Air Canada: WIN as ONE

By Fauzia Sikender, Manager of Employee Engagement

When I was younger, my mother told me, “you can do anything that you want when you grow up.” She meant that I could do any job that I wanted to do, even if I was a girl, even if I struggled in school, even if I felt different. More importantly, she taught me that I had a voice, and it should be heard.  

My childhood experiences have shaped my perception of the world, of people, and of learning. As I grew up, I became a big proponent of self-evaluations, reducing bias, benchmarking data, and making predictions.

When I started working at Air Canada 21 years ago, I was surprised at how inclusive the culture was in the airline. Working for the airline had given me a new perspective on things. I had access to a wealth of experiential learning from my travels to other countries, from interacting with different cultures, and from working with a diverse and inclusive group of people.

Three years ago, I joined the HR team which is now called People, Culture and Communications. My first project involved finding a new third-party provider for a company-wide engagement survey. I wanted to be innovative, try something new, and be creative.

Our Senior Vice-President, Arielle Meloul wanted to transform Air Canada’s culture by empowering employees with the skills and training needed to succeed in their roles, and to ensure they feel valued and respected for their work. Her goal was to support and empower the employees with tangible improvements through training, to offer support services if needed, and to continue to foster an inclusive environment.

We found a survey that could accommodate our diverse group of 30, 000+ employees around the globe. The survey was valid, reliable, and responsive. Access to real time data, aggregated data, and complicated analyses helped us focus on cultural qualities that would help us prepare for the future.  

Like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we wanted to create a strong foundation of trust and transparency to increase employee engagement in the workplace. Our goal was to promote a workforce that was more agile, communicative, and collaborative. Our WIN as ONE approach encouraged collaborative behaviors by breaking down silos and help build teams while reinforcing the benefits of inclusivity in our diverse workforce.  

Even though Air Canada was over eighty years old, we referred to ourselves as an eighty-year old start-up. Our mindsets were shifting from the traditional hierarchical model towards a more horizontal one. 

We wanted to empower our employees by giving them a voice, hearing what they said, and responding to their needs. The engagement survey allowed us to do that, and it was the perfect medium to communicate with them globally. 

Even though we knew agility, collaboration, and communication were three cultural qualities linked to preparing employees for the future, we decided to focus on wellness, support, and work environment after receiving the results from the survey.

Some branches held gatherings with their teams, implemented interactive exercises, and came up with action plans based on their employee feedback. Other branches offered soft skill training to empower their employees when handling conflicts or dealing with challenging situations.

As a result, we started to build a stronger engaged workforce, and were able to reinforce agility, communication, and collaboration with our WIN as ONE approach. Because these qualities are key to staying connected. And when we stay connected to one another, and focus on a common goal, we can do anything.

Therefore, to prepare ourselves for the inevitable change that the future brings with it, we strengthened the layers of our foundation, increased our employee engagement, and offered support and training. Today, we are implementing change management initiatives that include training to continuously support our employees while we introduce new technologies and AI initiatives in our workplace.

We want our employees to feel confident in their ability to prepare for the future, and to believe, above all else, that together we can do anything. This is Air Canada’s WIN as ONE approach to success. 

And we wanted to let employees know they had a voice, and it was heard.