Rod Eddington, the chief executive of British
Airways, is not worried about stealing ideas.
"Take good ideas wherever you can find them and start with your
competitors. Steal ideas – as long as you acknowledge their origins."
Speaking at Personnel Today’s HR Directors Club event at the Victoria
& Albert Museum
in London, Eddington
said BA has needed to adopt some of the best ideas from the no-frills airlines
to compete.
The challenge, he said, is structuring people policies so the company can
quickly respond to change: "Our ability to change is governed by how
quickly we can take our people with us.
"It’s a real challenge. The people piece is at the heart of it."
The company, in the news this month because of staff shortages, had 20
different sickness-management agreements. It is now moving towards having just
one.
Improvements, Eddington said, can be achieved
between sensible discussion between workforce, unions and management.
The Personnel Today HR Directors Club is supported by Arinso,
DBM, Hays, Hammonds, PeopleSoft,
and Vertex.
To read more about what Eddington said or to join
the club go to www.hrdirectorsclub.com
