And in particular in the role of Flight Attendant
By Tony Henstock MBACP Tony runs …therapy* a Counselling and Hypnotherapy practice in Sheffield along with Hypnotherapist & NLP practitioner Tracey Henstock w: www.therapymatters.co.uk
email:info@therapymatters.co.uk He is also the Director of the workplace wellbeing & Stress Management company. The SMART Company (UK) Ltd. w: www.thesmartcompanyukltd.com
email: enquiries@thesmartcompanyukltd.com
The Effects of Work Related Stress in the Airline Industry
And in particular in the role of Flight Attendant
(3029 Words)
Of those surveyed at a major airline in Ireland more than half of the flight attendants believed that there was an unsatisfactory ‘fit’ between their skills and their jobs, and three quarters said that they typically felt conflict between their employer’s expectations and their own desires.
Kelleher & McGilloway (2005)p1
This introductory quote spells out the typical reality of the role of Flight Attendant, and the opinions of those actually in the role. So what is the attraction of this type of work to the unknowing majority of applicants?
Need I ask? Being paid for flying around the world and staying in exotic locations in 5 star hotels is an attractive notion for thousands of would be Flight Attendant applicants. If successful the ‘new entrant’ will undergo intense training in a whole range of tasks including safety equipment and emergency procedures, aviation medicine, fire fighting, hijack and security procedures, managing conflict, and breakaway (from an assailant) techniques. These are required to conform to the JAROPS (Joint Aviation Requirements Operations) standards.
Other requirements are to develop a sound commercial awareness, deliver excellent customer service, have good communication skills and possess a degree of emotional resilience. Looking at the role of Flight Attendant and more specifically the role of a major British commercial airline’s Long haul or Worldwide Flight Attendant as it is now known, I will examine different aspects of the role and how this can impact on the psychological well being of Flight Attendants and in particular work related stress issues.
Schedule airlines run a 365 day per year operation which needs to be staffed sufficiently throughout the year, and so a further requirement of Flight Attendants is that they are extremely flexible and available for work during any denomination of those days, which is determined by their monthly work schedule or ‘roster’.
Personal lives therefore are ‘2nd place’ and any commitments to family and friends can become difficult, at the very least, and relationships can become strained when one embarks on a career as a Flight Attendant.
‘If we do not take the total life context of workers into account, including family life, goals, and the personal meanings they see in their family as well as working life we will fail to fully understand the stress and emotions they experience’
(Locke & Taylor 1990) p132
Imagine then receiving a work roster that means you are working over the Christmas period, perhaps even operating on a flight on Christmas day. That may not be as bad as it sounds if you are single and have a preference to spend Christmas day on a beach somewhere for example. But what if you are married with children? You may have the option to take advantage of your cheap staff travel arrangements meaning family members can go away with you, especially if it is a trip to one of the ‘preferred’ destinations, Barbados for example.
But what if that popular destination means that the flights are full and your family are left waiting at the airport while you jet off expecting to be professional in your role with the vision of your crying children and your spouse driving back home to ‘celebrate’ Christmas without you? It does happen. Or worse still if they were ‘stuck’ in a foreign country trying to get home with you on a Christmas Eve flight in time for Christmas day. Imagine what kind of stress you would be in wondering what they will do until the next flight home hoping that also isn’t full and hoping they find suitable accommodation in the meantime.
Flight Attendants themselves can arrive at work for a trip of up to 16 days maybe having left behind domestic concerns that can’t be addressed whilst away from home. Anxiety levels can be raised before one even arrives at work; needing to be at home to sort things out, stuck in traffic getting to the airport, not looking forward to a particular location or route due to the nature of particularly busy or demanding flights or low monetary incentive for the less affluent trips.
In addition to a basic salary, Crew are paid in allowances in line with the economy of the particular country they are travelling to. So a trip to a country with a low cost of living say Zimbabwe for example would not be a popular trip, not least because of low financial recompense as far as some Crew are concerned. Others may have a different view of it being a relaxing trip once there, to see some sun by the hotel pool, visit the flower market in town and do a little ‘African art’ souvenir shopping. This is in itself an example of how different people’s perceptions of a situation can change their experience compared to another’s. It is like this with stress, caused by uncertainty or vagueness in a given situation like in the requirements of a particular role and if someone’s personality matches that role.
Previous research has shown that any kind of role conflict and/or role ambiguity may lead to increased anxiety, depressed mood, low self-esteem and low job satisfaction.
