In an effort to fill specific positions, it is said that Boeing is giving its employees referral bonuses of up to $10,000. A $5,000 signing bonus is being offered for “experienced painters and interiors specialists,” according to public statements made by Boeing South Carolina, the site of the 787 Dreamliner manufacturing line. In order to scale up aircraft production rates for its 737 MAX, 777/777X, and 787 programs in the near future, the business is currently hiring personnel.
According to a report by Leeham News, the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in Washington’s Puget Sound region is providing current employees with a recommendation bonus of up to $10,000. Many of the company’s manufacturing facilities, like the 737 MAX or 777/777X assembly lines, the 767F, and a military variant of the 767, the KC-46A, are located in Puget Sound. Only a select group of jobs at Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) are eligible for referral incentives; they include such like aircraft sealer, assembler installer, aircraft structures mechanic, and aircraft test tech.
The list also includes multiple openings for Product Acceptance Specialists in South Carolina and Utah as well as Fabrication Specialists in Montana. During the OEM’s Q4 2022 earnings call, David Calhoun, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Boeing, stated that hiring people “is not a constraint anymore”. However, the problem, according to Calhoun, has been “the training and ultimately getting them ready to do the sophisticated work that we demand”. Boeing’s suppliers were also working on hiring personnel, but Calhoun noted the problem was not as important as “the training of the people that they’re bringing in”.
Boeing aims to increase the manufacturing rates of all of its aircraft, including the 737 MAX, at the same time. The manufacturer acknowledged that it plans to build five 787s per month later in 2023, with the production of the aircraft increasing to 10 per month in 2025 or 2026. Media reports have been circulating that the OEM aims to expand the 737 MAX rate from 31 to 38 by mid-2023. Additionally, according to data from the OEM, the present 777/777X production pace of three per month will rise to four per month in 2025/2026. While Boeing has questioned whether it will be able to hire its target of 10,000 engineers in 2022, Brian West, the OEM’s CFO and Executive Vice President of Finance claimed at the Bank of America Global Industrials Conference in March 2023 that the company exceeded its hiring targets by hiring 15,000 new employees in 2022.