ASSIGNMENT

You are the district manager of human resources for a large chain of bakery cafes that can be classified as QSRs. They feature a menu predominately made up of sandwiches, salads, and breads. Some of the operations are franchised and some are company-owned.

In your position as the district HR manager, you are responsible for providing oversight assistance and advice to the unit managers in your district in the strategic areas of personnel management: recruiting, hiring, orientation, training and development, salary and compensation benefits, employee relations with emphasis on legal and policy compliance and employee communication, and performance review planning and execution. It is expected that through effective policy management, you will keep employee relations risks and issues to a minimum. In your role, it is essential that you pay attention to current and new legal matters as well as overall corporate policy. You report directly to the VP of human resources at the corporate level and you directly supervise no one.

The VP of human resources expects you to focus on compliance with HR policies, regulations, and laws while at the same time delivering results in terms of financial success and excellent customer service for each of the units within your district. Her focus is on communication, recognition, teamwork, and collaboration. Further, she expects you to support and develop standardized processes and common procedures that deliver positive results.

The corporate public philosophy states, “the health and well-being of our employees is a high priority and thus, we offer competitive compensation and benefits to both hourly and salaried employees” based on eligibility and availability. Most of the employees are hourly, part-time, lack work experience, and are young. However, lately, you notice more applicants are older and many are single parents working to support their families.

Generally speaking, the employees within your district seem “engaged” and grievances have been minimal. None are union members. However, employees in the larger burger chain restaurants in the district have recently been in the news striking for a “living wage.” You are concerned that this might spread to your operations. The corporate policy for starting pay for part-time employees in your company is the state minimum wage for nontipped employees. And, those working less than 32 hours receive no benefits.

You begin by researching the situation and find that the Federal minimum wage was last increased in 2009 to $7.25 an hour and last raised in 1991 for tipped workers to $2.13 an hour. A number of states have enacted higher minimum wage rates and several will be as high as $10 an hour phased in over the next few years. An employer is required to pay the higher of the two minimums. Due to the inadequacy of the minimum wage, a number of localities have passed living wage ordinances that are one to two dollars higher than the minimums. Proposals currently in Congress call for increases in both the Federal minimum wage for tipped and nontipped employees. The response of the National Restaurant Association states that the low wages in the QSR sector of the industry reflect the fact that most fast-food workers tend to be younger and have little work experience. Doubling the wages would hurt job creation and fast-food chains are already facing higher costs for ingredients as well as new regulations that will require them to pay more in health care costs.

Answer the following questions using the scenario above. You will provide 1 paragraph for each question. Be sure to include the question in your responses.

Define the problem that you face here and identify your first steps in resolving this potential problem?
Outline some possible options for resolving the situation and choose the best solution for all involved.
What are the negative and positive spin-offs of this solution?