Yahoo Finance Qantas’ plea to rehire former staff: ‘Different circumstances’
Qantas has emailed former employees to see if they might consider rejoining the company.
Qantas is looking to beef up its cabin crew by asking former employees to come back to the company.
Qantas laid off more than 8,500 staff over the course of 2020, when the pandemic closed borders and grounded flights.
Now the national carrier is looking to add more than 1,500 crew members by the end of 2023 and reaching out to former employees to seek their interest.
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“As one of our crew members who made an incredibly difficult decision to leave Qantas during the pandemic - we want to provide an update on how our recovery is going and the very different circumstances we’re operating in today,” the email to former staff said.
“As an experienced former cabin crew member, we are reaching out to you to see if you are interested in being part of Qantas’ next chapter.”
The email said despite the tough financial situation the airline found itself in during the pandemic, it was now “back in profit and growing again”.
Qantas staff issues
Since losing a chunk of staff during the pandemic, Qantas struggled to keep up with the rising demand to fly as borders reopened.
In June 2022, Qantas announced $5,000 one-time cash bonuses to its employees in a bid to “share the benefits of the recovery”.
Around 19,000 employees were eligible for the payment, with management and senior executives excluded from the scheme.
Qantas has dealt with criticism for poor customer service over the past year, with reports of lost baggage, cancelled flights and hours-long waits on the phone to speak to an operator.
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