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© 2022. Delta Air Lines, Inc.
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Delta is committed to providing safe and clean transport for customers and a safe workplace for employees.
At Delta, we realize the opportunity to leverage our brand’s trust to drive good vendor practices, touching every aspect of our business.
Delta’s mission to connect the world includes our commitment to being a strong partner to the communities where our employees live, work and serve
Delta has remained steadfast in our commitment to address climate change
Appendix
Our people are our strongest competitive advantage, and the high-quality service they provide sets us apart.
Delta has implemented a robust governance framework over ESG matters at the board and management levels.
Travel Can Change the World. For Good.
PEOPLE
03

Talent Management

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Training

An important way we seek to retain the brightest talent is by providing opportunities to grow within Delta. This objective became even more important in 2021 as we hired a record number of full-time employees and had an overall attrition rate of only 5.5%.*
We continue to modernize our human resources tools and technology in order to streamline and enhance platforms that improve the employee experience. We offer career and skills training to our employees, with employees across the company participating in these programs.
The table to the right illustrates the average computer-based training hours logged by employee per division by merit and scale in 2021. These numbers are not inclusive of hours from in-person or hands-on qualification training/testing, simulator time, etc.

Average hours of computer-based training provided per employee

Merit**
Airport Customer Service
16
Cargo
18
Flight Operations
6
Inflight Services
6
Reservations
56
Technical Operations
25
Corporate
4
Scale***
Airport Customer Service
8
Cargo
8
Flight Operations
11
Inflight Services
19
Reservations
102
Technical Operations
47
Corporate
5
Flight Attendants
Inflight Services
5
Pilots
Flight Operations
22
Average hours of computer-based training provided per employee
ACS
CGO
FOP
IFS
RES
TOP
CORP
Merit**
16
18
6
6
56
25
4
Scale***
8
18
11
19
102
47
5
Flight Attendants
5
Pilots
22
(ACS) Airport Customer Service | (CGO) Cargo | (FOP) Flight Operations (IFS) Inflight Services
(RES) Reservations | (TOP) Technical Operations | (CORP) Corporate
iGrow, our online learning portal, is the centralized portal for learning resources accessible to all Delta employees globally.
Delivered in partnership with core content providers, including Harvard Business Publishing, iGrow offers curated, self-paced growth paths, which allow Delta people to follow a guided learning journey based on their career track and to focus their development on specific skills and competencies aligned to their performance goals.
Our frontline mobility strategy uses a Skills First philosophy in hiring and development to close the opportunity gap and increase the transparency and access to career advancement.
Skills First is an emerging talent model that emphasizes the value of skills and competencies over job histories and traditional degrees. The frontline mobility strategy will aim to fill at least 25% of our internal professional level positions with diverse frontline talent using the following approaches:

Skills First Hiring

Hire internal and external talent based on skills, experiences and capabilities

Skills First Development

Train and develop internal, frontline talent for middle-skilled merit jobs through targeted growth paths, apprenticeships and mentoring
*Attrition rate includes domestic and international employees of Delta Air Lines, excluding seasonal employees and those who worked less than two days. **Merit contributors are paid a salary based on benchmark data from their peers at Delta and across multiple industries, and are evaluated on categories spanning skill and experience to innovation and leadership. ***Scale employees are paid an hourly wage while also receiving competitive pay offerings and flexible benefits driven by performance, and include pilots, flight attendants, maintenance technicians, customer service and reservation agents, baggage handlers and more.

Our Action Plan for integrating the Skills First talent model:

Invest in programs and tools designed to inject Skills First philosophy across the organization
Increase the diversity of Delta’s talent pipeline by providing greater equity and transparency regarding skills and competencies needed to successfully close the opportunity gap for career development and advancement into middle-skilled jobs
Launch a Delta Apprenticeship Program to identify qualified diverse frontline talent, improve retention and appeal to employees’ desire to learn and grow, which contributes to employee satisfaction
Coordinate a focus on enrichment and development that will help prepare frontline talent for opportunities and promote the value of upskilling in current areas or reskilling to jobs desired in a new area

