.</p><p>According to the Chicago Business Journal, the memo has caused a "firestorm" among employees, a decided setback when trying to encourage them to "care" more.</p><p>"We announced a new internal program based on United meeting certain operational and dependability metrics as a way of offering meaningful rewards to our employees," said a United spokesperson in an email with Inc.com. "We believe that this new program will build excitement and a sense of accomplishment as we continue to set all-time operational records that result in an experience that our customers value."</p><p>Inc.com also quoted a study by PayScale that posited United employees have been receiving bonuses ranging anywhere from $63 to $7,589, which could be in jeopardy once the lottery-style system is put into place.</p><p>Apparently, luxury autos and deluxe vacations will be among the prizes being given away. Let's just hope the airline tickets include confirmed seating.</p>
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