WestJet’s web­site greets you with the slo­gan, “Because own­ers care.” They’re care­fully build­ing an adver­tis­ing strat­egy around the fact that 85% of their employ­ees are share­hold­ers in the com­pany and con­tribute an aver­age of 13% of their salaries into share pur­chases. They make a big deal about their staff, boast­ing, “We have 31 Karens, 39 Lisas, 67 Jens, 67 Davids, 46 Michelles, 86 Michaels and 1 Yoga at West­Jet.” And all of this is what’s sup­posed to moti­vate the staff to pro­vide the best cus­tomer ser­vice in the industry.

I said “sup­posed to moti­vate” but I didn’t mean that… I should prob­a­bly just say “moti­vat­ing,” because it seems to be work­ing. The proof of the pud­ding is all in what the cus­tomers are say­ing. The West­Jest site serves up some tes­ti­mo­nial fare, but as ever, the unso­licited third-party sto­ries “in the wild” say so much. Like the unso­licited account of how West­Jet staff went out of their way to return a $10 bill left by a pas­sen­ger on the plane. Not call­ing after a pas­sen­ger who is depart­ing down the aisle, but phon­ing them at home hours later to arrange to return it.

A $10 bill. No way you could buy this kind of good­will for ten times that. Well done!