Human Resources of the Xiaoloong Restaurant - Research Paper Example

Xiaoloong Restaurant: Internship Project Table of Contents 1Introduction and Background 4 2Problem ment 5 3Methodology 6 4Findings and Discussions 7 4.1Findings 7 4.2Discussion 8 4.2.1Human Resource Management at the Restaurant 8 4.2.2Request off App 8 4.2.3Importance of the Application 8 4.2.4Disadvantages of Using the Application 9 4.3Summary 10 5Conclusion 10 6Recommendations 12 Executive Summary Parameters of the Report The report outlines the measures that can be used to tame absenteeism among part-time workers in the restaurant business. The study proposes the introduction of an application where the employees would identify the days when they can request for leave. Description of the Problem Xiaoloong Restaurant is a leading Chinese restaurant in California. The restaurant has employee problems. The restaurant is experiencing multiple absenteeism problems, mostly among its part-time employees. The situation leads to excessive workload for full-time employees. In this regard, the study aimed to identify ways through which the employees can communicate their availability. The study proposes the introduction of an application that will show the booked days and free days to ensure that the restaurant has enough employees at a given time. Methodology In order to investigate how the “request off app” would impact on the business. I interviewed seven workers and a manager from the restaurant. The employees were asked questions about how the app can improve the problem of multiple absenteeisms. Summary of Findings and Conclusions Human resources are crucial for success in the restaurant business. As such, adequate measures should be in place to address any employee problems. The “request off app” is important as it shows the booked days and free days. It ensures that the restaurant has the optimal number of employees at any time. Recommendations Xiaonloong Restaurant should tame absenteeism using measures such as effective remuneration policies, improving the working conditions at the restaurant and also increasing the number of full-time employees. 1 Introduction and Background Xiao Loong Restaurant is family business based in San Francisco, California. The restaurant specializes in offering Chinese foods. The restaurant uses Chinese recipes to prepare their dishes to fit the American customers. The restaurant endeavors to create loyal customers by offering premium quality services. To this end, it has numerous employees on both full time and part time basis. The restaurant employs the services of part time workers during peak hours. However, the part time employees have a tendency of calling sick thus not attending to their duties. As such, human resource crises are common in the restaurant. Human resources is an important factor that determines the success of a business. The ability to manage workers and optimize their output in the workplace should be the most important objective of every business. Most people agree that human resources contribute the highest in the realization of business objectives. As such, managers must employ measures that increase the productivity of workers. Without proper strategies, employee absenteeism may inconvenience the business process (Forbes.com). Such inconveniences may arise from unplanned absenteeism caused by personal reasons. The study focuses on the management of human resource in the Xiao Loong restaurant. Data from the restaurant show that employees regularly call in to explain reasons why they may not come to work. Whereas the reasons might be genuine, the aspect of calling to claim absent has affected the performance of the restaurant. In most cases, the restaurant faces an acute shortage of staff due to unplanned request for leave. Managers are not in a position to know exactly who will be present and who will not until they receive a call. In this regard, proper human resource planning is crucial. The restaurant’s human resource is composed of few full-time workers. Other workers are part-time. The situation means that the restaurant has little or no information regarding their whereabouts or whether they will be available for work. The issue is intensified by the fact that part-time employees may find better alternatives and skip work. The employees call in to give convincing reasons for non-attendance. The scenario makes managers scramble to fill the positions of absent workers. Thus, there is need to have an advanced procedure for dealing with human resources in the restaurant. Like other hospitality businesses, the restaurant business is labor intensive (Hayes & Ninemeir, 2009). The sector relies heavily on the participation of employees towards achieving its goals. Having enough and reliable employees implies that the chances of success of a restaurant are higher. Whereas employees may have genuine reasons for not reporting for work, the human resource management should have this information beforehand so that a replacement can be found in time. Xiaoloong should thus seek ways to minimize the impact of employee absence. 2 Problem Statement As noted above, human resources are an important factor that influences the success of a labor-intensive business. Restaurants are labor intensive, and thus effective human resource management is key to the fulfillment of objectives. The situations in which employees call late to claim they would not be available for work puts managers in an awkward position in trying to manage work without some employees. As such, managers should be well aware of an absence beforehand. The restaurant survives with few staff when some call sick. However, operations at the hotel cannot be optional if the required number of employees are not available. The overall situation is that some workers are overwhelmed by work, thus lowering the quality. The management can find a platform where employees can forward their requests for leave. One of the ways through which the restaurant can manage absentee is through the creation of a “request “off” app.” The app will be instrumental in allowing the management and employees interact to determine the possible “off” days. The app will also help the restaurant to manage the human resources in the sense that management is aware of how many employees would be absent in a particular session. 