Analysis of Two Articles Pertaining to Staffing Problems in the Food and Beverage Industry - Essay Example

Article Analysis The purpose of this paper is to identify two articles pertaining to staffing problems in the food and beverage industry and to provide a brief summary. Furthermore this paper will identify specific challenges in relation to how this can affect a food and beverage operation as well as provide some solutions as to how these challenges can be overcome. The first article to be covered is by Curry (2006) as it appeared in the Dallas Business Journal. The article first highlights the difficulty in employee retention at T.G.I.Fridays which is a division of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide. It became apparent that retention rates within the organization were abysmal with approximately 50% of new hires would not last 97 days within the organization. Employee retention has significant associated costs, and a study by Cox/Frank for the U.S. Department of labor statistics estimated that in the supermarket context, employee turnover cuts into the industry’s profit by approximately 40%. It was from this study that Angela Hornsby decided that many of the problems that plagued the supermarket industry were similar to that of T.G.I. Fridays The article then went on to identify problems with retention. Firstly it is the case that many restaurants focus on turnover and not retention. Salary is not the most common reason for somebody leaving an organization. It was postulated that employers who provide their employees with better direction lose only about half of their employees in 148 days as opposed to 86 days which marks a 72% difference in the grocery industry. Furthermore it should be noted that retention drivers are different for management employees as opposed to hourly laborers. As such retention programs need to be tailored to meet the different needs of different employees. The article finally postulated that according to Teresa Siriani of the People report suggests that the restaurant industry’s high turnover can be attributed to many factors and no one simple problem. She suggested that a shrinking labor pool, declining employment rate (in 2006) and more competition amongst other labor fields such as health care will continue to make retention difficult. It is only through continual innovations can a restaurant hope to achieve better employee retention and as such lower the associated costs. The challenges presented in this article are simple. It is the case that in the restaurant (And Supermarket) industry there is inherently a very high employee turnover rate. The way that this affects the food and beverage operations is that it strongly affects the bottom line of many organizations, insofar as this high turnover has high associated costs such as staff recruitment, training, downtime etc. which is something that any organization would like to avoid. The suggestion that was presented in the article was to tailor all employee retention programs to better accommodate the different layers of employees. For example there should not be a simple blanket employee retention solution but management should provide one strategy for the kitchen staff and another for the floor staff (For example) Furthermore, there will have to be constant innovation from management to find new and creative ways to retain their staff insofar as needs change, the ‘same ole’ strategy’ may no longer hold true. The next article that will be examined for this paper was written by Harrington (2007) and deal with employees drinking on the job in the restaurant industry. The article first highlights that it is the case that drinking alcohol during lunchtimes was a common practice for many different types of employees from the 50’s through the 70’s. In fact it was the case that companies typically wrote off the cost of alcohol as a legitimate business expense at that time. However in 1986 tax laws were changed so that companies could only deduct 80% of expense account expenses now making alcohol an easy target for cost saving measures. It was also around this time that the war on drugs was gaining strength and the MADD movement brought attention to drunk driving and alcoholism. However the article identifies that 15% of employees still drink during lunch and identifies that the most likely candidates to imbibe would be people in sales, management, food preparation and service and a range of people in the creative fields. While the article identifies how this has presented a problem for a number of different industries, is specifically singles out the restaurant industry as having a particularly difficult time with controlling alcohol consumption. In a brief interview with a server at a Michelin starred restaurant in New York City who identifies that sous chefs, line cooks, and everyone else regularly consumes alcohol on the job. The main feature for alcohol consumption amongst servers was identified as being the high stress environment and there are readily available quantities of alcohol. Furthermore as it is a social norm I the restaurant atmosphere, servers often consume alcohol to become more comfortable with the customers and even more personable to garner more tips. Why this has become a serious issue for the restaurant industry and presents its own unique challenges is that the consumption of alcohol on the job presents a serious health and safety hazard especially in an environment where there is hot food, sharp instruments and contamination concerns. Secondly being drunk sends a poor image of the restaurant as many servers are the only point of contact between the customer and their food. Thirdly, it is the case that alcohol consumption often represents a type of theft from the restaurant (Assuming the alcohol comes from behind the bar) and as such this negatively affects the bottom-line of any organization. Lastly it is the case that chronic alcoholism can affect employee retention problems which as mentioned in the earlier article can present bottom line problems as well. The most reasonable way for any manager to handle this problem is to keep a watchful eye on employees at all time and to enforce a zero tolerance policy. If an employee is found drinking on the job they should face an immediate disciplinary action which could result in immediate expulsion. Secondly the manager could adopt a policy in which alcohol can be used as a type of reward, in which a free drink is given to employees after a shift, assuming they have performed well at their job and choose to consume their beverage in a respectful manner on the premises and also assuming that an alternative beverage or reward can be given for people who choose not to drink. References Curry, K. (July, 2006) Beyond Turnover: Improving Employee Retention can be as Simple as Providing Clear Directions and Appropriate Equipment, Professor says. Dallas Business Journal [online] Available at http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2006/07/10/editorial3.html Accessed on February 21st 2010. Harrison, C. (Jan, 2007) Thirsty Business: Who Drinks on the Job. Chow. [online] Available at http://www.chow.com/stories/10433 Accessed on February 21st 2010. 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