'Undercover' stint is an eye-opener for CEO

INDIANAPOLIS — He went from head honcho of an airline company to the guy dumping the lavatory waste from the aircraft.

He went from, well, how can we say it? Bald to hairy.

It all happened when Republic Airways Holdings' Chairman, President and CEO Bryan Bedford disguised himself to work undercover on the front lines with employees at his Indianapolis-based company. He did it for an episode of the TV series "Undercover Boss" that will air at 8 p.m. Sunday on Ch. 2.

Though the show aims to entertain, it became quite serious for Bedford, whose billion-dollar-a-year business ranks as one of the top air carriers in the country.

He said he learned all sorts of things during the August taping, including how tough it is to be a flight attendant (he contributed to a flight's late departure) and how companywide pay cuts were affecting his employees' lives.

But perhaps most important, he learned what he was doing wrong as a boss.

"What was eye-opening, the most noticeable thing was just the disconnect and (poor) communication between the management team and front-line employees," Bedford said.

While working in different roles for the company — including cleaning aircraft, checking baggage, dumping aircraft toilets and standing at the ticket counter — he asked fellow employees why they didn't take their complaints to management to implore change.

The same response came time and time again: "No, I've talked to management about this stuff, and they never listen," Bedford said.

Though that was shocking and a bit hurtful to hear, it prompted Bedford to plan some solutions for the near future. They include having other executives work the front line with employees and gathering teams of bosses to meet with small groups of employees.

Those types of changes are exactly what a gig like "Undercover Boss" should bring about, said Karl Ahlrichs, a human resources consultant at Gregory & Appel Insurance in Indianapolis.

"There's nothing like putting on sheep's clothing and going out amongst the flock," he said.

And in the end, the employees learn something as well.

"Business gets a bad rap in contemporary cultures," Ahlrichs said. "One of the key messages in these shows is that the people who are running businesses aren't really different from the people who are four levels down."

Sometimes in the daily grind, that gets forgotten, Bedford said.