Delta Profit Sharing: How the Airline Rewards its Employees

Delta is one of the leading American airlines and serves 325 destinations in 52 countries, with more than 5,400 daily flights. It's headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and has the world's largest fleets of Boeing 717s, Airbus A220s, and Boeing 757s.

It has a good reputation among its current and former employees, and one of the reasons for this is its generous profit sharing plan.

In this guide, we're going to tell you what it is, how it works, and much more!

What is Delta's Profit Sharing Plan?

Delta's industry-leading profit sharing plan distributes some of the company's profits to eligible employees every year.

To determine eligibility, an employee's length of service and salary are taken into account, and Delta also considers the company's profitability when sharing profits.

What employees received from Delta's profit sharing in 2023

Since 2010, Delta has rewarded employees with over $9.2 billion from its profit sharing program. In 2023, the total amount eligible employees received was $1.4 billion which was higher than the amount paid in the years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Georgia, Delta's home state, its employees received profit sharing payments totaling $245 million in 2023. Here are the amounts that were received in various other states:

• Minnesota: Over $48 million
• New York: Over $72 million
• California: Over $31 million
• Michigan: Over $43 million
• Washington: Over $29 million
• Massachusetts: Around $9 million
• Utah: Over $30 million

Benefits of Delta's Profit Sharing Program

The company wants to show that it looks after its Delta people and its profit sharing payments have had the desired effects. In fact, sharing profits can have a positive impact on any company and the general benefits of profit sharing include:

• Increased productivity and motivation in the workplace
• Improved employee retention
• Better employee engagement and satisfaction
• A profit sharing payout can help employees improve their lives, leading to a more positive outlook.
• A yearly profit sharing payment is attractive to highly skilled applicants which can give a company a competitive edge in the job market.
• It helps to align the interests of employees with those of the company by giving them a financial stake in the company.
• It encourages teamwork and collaboration so that everyone can reap the financial rewards of the company's success.
• It fosters long-term focus in employees as they become more interested in the sustained growth of the company over time, instead of focusing on short-term goals.

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How Does Delta's Profit Sharing Work?

Let's break down exactly how the program works for Delta's pilots, flight attendants, and all other eligible employees.

Calculating profit sharing amounts

The funds for the profit sharing pool consist of 10% of the first $2.5 billion of full-year profit and 20% of the profits that are over $2.5 billion.

The percentage of earnings that's paid to each eligible employee is calculated by dividing the total earnings of all eligible employees by the amount in the profit sharing pool.

An employee's overall contribution to the company is also taken into account to determine the size of the payment they receive. This is designed to reward the Delta people who contribute the most to the company's success.

Distribution of profits to employees

The profit sharing payment is made on "Employee Appreciation Day" which is usually on or around Valentine's Day.

Taxes and other considerations

One of the reasons Delta's program is thought of so highly is that it offers a good deal of flexibility to its employees in terms of how they choose to receive their payments.

Employees can choose to simply receive the payment in cash to use it as they please.

Or, they can use some of it to fund their 401(k). If they do, Delta will match 100% of the contribution for up to 6% of the payment that the employee contributes.

Delta also contributes 3% of an employee's profit sharing payout to their 401(k) account automatically.

Who is Eligible for Delta's Profit Sharing?

Whether they're flight attendants, pilots, or customer service agents, all employees at Delta are eligible to be part of the program.

However, to become a profit sharing partner, an employee must be employed by Delta on the date the payments are made and needs to have worked for them for at least a year.

To be eligible, employees also need to have a good disciplinary record and be in good standing with the company.

The only roles that are ineligible for the program are Delta's directors, officers, and general managers.

This is in stark contrast to the programs of many other companies where only those in managerial roles are eligible for payments. Some other companies also require employees to earn a certain amount before they become eligible.

Delta's industry-leading profit sharing program is designed with inclusivity in mind and is supposed to inspire Delta people to make a Delta difference to its customers.

How Delta Employees Feel About the Profit Sharing Plan

On sites like Glassdoor, the most positive employee reviews of Delta include references to the profit sharing plan. It's clear from these reviews that Delta employees find the plan motivating, and that they hold the company in higher regard as a result of the payments they've received.

In a Glassdoor review of the plan, one employee says:

"Profit sharing is usually 5%+ of your annual pay".

Other Employee Benefits Delta Offers

Sharing profits isn't the only way Delta has rewarded employees over the years. Here are some of the other benefits the company offers its people:

Shared rewards program

This program gives employees payments when certain internal company goals are achieved such as on-time arrivals and corporate-wide completion factor.

In 2021, the total amount paid to employees through this program was $61 million.

Health and well-being programs

Delta also offers its employees health and well-being programs that are designed to enhance the emotional, physical, financial, and social well-being of the people who work for the company.

Some of the initiatives they offer include:

• Onduo for diabetes management at no cost
• A co-pay healthcare plan with fixed costs and lower deductibles
• A personalized health awareness strategy called Delta Health Direct
• Free mental health counseling sessions for Delta employees and their household members
• An Emergency Savings Program that includes self-guided learning modules, financial education, and one-on-one coaching sessions.

Disability and life insurance

Delta offers group life insurance to its employees which covers them up to their annual salary, rounded to the nearest $1,000, and then multiplied by two. The maximum amount is $50,000.

There are also supplementary levels of coverage like permanent and partial disability (PPD) and permanent and total disability (PTD) coverage.

Other Companies Offering Profit Sharing

Let's take a quick look at some other companies with profit sharing plans.

Home Depot

Home Depot's profit sharing program aims to reward commitment among its employees and the payments are calculated using years of service.

The board of directors determines the percentage of profits that will be paid to eligible employees, and then the payment is made as a lump sum the following year.

Ford

The payment amounts for Ford's plan are calculated based on the pre-tax profits the company makes in North America. In 2023, Ford paid an average of $10,400 to employees who were eligible for the program.

Southwest Airlines

As with Delta, Southwest Airlines' program is open to all employees from flight attendants to ground staff. The payments are calculated as a percentage of an employee's annual salary and their length of service.

Get Started with Profit Sharing by Downloading this Free Template

If your company has a profit sharing plan, or you're thinking of starting one, then you're probably aware of how complex and time-consuming it can be to manage the program.

At ShareWillow, we make it easy for you to create, customize, and manage your profit sharing plan. Our tools allow you to provide full transparency and clarity for your team, so they know how you calculate the payments and what they'll receive.

The profit sharing plan template is all you need to start building a plan that works for you and your employees.