Honestly, the numbers coming out of Boeing lately aren’t just bad. They are "brutal," to borrow a word from the company's own CEO, Kelly Ortberg. When Boeing finally released the results of its first comprehensive employee survey since 2019, the data felt less like a corporate report and more like a cry for help from 160,000 people.
It’s one thing for the FAA to bark about safety culture. It's another thing entirely when your own engineers and factory workers tell you they’re afraid of getting fired for speaking up.
The Numbers That Scared Leadership
Let's look at the pride factor. Back in 2013, about 91% of Boeing workers said they were proud to work there. That makes sense, right? It was the gold standard of American engineering. Fast forward to the April 2025 survey release, and that number has cratered to 67%.
That is a massive drop.
Even more telling is the "recommendation" stat. Only 27% of employees would highly recommend Boeing as a place to work. Think about that. Three out of four people building the planes you fly on wouldn't tell a friend to come work with them.
Despite the gloom, there’s this weirdly resilient loyalty. More than 92% of the staff say they plan to stay for at least another year. They aren't quitting; they're stuck in a house they love that happens to be on fire. They want to fix it.
Why the Speak Up Program Is Struggling
You’ve probably heard of "Speak Up," Boeing’s confidential reporting channel. On paper, it's doing great. Total reports increased by 220% between 2023 and 2024. But here is the catch: a huge volume of reports doesn't always mean a healthy culture. It often means things are breaking so fast that people have no choice but to hit the alarm.
Internal feedback shows a massive disconnect between the executive suite and the "shop floor." While 75% of workers think their direct manager is actually doing a decent job, only 42% have any confidence in senior leadership's ability to make the right calls.
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There is a persistent "deep state" of middle management—that's how some insiders described it in recent Leeham News interviews—that allegedly uses intimidation to keep production lines moving.
The Retaliation Problem
- Fear of the "Furlough Ranking": An FAA expert panel found that while Boeing shielded some safety units from direct interference, managers still controlled salaries and furlough rankings. If a manager can't fire you for a safety report, they can still make sure you're the first one gone during a layoff.
- The "Schedule Pressure" Trap: In a May 2024 internal check-in, more than half of the workers admitted that schedule pressures caused their teams to lower standards.
- The Silent Auditor: For years, Boeing relied on the FAA to find problems rather than using internal audits. Employees felt that if they flagged a defect, it would just be ignored or "worked around" to hit a delivery date.
What Ortberg Is Trying to Change
Kelly Ortberg took over in August 2024 and basically inherited a culture that was "inadequate and confusing," according to the FAA. He’s been surprisingly blunt. He told employees that the survey results would be a "tough read" and that the company needs to "give a damn" again.
He’s even formed an "Our Culture Working Group" with 40 employees from across the globe. They aren’t just HR people; they are individual contributors and non-executive managers. They even pushed for the phrase "give a damn!" to be included in the company's official values.
Boeing is now rerouting Speak Up reports so they don't go to an employee’s direct manager. Instead, a third party reviews them. It's a simple change, but it's meant to kill the "boss is watching" fear that has stifled feedback for a decade.
The Reality of the "Safety Champions"
To try and bridge the gap, Boeing has trained about 1,000 "Safety Champions." These are regular employees who go through a five-week program to promote safety principles in their local teams.
Is it enough?
If you do the math, that’s one champion for every 178 employees. In a high-stakes environment like aerospace, that’s a thin line of defense. Critics, and many employees on forums like Reddit, argue that as long as the "Return to Office" (RTO) mandates and rigid hierarchies remain, the "human" element of the feedback will stay muffled.
Actionable Insights for the Future
If you’re following this story or working in a similar high-pressure environment, the Boeing situation offers some pretty stark lessons on how not to handle internal feedback.
1. Watch the "Pride Gap"
If your internal surveys show a double-digit drop in employee pride over a few years, your brand isn't just hurting externally—it's rotting from the inside. Rebuilding pride requires more than a new slogan; it requires "Quality Stand Downs" where work actually stops to address concerns.
2. Decouple Reporting from Performance Reviews
The biggest takeaway from the Boeing failure is that safety and quality reporting must be completely separate from the person who decides your raise. If there is even a hint that a report could affect a "furlough ranking," employees will stay silent.
3. Address the "Middle Management Filter"
Senior leaders often think things are fine because the reports they see are "green." You have to get onto the factory floor. Ortberg’s move to move his office closer to the production hubs is a classic but necessary tactic to bypass the layers of management that filter out bad news.
4. Transparency Over Volume
Don't brag about how many people are using your hotline. Brag about how many of those reports led to a tangible change in the production process. Employees at Boeing specifically asked for more transparency on how their concerns were addressed, not just an anonymous box to drop them in.
The road back for Boeing is long. The 2025 survey data shows a workforce that is tired and skeptical but hasn't given up yet. The next twelve months will decide if "giving a damn" is a new way of life or just another corporate PowerPoint slide.