Staffing Shortage in the US Restaurant Business - Term Paper Example

 Staffing Shortage in a US Restaurant Business Executive Summary The proposal emphasizes on presenting the most suitable solutions concerning the staffing shortage issues faced by a US based restaurant organization. With this concern, the proposal analyses the problem scenario from an in-depth perspective identifying the causes of the issue identified, i.e. staffing shortage. Furthermore, based on the analysis, the proposal also attempts to highlight a work plan along with an estimated budget and evaluation. Introduction The present employment market scenario of the US reveals that hospitality and the restaurant sector are witnessing a fall in the inflow of appropriate employees thereby giving rise to the constraint of staffing shortage. The staffing issues in restaurant business have been long associated owing to the unsteady position of the majorly targeted Generation Y employees and relatively lower wages rates in comparison to the other hospitality sectors such as hotels and tourism organizations. This in turn causes the staffing shortage issues in terms of high attritions rates thereby imposing the challenge of recruiting and retaining the productive members within the workplace to establish sustainability in the long run (Lucas, & Mansfield, 2008). Based on this concern, the proposal will emphasize on suggesting a US based restaurant business to mitigate its staffing shortage issues by taking into account various measures including reward and recognition system, training and development facility, compensation system and similar other measures to retain the existing employees and also attract the potential candidates. Problem Statement One of the critical problems identified concerning the restaurant business indicates towards staffing problem within its workplace which is often caused due to high attrition rates. It is in this regard that due to the relatively low pay in comparison to other sectors and the recruitment trend focused on young people, especially who are in their 20s, make it quite challenging for restaurants to obtain the required number of staffs from their locale. This problem can be apparently witnessed in the context of US restaurant business (Lucas, & Mansfield, 2008). From an in-depth perspective, it can also be observed that restaurant business happens to be a part of the service industry where the human resources are termed to be the key factor in dealing with the customers. Hence, with the virtues of quality manpower, restaurant businesses are learnt to earn higher profitability and sustainability over its long-run performances. Solution In reducing the problems within the workplace, the restaurant businesses may attempt to consider solutions in overcoming the risks caused due to staffing issues towards achieving the targeted objectives efficiently. With this concern, the restaurant business can attempt to resolve the issue concerning staffing shortage within the premises with the implementation of various approaches such as reward and recognition, compensation, insurance policy, performance appraisal, incentive, salary disbursement along with training and development facilities. Reward and recognition can be defined as the process of motivating and influencing employees to perform efficiently for the assigned tasks with the implementation of certain tools. In this regard, the tools to be included in the process of retaining as well as encouraging the existing staffs to perform in the restaurant business can be identified in terms of award on the basis of the performances deciphered by the individual employees. The awards can be further rendered in terms of incentives, allowances and gifts among others (Ryan, 2004). It is in this context that because majority of the staffs belong to the young age group and render part-time contribution to the organization, the implementation of the reward as well as recognition system shall tend to enhance their morality, simultaneously encouraging them to perform better consistently. However, in various instances it has also been observed that inefficient implementation of reward and recognition tends to impose certain challenges for the management by de-motivating the under-performers or causing unhealthy competition amid the workforce. Therefore, the restaurant business needs to render due significance towards implementing an accurate performance appraisal mechanism so as to rationally determine upon the rewards to be rendered to the employees (Dargham, 2008). In the similar context, for the senior employees, both in terms of age group and experiences or hierarchical posts, such as that of the managers or the head chefs, the implementation of compensation can be suggested. Compensation can be defined as a plan or scheme offered by the organizations to its employees on the basis of their individual salary. Moreover, the scheme also attempts to motivate and influence the organizational staffs and employees in serving the organizational functions efficiently to meet the determined objectives. As a result, the organization is likely to enhance its capability of attaining higher customer loyalty contributing towards the increase of profit margin over a certain period of time (Connors, Owen, & Schaefer, n.d.). One of the mostly implemented schemes for compensation can be identified as the deliverance of insurance benefits to the staffs working in the restaurant. This particular scheme is further believed to satisfy the safety needs of the employees thereby augmenting their loyalty towards the organization. Salary can also be suggested as a noteworthy measure for mitigating the issues related with staffing shortages. Salary is principally defined as a mode of paying remuneration to the employees, in periodic intervals by the