Case Study

Virgin Atlantic is a British airline, headquartered in Crawley, England. The airline, launched in 1984, has established itself as high quality and value for money for its customers, flying from the UK to the US, Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

For its customers, Virgin Atlantic provides a full suite of dedicated airport services, including an Arrivals Lounge, exclusive VIP Clubhouse, gatehouse, airport wings, and hangar facilities, befitting its reputation as a premier, customer-centric airline. There are also additional high-street retail and office spaces outside of the airports, also a part of the Virgin Atlantic estate.

Since 2019, Samsic has partnered with Virgin Atlantic to deliver impeccable horizontal cleaning across all 11 Virgin Atlantic sites. Samsic’s professional services ensure Virgin’s facilities like the VIP Clubhouse maintain a pristine environment for their discerning clientele. The continuous, high-quality cleaning provided by Samsic enables Virgin Atlantic to deliver on its customer-centric approach and commitment to quality.

The Challenge

Following the rise of COVID-19, Samsic was forced to reduce the number of staff within the Virgin Atlantic contract from the full team to a small skeleton crew to cover just the essential cargo transport areas at each airport. 

Post-lockdown, restoring the workforce provided another difficulty as many former employees had relocated during the pandemic, and existing staff were demotivated with low engagement scores. The workforce had dropped to just 58% capacity, with 2-3 complaints a month being received regarding poor standards of cleanliness. 

Wage expectations had drastically changed since 2019 and the pay rate was no longer competitive in the market, making recruitment incredibly difficult. To counteract the lack of cleaners and subsequent poor standards, operatives were having to work overtime, and emergency agency staff were employed to try and cover the amount of work which was unsustainable.

The Solution

Samsic, to counteract the challenges within the contract, increased the wages of the entire Virgin Atlantic cleaning workforce to the London Living Wage. Outstanding recruitment vacancies were quickly filled as they became more competitive and existing staff became more engaged in their work as they felt they were being paid well.

The increase marks a 36% raise in payment across all Virgin Atlantic sites, modernising the monetary offering to staff across the estate regardless of what shift or location is worked.

The Virgin Atlantic contract is now at 100% recruitment and despite the change requiring additional contract costs, operatives have more vigour and there have been no serious complaints since the increase. Additionally, the contract has gone from strength to strength, and the working relationship and collaboration between Samsic and Virgin Atlantic is strong and conclusive to a strong working environment and high quality of service.