Gulf Air announces business-friendly work hours

Gulf Air, the sole national airline of the Kingdom of Bahrain and one of the largest employers on the island, today signalled a new era in its employee relations by announcing a more flexible yet business-focussed work timings for its headquarters staff.

Starting today, employees at the airlines headquarters will work with flexible working hours, which will enable adequate staffing from 8 am till 5 pm. Employees will no longer be required to slot in and out with their time cards.

"We want to foster a high performance business culture by maximizing the potential of our employees, who are a key factor in strengthening Gulf Air's image as a business friendly airline and ultimately achieving our aim to become the carrier of choice”, said Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Björn Näf.

"Well-managed companies perform better and it is important that the management and their teams deliver on the targets in a timely manner. We also have to align several components, such as our vision, values, strategies and goals, process and our key performance measures in order to be a successful organization and we are confident of the employees support for their airline."

The new timings does not increase the working hours of the employees, but rather ensures the presence of necessary staff to cater to our customers and business partners, whilst still allowing employees a greater degree of flexibility to balance work and family life. The initiative follows a company-wide employee satisfaction survey.

"We take pride in our employees who are the most valuable resources for the company and this initiative is another step toward enhancing our best employee-practices," said Gulf Air Chief People Officer Mr. Ahmed Al Banna.

"In order for our organization to be successful we need to develop a strong corporate culture that promotes trust and mutual respect between employees and management."

Ground Service Technician, Mohammed Haji Ramadan, one Gulf Air's longest serving employees welcomed the new initiatives.

"The pace of positive change over the last few months at Gulf Air is more than I have seen in my 40 years of service. I for one am beginning to feel trusted and valued again and I am very proud to work for Bahrain's national airline, Gulf Air," said Mr. Ramadan.