3 Methodology In the consummation of the project, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. A qualitative approach was used to gain the theoretical explanations of the feasibility of the app from the perspectives of the employees and the management of the restaurant. Quantitative study was used in determining the losses that the restaurant experiences because of absenteeism. Data collection was conducted at the restaurant. Employees were asked questions related to how conflict in leave days affected their productivity on the job. The study also asked questions regarding the employee perception about the app. The employees were allowed freely to give their thoughts about the app, both the benefits and disadvantages. The major questions for employees included; “have you ever requested for leave due to an emergency?” “Was your request granted?” The human resource manager was interviewed on the problem that the restaurant faces as a result of conflict in “off” days. The manager was also asked his opinions regarding the introduction of an app to manage the “off” days. After successfully collecting data on both the employee and employer perspectives, the study went ahead to test the app in a real situation. The study made a random choice of 7 employees to be used as a study sample. The employees were required to request leave using the application. The employees were required to request leave from work on different days to determine if the application reflected the same. To prove whether the app could prevent conflict in the leave days, two people were requested to request leave on the same day. The motive was to determine where the app would react and show that the day had already been booked. The data obtained from the respondents was cleaned to remove aspects such repetitions. In addition, data on aspects that were not under investigation were removed. The study considered data that based on the usage of the application in managing request for leave from work. The data was used in making conclusions. 4 Findings and Discussions 4.1 Findings The management of the restaurant explained that managing human resources had been a major problem for the restaurant. The problem, according the manager, was that most workers are part time and thus there is a conflict regarding the day that an employee request leave. Extreme challenges are experienced when an employee claims to have emergency and thus cannot make it to work. The management thus faces a dilemma on whether to hire new workers, extend the working hours of existing workers or lay off workers with high absenteeism records. The restaurant loses an estimated $10000 per month due to absenteeism. The problem with leave request was also a thorny issue among employees. The employees revealed that they were extremely dissatisfied with the way the restaurant handles “off” requests. Despite the fact that the restaurant has no control over some absenteeism, the employees claim that the lack of an organized strategy to deal with the problem was the cause factor to the problem. Employees claimed that management does not consider the impact of granting leave without careful considerations of the workload left for other employees. In the end, full-time workers end up being overworked. The effectiveness of the app in managing employees’ request for off from work was also tested. In the first instance, the employees were required to request leave at different day of the week. The app clearly showed the details of each employee, the day he or she had booked and the time requested. The second trial involved two employees booking the same day sequentially. The first employee was successful in booking a day. However, the second employee was not allowed to book the day. In fact, the app showed that the day had been booked together with the details of the employee who had booked. As such, the second employee could not book the day. 4.2 Discussion 4.2.1 Human Resource Management at the Restaurant From the finding, it is clear that Xiaoloong restaurant lacks a clear strategy regarding its human resources. It is also evident that employees are disgruntled by the fact that there is no strategy on how they can request for leave. As noted above, employees just call in to explain their reason for not attending work. Despite the fact that the reasons may be valid, employees must be insensitive of the implication of their actions on fellow employees. According to Johns (2010), absenteeism among employees is partly a result of poor organizational policies towards human resources. As such, the restaurant must devise better ways to address the situation. 4.2.2 Request off App The “request off app” is a strategic method that will strengthen the organizational policies pertaining absenteeism. The application is in line with the modern technology and employee and managers can have it in their smartphones. The application will be loaded with the restaurant’s human resources data to enable all employees make appropriate decisions. The application will thus have several advantages to both the employees and the restaurant. 4.2.3 Importance of the Application The application is simple and easy to handle. The application is made to contain the data regarding the “off” and on days. The employees can have the application in their smartphones and tablets. This implies that the application will be accessible to all employees. Accessibility to the application is crucial, and it will ensure that all employees can access crucial data related to the booked and free days. The app shows the days that have been booked and the days that are free. The situation means that the threat of two or more employees being away at the same time is minimized. Since the employees are aware of the booked and free days, they can make effective programs to fit the program outlined by the application. The management of the restaurant also benefits from the fact that employees can act on their own regarding request for leave. In fact, the application is made to automate the system in the sense that the managers do not have to deal with absenteeism. The app instills discipline in regard to requesting for “off” from work and by extension, defines the organizational policies on absenteeism. The application will help the restaurant’s management in observing the absenteeism trend. The application will be recording the days that each employee has requested for “off”. The scenario means that the management can revisit the history of requests and see which employees have requested the highs or the lowest number of days. The management can thus take effective organization-level decisions. The decisions include investigating the actions of employees to ascertain whether they are engaged in other economic activities when they requests leave. The data on absenteeism can also aid in aspects such as promotions. In essence, a business would promote a person who shows commitment to the job and is away less often, mostly understandable situations. 