A new staff survey completed by Boeing revealed ongoing morale issues and a broad belief among employees that leaders should better communicate the company’s direction and take more action to address poor performance.
In response to that survey, Boeing has rolled out a new set of company values intended to help recapture the “iconic culture that once defined Boeing as an aerospace leader”, Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg said in a 17 April message to all employees.
Ortberg revealed the new values and the results of the survey during an all-employee meeting the same day.
“Culture change will take time, and it’s only possible if every one of us lives these values and embraces these behaviors,” Ortberg’s message says.
The employee survey, the first since 2019, found that only 67% of respondents reported feeling proud to work at Boeing, according to the company. By comparison, 91% of respondents to a 2013 employee survey reporting feeling pride.
“Pride in Boeing has dropped significantly,” says a Boeing presentation that accompanied Ortberg’s all-staff meeting.
The survey also found at only 27% of staff would highly recommend Boeing as a place to work, while 54% reported feeling inspired by the company’s previous values. Additionally, 42% of respondents said they had “confidence in their senior leader’s ability to make decisions, communicate direction and respond to concerns raised by employees”.
The survey results revealed that Boeing lags other manufacturing companies in categories including: employees feeling personal accomplishment at work, employees believing senior leaders adequately respond to concerns, and employees feeling confident they can raise concerns without negative consequences, says the presentation.
The survey also revealed that workers want more interaction with leaders higher up the chain, and that they believe leaders do not adequately hold poor performers accountable.
Using the survey results as a guide, a group composed of 40 employees from across Boeing developed five new core “values and behaviors”: trust, ownership, innovation, people focus, and safety and quality.
“We can start today with leadership listening to their teams, understanding their challenges and making it easier for people to do their jobs,” Ortberg’s all-employee note says. “We need everyone from our factory floors to our engineering labs to continue sharing ideas and speaking up.”
“Now let’s work together to live our values and behaviors, uphold them, and return Boeing to the company that we all know we can be,” he adds.
Boeing says 82% of employees participated in the survey.
