Assignment
National Context
In 2022, following the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two and a half years, restrictions put in place to limit the spread of the virus are easing and businesses in Australia are re-opening. Australia is contending with an employment crisis in a variety of sectors including the business and tourism industries (Rose & Ore 2022). In 2022, these sectors are calling for the Australian Government to approve skilled migrant visa applications to manage labour shortages across Australia (for example, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry 2022). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021) reported that in June 2020, 7.6 million migrants lived in Australia with almost 30% of the overall Australian population being born overseas. The largest proportion of people born overseas come from England (980,000 people), India (721,000), China (650,000), New Zealand (565,000) and the Philippines (310,000). There is evidence to suggest that newly arrived migrants to a country are financially disadvantaged (receive less remuneration) particularly if the migrant is a woman, a person of colour and/or speaks a different language at home (Fitzsimmons, Baggs & Brannen 2020a & 2020b). Unfortunately, research in this field is, to date, limited.
Case of the XYZ Restaurant Group
The XYZ Restaurant Group (XYZ Group) is a large hospitality company with 60 bars, restaurants and cafes located in the cities of Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney, New South Wales. Following media reports of a class action case against another hospitality firm for the alleged under payment of its workers (Marin-Guzman 2021), the XYZ Group are publicly vocal about their transparent remuneration program, social justice principles and advocacy for refugee workers. The XYZ Group is feeling the impact of the labour shortages in Australia and are endeavouring to keep their full suite of venues open for business. Management is relieved to have keen customers returning to their business and want to provide the very best customer service and high-quality food. In fact, they aim to achieve a chef hat at the next Australian Good Food Guide awards for at least three of their highest performing restaurants. They are concerned by inflation, rising costs and the staff shortages. Despite these worries the business is performing very well. The XYZ Group are trying to attract more skilled workers to their reception, table service, sommelier, kitchen support and chef teams. Currently, approximately 50% of their employees are first generation Australians or on permanent/temporary visas. The XYZ Group also runs a small program to train and employ refugees as a pathway into the hospitality industry. They currently have 5 trainees in this program. The business owners of the XYZ Group have engaged you as a leading Human Resources consultant to advise on best practice remuneration strategies to support them through the next two years.
Develop a position paper in a report format providing the XYZ Group with a range of options for employee remuneration. This report will provide strategic remuneration options, the advantages and disadvantages of each option and any case study examples to demonstrate the remuneration approach, if available.
1. Identify and explain the remuneration issues
2. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of your position.
3. Identify and refute counterclaims.
4. Evaluate possible solution and recommend a course of action.