4.2.4 Disadvantages of Using the Application Despite support from the majority of employees, there were several aspects that employees pointed out to be contentious. The employees contest the aspect that the application would store data regarding their requests. It is true that the application will retain historical data regarding requests. The usage of the data will be the preserve of the management. The data stored by the application could be used to victimize employees who required a high number of “off” days. The management may see the employees as unreasonably asking for “off” or are engaged in other economic activities. Johns (2010) asserts that enforcing policies related to absenteeism may lead to employees attending work while under distress and sickness, thus reducing their productivity. The application will only allow a limited number of employees to be “off” at a particular time, based on their booking. The strategy may degenerate when an employee has an emergency or sicknesses and has no chance of getting leave. In this regard, the worker may come to work while under distress. Distress would automatically lower the productivity of the employee in both quality and quantity. The restaurant business is categorically sensitive to the health of employees. Thus, the management should consider other factors in allowing absenteeism. 4.3 Summary From the above analysis, it is clear that the importance of the application surpasses the demerits by far. The restaurant should thus consider launching the application. However, the restaurant should consider the opposing views in efforts to make more a flexible application. The app will be instrumental in taming runaway behavior where employees request “off” from work leaving a few employees. The situation increases the workload thus reducing the level of jobs satisfaction. 5 Conclusion Employee absenteeism has been a huge problem for Xiaoloong Restaurant. The employees call in to request to be off from work late at a time when finding a replacement would be tedious. In this regard, the application would go a long way in helping the management plan ahead since the number of employees available in a particular session is known. The application will assist the management in managing the working schedule in the restaurant in what may slowly develop into a human resource policy of the restaurant. As noted in the paper, restaurant business is labor intensive. The situation implies that the restaurant business relies on human resource for survival. The actions of employees are responsible for the success or failure of the restaurant. In this case, effective planning will ensure that shortage of staff in the restaurant is minimized. An application that allows requests up to a certain level is ideal since it ensures that the restaurant always has an optimal number of employees. Rolling out the application will enable the employees manage their personal time and work time. However, the application may also be used for unintended purposes. The historical data stored by the application may be used by the administration to victimize some workers. Workers who request a high number of work leaves without genuine reasons are likely to be targeted if the inquiry into the historical data is made. 6 Recommendations The restaurant can use several additional strategies to tame increasing absenteeism. One of the measures includes revising the remuneration policy. Revising the remuneration policy to increase the earnings per hours would attract more workers to work harder for longer due to increased job satisfaction (Polachek & Tatsiramos, 2012). In most cases, part-time employee relegate their duties to attend to other better paying jobs. Revising the policy will make more employees to prefer working at the restaurant. The plan may be expensive for the restaurant in the short run, but improve the productivity and sales thus improving the financial position of the restaurant in the long run. Most part time employees are paid a minimum wage of $7.25. Xiao Loong can increase the rate to at least $8.5. The rate would attract worker and ensure that all part time workers report to duty as required. The increase would beat the rate of most part time employers. If wages were increased, the applicant would record a very low number of leave requests. The restaurant can also improve the working conditions of the restaurant. Most people would prefer to work in good condition, even with a lesser pay. Good working condition include a safe environment and fair treatment of workers. The action would increase the urge to work harder and more thus reducing the problem of absenteeism. Restaurant working condition scan be enhanced by ensuring a clean environment, good aeration especially in the kitchen and also insurance from accidents such as burns and cuts. Democratic leadership can boost the morale of workers in attending to their duties. The employees opinions are supposed to be heard by the management and evaluated based on merit. By so doing, employees would feel to be part of the restaurant thus enjoying their work. The situation would thus reduce absenteeism. As discussion states, human resources are the backbone of the hospitality industry. It thus follows that employees must be available whenever the re needed. The management should therefore use any managerial tactics to attract quality workers. Increasing the number of full-time employees is another strategy that the restaurant can use to tame the problem. Having more full-time employees reduces the need of many part-timers. The part-time employees are essential during peak hours. The impact of absence of part-time employees is lower if the restaurant has more full-time employees. The increase in salaries budget can be compensated by efficiency arising from full-time employees. References Hayes, D. K., & Ninemeier, J. D. (2009). Human resources management in the hospitality industry. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Johns, G. (2010). Presenteeism in the workplace: A review and research agenda. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(4), 519-542. Polachek, S. W., & Tatsiramos, K. (2012). Research in labor economics: Vol. 36. Bingley: Emerald. The Causes And Costs Of Absenteeism In The Workplace - Forbes. (n.d.). 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