Compensation and Benefits

Delta’s Comprehensive Total Rewards Package

At Delta, our people are our success. Attracting and retaining the best people while making sure they know they are valued is critical to our business strategy. In addition to training, we seek to do this by offering a comprehensive total rewards package as a part of our overall employee value proposition. At the heart of what we offer is our focus on sharing success with Delta people.
Base Pay
Our frontline employees are paid highly competitive hourly pay rates that are based on fixed pay scales by role and our goal is to pay rates that are greater than the average of the industry on an ongoing basis. 
Base pay for our merit employees is influenced by a mix of three elements - individual performance, market competitiveness and internal equity.
Effective May 1, 2022, we will recognize and honor the incredible work and commitment of the Delta people with a 4% across-the-board pay increase to employees below the Officer level.
Profit Sharing
Special Profit Sharing for 2021: With our return to profitability in the second half of 2021, we were excited to recognize Delta people globally with a special profit sharing payment of $1,250 on February 14, 2022.
Shared Rewards
Shared Rewards payout: Eligible employees received a payout of $850 in 2021 as a result of meeting corporate-wide operational goals related to baggage handling, completion factor, on-time arrivals and domestic Net Promoter Score.
Beyond Compensation
Delta offers comprehensive benefit programs beyond compensation that range from healthcare to retirement planning to other perks and discounts. More details about our health and well-being programs can be found in the Health and Well-being section of this report.
401K: For our primary plan that includes most domestic employees, Delta makes an automatic contribution equal to 3% of eligible earnings. In addition, Delta matches 100% of up to 6% of eligible earnings contributed to the plan by the employee, resulting in a total contribution of 15% when employees contribute 6%.
Maternity leave: Delta provides six to eight weeks of 100% employer-paid maternity leave for all U.S.-based expectant mothers in ground and flight attendant positions. All parental guardians may take a 30-day unpaid bonding leave following the birth, adoption, guardianship or fostering of a child once paid maternity leave (if applicable) and/or other Family Medical Leave Act benefits have been exhausted.
Base Pay
Our frontline employees are paid highly competitive hourly pay rates that are based on fixed pay scales by role and, our goal is to pay rates that are greater than the average of the industry on an ongoing basis. 
Base pay for our merit employees is influenced by a mix of three elements - individual performance, market competitiveness and internal equity.
Effective May 1, 2022, we will recognize and honor the incredible work and commitment of the Delta people with a 4% across-the-board pay increase to employees below the Officer level.
Profit Sharing
Special Profit Sharing for 2021: With our return to profitability in the second half of 2021, we were excited to recognize Delta people globally with a special profit sharing payment of $1,250 on February 14, 2022.
Shared Rewards
Shared Rewards payout: Eligible employees received a payout of $850 in 2021 as a result of meeting corporate-wide operational goals related to baggage handling, completion factor, on-time arrivals and domestic Net Promoter Score.
Beyond Compensation
Delta offers comprehensive benefit programs beyond compensation that range from healthcare to retirement planning to other perks and discounts. More details about our health and well-being programs can be found in the Health and Well-being section of this report.
401K: For our primary plan that includes most domestic employees, Delta makes an automatic contribution equal to 3% of eligible earnings. In addition, Delta matches 100% of up to 6% of eligible earnings contributed to the plan by the employee, resulting in a total contribution of 15% when employees contribute 6%.
Maternity leave: Delta provides six to eight weeks of 100% employer-paid maternity leave for all U.S.-based expectant mothers in ground and flight attendant positions. All parental guardians may take a 30-day unpaid bonding leave following the birth, adoption, guardianship or fostering of a child once paid maternity leave (if applicable) and/or other Family Medical Leave Act benefits have been exhausted.

Compensation Governance

At Delta, we are in the business of connecting the world. As a global company that aspires to employ a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve, it is essential that our employees are paid equitably and based entirely on non-discriminatory factors.
Our frontline employees are paid an hourly rate of pay that is based primarily on the length of service in their respective positions. For merit positions, Delta is committed to regularly reviewing employee compensation to maintain equitable pay for comparable duties, responsibilities, skill and experience. The Personnel & Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors reviews and approves compensation for the executive leadership roles as well as creates the evaluation criteria and compensation for the CEO.

Collective Bargaining

Delta respects all employees’ legal rights, including the right to collective bargaining. This includes the right to decide whether to be represented by a union or to choose to remain union-free. Our U.S.-based employees are covered by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), the federal law governing labor relations between air carriers and their employees. Under the RLA, employees have the right to decide whether they wish to be represented by a union or to reject union representation.
As of December 31, 2021, 20% of our approximately 83,000 full-time equivalent employees were represented by unions. This included approximately 13,180 Delta pilots and 380 dispatchers, as well as approximately 1,900 pilots and 1,480 flight attendants at Endeavor Air, our wholly-owned subsidiary. Certain employees outside the U.S. are also represented by unions, work councils or other local representative groups.