Arnold, J.; Cooper, C.L.; Robertson, I.T. (1998)
There are six conditions associated with stress that are acknowledged by The Health and Safety Executives Management Standards for Work Related Stress. These standards represent a set of conditions that reflect high levels of health, well being and organisational performance
The conditions are:
Demands
Includes issues like workload, work patterns, and the work environment
Control
How much say the person has in the way they do their work
Support
Includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues
Relationship
Includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour
Role
Whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that the person does not have conflicting roles
Change
How organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation
www.hse.gov.uk (2009)
It would be prudent then to look at each one of these six conditions directly in context to the work of the worldwide or as it is commonly known, ‘long haul Flight Attendant’ role.
Demands
Includes issues like workload, work patterns, and the work environment.
As previously mentioned, the working roster of a Long-haul Flight Attendant is a rolling, 365 day calendar, made up of trips working away from home, days off ‘down route’ to acclimatise from the trip before flying home and finally days off back home again to recover from the effects of jet lag before the next trip.
Some trips may include a ‘shuttle’ flight which means that crew will be working another flight whilst away from home e.g. A 7 day trip to Nairobi in Kenya may include a shuttle flight to Mauritius and back to Nairobi (an extremely long shift) or even a short overnight stay in Mauritius. The unforeseen can also have a massive impact on a Flight Attendants work roster e.g. if an aircraft has mechanical problems or ‘goes tech’ down route a full crew may be delayed on their trip which would have a knock on effect for future trips that month. Combine this then with arrangements and activities planned to do on the Flight Attendants ‘planned’ days off or looking forward to a requested trip that may have been combined with school holidays as a short break to take the family on, and that will be lost. And so the workload on some trips may be more than others, which is all determined by the airlines schedule of flights, and if shuttle flights are part of the trip, on the set days that certain flights operate on. e.g. shuttle flights may operate on a Tuesday and a Saturday so crew that have rosters with these days in their trip would operate the shuttle service. As far as the operating crew are concerned it is one less day off whilst away.
Control
How much say the person has in the way they do their work
The in flight service is delivered in a set routine with a little flexibility for length of flight, avoiding serving hot drinks during turbulence, the personality of the crew, whether the service is in first class, business class or economy class and time of day or night, and so the crew have some say in how they do their work. What they don’t have a say in is ‘check in’ time, what time they take their breaks on board and any emergencies that may arise, such as medical, fire, or disruptive passengers to take just three examples.
The lack of control that crew have on their home lives whilst away from home can affect the whole dynamics of their experience during the trip. Important meetings at school, doctors, dentists, solicitors whatever it may be are all determined by which trips crew are allocated and if appointments can be arranged within the time of the new roster. Indeed the lack of control in ones career is a contributing factor towards work related stress.
‘During recent years, the concept of control has been increasingly recognised as a topic of major importance in the context of research into work conditions and their impact on well being and satisfaction’.
Parkes KR (1989)p21
Support
Includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues
Flight Attendants will usually only spend a hour or so in the crew centre before a flight and even less when they return from a trip. And so contact with line management could be almost none existent depending on how zealous
a Flight Attendants manager may be, especially if the Flight Attendants themselves prefer to keep a low key or prefer to get home to their family after a trip, rather than spend time in the crew centre.
Support services e.g. counselling (run by crew) are often in place for Flight Attendants, both in the crew centre for face to face interventions and also in the form of a 24 hr helpline that can be called by crew whilst abroad, with costs for the call claimed back. More informal support may come from other crew members on arrival to a destination on the crew bus or during the stay in the hotel.
The results of a recent internet based study of work related stress among 497flight attendants indicated a detrimental pattern of high demand, which in turn, indicates a need for appropriate formal support and informal support to avoid stress related health problems.
Morley-Kirk (in press)
Relationship
Includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour
When crew arrive for their trip they attend a pre flight briefing with up to 16 other Flight Attendants who they may never have met before, and who they may be spending up to two weeks with. The superficiality of the role is conveniently overlooked and apparent immediate rapport is formed amongst the crew as a whole, in the briefing room. Due to the nature of the role it does attract some strong personalities but in general there is little conflict between Flight Attendants ether on or off the aircraft when socialising down route, in the hotel bar, or local restaurants. Multiply this with the amount of crew that are down route all over the world at any one time and the ratio could be compared with a typical night out in your local town but with considerably less conflict present.
The relationship between Flight Attendants and the trip schedulers can often be somewhat strained however especially when crew telephone scheduling in an attempt to swap an allocated trip, only to find that it isn’t possible. Frustration of Crew members can result in strained relationships, a direct result of the stress of the lack of control that Flight Attendants experience no doubt.
‘While virtually all job stress theories ‘acknowledge’ some influence
of personality characteristics, traits or dispositions on the relationship between job demands and worker health, there is little consensus regarding the significance of these individual- difference variables or the mechanisms by which they exert their influence’.
