Missing a flight to site can have various direct and indirect impacts on a company. We discussed with a site-based electrician in Western Australia about the implications of missing a flight to site and here is what he said.
“It’s a pretty serious issue for an employee or contractor to miss flights. When I was a contractor, we were told that if we missed a flight, we would be fired, and I did see a few of my co-workers being let go because of this. As a contractor, the big companies are paying above market rates for your skills. The companies have already planned you into the roster and the cost they are paying includes your flights and accommodation so if you don’t show up, they are losing those skills and it just looks bad on the contracting company which could result in severed ties. The lack of professionalism will be the catalyst of ridding you as a contractor.
If you are an employee, a missed flight means you’ll usually get a note put against your file which is essentially a non-compliance form. It is a sackable offence on your second strike. The planned week is usually done 6 weeks in advance so companies are prepared for the skillsets that are coming onto site. There are expectations on what sort of support they will have and what will be maintained during that period. Failing to turn up to site leads to a lack of skills and production will be impacted. For something that’s not digging dirt or pulling oil, that’s money that’s getting wasted.
As an electrician, I have had to extend my stay on site a few times from other electricians missing their flights. I’m the only one on site, so I can’t leave until I’m relieved. That also means additional cost on the company to reschedule my original flights and my replacement flights. On top of that, they must pay me overtime for the extended stay. It’s fair that it is a sackable offence as it can affect production across the site.”
With a solution like INX InFlight, the likelihood of missing a flight to site can be reduced as employees can be notified straight from their mobiles of any changes or updates to their flight bookings. This improves productivity and reduces the costs that are associated with an employee missing a flight to site. A solution that provides all the assistance your employees need to get to and from site on time.
