By Neal Glatt

One of the biggest problems with labor today is that your employees want more money but you can’t afford it.  Some companies, however, make enough money to pay 10 times the employee bonuses as their competition without sacrificing profit.  Here’s the secret…

Delta Airlines made news last month when they managed to pay every employee a bonus of roughly 14% their annual salary.  Before you think this is typical of the airline industry, know that American Airlines only paid a 1.4% employee bonus.  Most companies pay little to no bonuses, but really successful ones can afford to pay employees much more.  Translating to the bottom line, Delta made 2.75 times the profit that American did in 2018 ($5.15B compared to $1.88B) at roughly the same market share (16.8% compared to 17.9%).  So what’s so different at Delta?

For one, Delta CEO Ed Bastian helps his employees feel valued.  According to Bastian, “Employees can feel like they’re a number, they’re a cost, they’re a means to an end.  But no, they are the end themselves.”  Successful business is so much more than the right strategies, products, or prices.  It takes investing in people so they can be their best self

Delta started their profit sharing program over five years ago and enables their employees to take care of customers.  The proof is in the profits.  When your employees understand your business mission and vision, how their job contributes to that goal, and how to utilize their strengths to do their best work everyday, great things happen.  If you need help getting to this point, check out one of upcoming LMN workshops and courses on GrowTheBench.  We want you to be more profitable and are here to help.