Testing tech-powered solutions to strengthen culture
After 20+ years working in the airline industry (and 17 of those years with JetBlue), I have seen some of the best that these types of workplaces can offer. I met a few of my best friends at work, and we’ve traveled the world together thanks to the perks that come with the job. In my experience, these connections matter.
But in the past couple of years, the widespread turnover and remote work have deeply affected the culture of workplaces across the board. Airlines are no exception. Employers everywhere are thinking critically about what the future of work should look like, and company culture is a key part of that.
For JetBlue in particular, a factor affecting their culture will be the proposed acquisition of Spirit. How do we merge cultures and come out the other end bigger and better together? There’s a lot of value to be gained from incorporating practices from both cultures, and everyone is eager to connect.
Enter our next innovation sprint.
A culture sprint
JetBlue Ventures regularly runs “innovation sprints” to introduce new solutions to JetBlue — examples include virtual reality and contactless travel. Almost a no-brainer, we decided to dedicate our sprint in October 2022 to culture.
Based on a Crewmember survey conducted by Gallup as well as JetBlue’s values of safety, caring, integrity, passion, and fun, we set out to find startups focused on the following:
- Caring and well-being
- Recognition and appreciation
- Development and mentorship
- Connections and cultivating relationships
A 22-person working group, including JetBlue Crewmembers from across departments, met regularly to have a well-rounded view of what the company could benefit from most.
The innovation sprint ran from July through October to source, down-select, vet, interview, and host a demo day for all the culture-focused solutions. To kick off the process, JetBlue Ventures sourced 185 startups! The working group broke out into teams to review those startups, and ultimately, we interviewed and further vetted 22 startups. Then, select finalists pitched at our demo day.
We heard from a few startups focused on Crewmember development and mentorship.
One microlearning platform allows employers to create, deliver, and analyze bite-size learning courses in minutes across SMS, MS Teams, Slack, or WhatsApp. Another empowers Crewmembers to refer potential job candidates and track those candidates and referral bonuses. Lastly, an AI-powered solution can match Crewmembers to internal career opportunities like open roles and mentors based on their skills and values.
In the recognition and appreciation focus area, one swag and gift-giving startup has a shipping partnership to offset carbon emissions on all domestic deliveries and support their efforts to protect 4.9M acres of forests, which aligns with both JetBlue and JetBlue Ventures’ priority on sustainability.
I was perhaps most excited about the startups focused on connections and cultivating relationships. One platform, in particular, is a dedicated space to learn more about your teammates through interest groups and conversation starters. There were also platforms that centralized several of the focus areas, such as a talent experience platform for inclusive mentoring, Crewmember connectivity, and skills development.
Values first
In the early days of JetBlue, we never thought we’d have a flight from New York to London. But when the time came, a bunch of us from across departments (not unlike today’s innovation sprints) participated in an hours-long simulation flight to make sure we had everything figured out and buttoned-up: boarding processes, how to choose our meals, stress-tested the tech, etc. It felt like a small moment of history in the making.
So, I’m proud to see the same values — passion, safety, and caring — still at work here today. The innovation sprint was focused on the very culture those values inform, and I’m eager to see what the coming years hold for JetBlue and all workplaces as we test out new solutions to improve life on the job.