Cooper, Payne (1991)
Role
Whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that the person does not have conflicting roles
Airlines typically provide 6 weeks training on service delivery, safety equipment and procedures, aviation medicine, fire fighting, hijack and security procedures, managing conflict, and breakaway (from an assailant) techniques.
Flight Attendants therefore fully understand their role and the need to be flexible in it especially in emergency situations. A good example of this would be possibly the worst scenario to experience on a flight, that of an in flight fire. The first crew member on the scene assumes the role of Fire fighter.
The Fire fighter:
Alerts other members of the crew and states their own role e.g. “I’m the fire fighter you are the communicator”
Dons fireproof gloves and a smoke hood which provides oxygen for 15 minutes
Takes the nearest extinguisher to the fire
Fights the fire
The second crew member becomes the Communicator.
The Communicator
Immediately informs the flight deck by in flight telephone of exactly what they see and exact location and source of the ‘fire’ (e.g. smoke coming from under a seat near door 4 left, as opposed to seat 33c is on fire. Pilots wouldn’t know the location if a seat number was used due to the vast array of seating configurations on the different aircraft that they fly and if no flames are seen the word fire shouldn’t be assumed or used)
How many extinguishers have been used
How long the ‘fire’ has been going
The density and severity of the fire or smoke
The situation in general e.g. have any passengers been moved due to smoke or any injuries.
The next crew member’s role is Collector
The Collector:
Takes extra equipment to the Fire fighter if needed e.g. extinguishers, fire axe for lifting panels or torch etc
Removes flammable material from the area
Changes places with the Fire fighter if required
Other Flight Attendants would support the effort further by
Moving passengers away from immediate danger
Providing first aid
Reassuring nervous passengers
So as seen the role of Flight Attendant can be a flexible one but very specific when necessary in addition to being an ambassador for the airline.
Findings from the survey quoted at the beginning of this paper suggest that;
The primary role of Flight Attendants in ensuring passenger safety (not just serving refreshments) should be acknowledged. The conflicting requirements of their safety role and their service role may present serious difficulties for Flight Attendants as they attempt to balance the continual need for safety and vigilance against the desire to meet passengers’ needs.
Kelleher & McGilloway (2005) p4
Change
How organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation
Airlines experience constant change and in turn so do staff, especially front line staff such as Flight Attendants. Factors like, a reduction in passenger bookings due to such issues as the Gulf war for example, can mean that crew find parts of their monthly work roster left blank until a definite trip is allocated. This can bring additional anxiety, as Flight Attendants have a dilemma of whether to make arrangements, such as childcare, on their ‘free days’ or to put their days off on hold until their next trip.
The typical dichotomy of crew life and the world of flying in general however was greatly challenged following the events in America come to be known as 9/11. Flights that were in operation at the time of the events were diverted and, or grounded and were then rescheduled to return back to the UK over the following 10 days. This was a logistical nightmare for scheduling to say the least. Crew were then faced with operating flights with less Flight Attendants, as flying became the mode of transport not preferred by many, and so passenger numbers were low and the demand for Flight Attendants also low.
The nature of crew life also means unless one is proactive at picking up newsletters and email messages from the crew centre during check in time one could quickly become less knowledgeable than one needs to be which in terms of Safety updates would be a problem. This is monitored during pre flight crew briefings when the in flight manager asks the crew questions on any changes to safety requirements.
So the next time one boards a flight stressed out from travelling to the airport, queuing for the flight, enduring custom checks and searches etc, we should perhaps spare a thought for the Flight Attendant ‘serving’ us and view them not just as a flying waiter or waitress but as the person who is going to safely get us out of the aircraft as quickly and professionally as possible should that emergency ever arise.
Bibliography
Arnold, J.; Cooper, C.L.; Robertson, I.T. (1998)
Work Psychology: Understanding Human Behaviour in the Workplace. (3rd Edition) Harlow: Prentice Hall
Cooper C& Payne R (1991) Personality and Stress: Individual Differences in the Stress Process. Chichester Wiley
Kelleher C & McGilloway S (2005) Survey finds high levels of work related stress among flight attendants in Flight Safety Foundation Flight Attendant Safety Vol 40 No 6 November – December 2005
Locke , EA & Taylor, M.S. (1990) Stress Coping & the Meaning of Work. In W Nord, & A. Brief (Eds), The Meaning of Work. New York DC Health In: Lazarus R S 1999 p132 Stress & Emotion New York Springer
Morley – Kirk J (In press) Work Stress in Multi – Cultural Airline Flight Attendants (in press) in Kelleher C & McGilloway S (2005) Survey finds high levels of work related stress among flight attendants in Flight Safety Foundation Flight Attendant Safety Vol 40 No 6 November – December 2005
Parkes KR (1989) in Steptoe A & Appels AD Stress, Personal Control and Health Chichester Wiley
http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/index.htm