organization. It is worth mentioning that most of the staffs in the restaurant business are hired from the Generation Y group who are observed to be highly inclined towards monetary reward system, besides gaining the advantages of an encouragingly competitive working environment. Based on this presumption, the management can attempt to set targets and likewise offer salary hikes on a periodic basis, i.e. may be annually or half yearly, which shall continuously motivate the staffs to perform better along with attracting a greater number of potential employees. It can also be effective in mitigating the staffing shortage issue concerning the restaurant business caused due to low sage rates in comparison to other sectors. Besides, training and development facilities have often been observed to help employees and the organization as a whole to effectively channelize the shared vision in relation to the personal interests and the pre-determined organization objectives within the workplace (Sage Publications, 2007). This in turn assists the employees to apparently identify their job roles and responsibilities, thereby facilitating their performances over a longer period of time. Furthermore, it also assists in enhancing employee morale thereby retaining the experienced staffs for a considerable time period. Work Plan Work How Sensible Measureable Achievable Realistic Timed Reward and recognition Awards & incentives according to individual performances Influence and motivate staffs Efficiency performance and new recruitments With the help of authority Reasonable cost Three months Compensation Bonus or tax-exemption benefits Employees are likely to enjoy the work Increased employee loyalty With the help of authority and supervisors Reasonable cost One month Health Policy By implementing insurance benefits to the staffs Influence staffs to render greater contribution and effort Employees will make extra efforts in meeting the organizational objectives With the help of authority Reasonable cost Two months Performance Appraisal Retaining the productive staffs by accurately measuring their performances Motivates the workforce to work efficiently in order to enjoy the benefits of citizenship Competition, fast reaction and efficient performances delivered With the help of authority and supervisors Reasonable cost Four months Salary Comparatively higher salary with periodic hikes Staffs will present augmented loyalty to their respective tasks Growth will motivate potential candidates to join the organization With the help of authority Reasonable cost Two months Training & Development facilities Educating the staffs with shared vision related to the business objectives and requirements Helps organization and staffs to communicate with each other efficiently Proper utilization of resources and timely service deliverance With the help of authority and staffs Reasonable cost Three months Budget For performing the business process with efficiency minimizing the probable financial limitations, every organization needs to make budget planning which can be determined as the process in which the financial investments are designed in order to invest the capital adequately making an effective use of resources. Based in this particular aspect, it is quite essential for the restaurant business to develop a budget planning emphasizing on the human resource re-structuring with the implementation of various measures including rewards and recognitions, performance appraisals, salary increments, insurance benefits and training as well as development facilities. In this regard, the budget required for the staffing program for the restaurant business can initially range to the maximum of US$30,000. Evaluation With reference to the above documented work plan, various strengths and weaknesses can be observed. For instance, the inclusion of the suggested remedial methods, such as performance appraisals, salary hikes at specified intervals and rewards as well as recognitions among others can be quite beneficial in attracting potential candidates and retaining the already experienced members. On the contrary, the measures are likely to impose a weakness of increased complexity within the staffing process of the restaurant business which can make it costly and time consuming as well. However, the work plan also indicates the opportunity to build a stronger and more flexible staffing system which would offer greater sustainability to the organization over a certain period of time. On the other hand, it also tends to impose a threat of causing unhealthy competition amid the workforce which needs to be taken into account with due significance. Conclusion The identified problem of restaurant business can be effectively solved with the implementation of the above discussed solutions. It is recommendable in this regard that proper emphasis should be rendered towards mitigating the consequences of unhealthy competition amid the workforce which can in turn barricade the inflow of potential employees. Hence, a cooperative and stress-free but competitive environment needs to be developed within the organization to mitigate the staffing issues. References Connors, C. J., Owen, M. L., & Schaefer, L. A. (n.d.).Compensation. Internal Revenue Service, pp. 1-45. Dargham, N. S. A. (2008). Effective management of the performance appraisal process in Lebanon: an exploratory study. Saint Joseph University of Beirut, pp. 1-18. Lucas, R. & Mansfield, S. (2008). Staff shortages and immigration in the hospitality sector. Manchester Metropolitan University. Ryan, S. (2004). Rewards and Recognition. Retrieved from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/arossett/pie/Interventions/incentivesrewards_2.htm Sage Publications. (2007). Training and developing employees. Applied human resource management, pp. 185-208. Read More