5.4 Discussion: What should happen next?
Winifred Athembo; Nikhil Garg; Richa Kabaria; Sarah Kulewksa; Celine Wai Shan Li; Deirdre Maultsaid; Simrenprit Parmar; and Lesli Sangha
What should the employee, Sonia, do?
- Apologize and get back to work?
- Ask for scheduled breaks?
- Ask for training?
- Ask for posted recipes and instructions?
- Decline to mix drinks at the bar as it is outside her job description?
- Ask for a staff meeting?
- Find allies amongst other staff and write an email to the manager and owner expressing concerns?
- Post complaints anonymously on recruitment sites?
- Ask for a promotion to a kitchen staff position with a higher wage?
- Inform the owner, Roman, about Maxwell’s verbal abuse?
- Other ideas?
What should the chef/manager, Maxwell, do?
- Ignore the problems and tensions?
- Keep putting pressure on employees because he has a business to run?
- Revise hiring practices/employee requirements?
- Compose job descriptions and assign staff appropriately?
- Hold some sessions to demonstrate how to prepare menu items?
- Send employees to cooking and bartending classes?
- Introduce an incentive program, (e.g., employee of the month)?
- Institute regular staff meetings?
- Start an anonymous complaint box?
- Update scheduling software to coordinate staff schedules and/or monitor staff breaks more closely?
- Promote a shift supervisor for each shift?
- Monitor staff to see that workloads and tasks seem equitable?
- Other ideas?
What should the owner, Roman, do (if informed by Sonia of the problems)?
- Support the manager’s views and reinforce the view to staff that they should do a better job?
- Drop in by surprise on the business more often to monitor?
- Insist that the manager create job descriptions of which Roman will approve?
- Hire new staff that Roman will approve of?
- Have a frank talk with the chef/manager?
- Send the manager for anger management training?
- Involve the manager in leadership training?
- Call an all-staff meeting?
- Involve everyone in anti-bullying training?
- Stop the tipping system and replace it with salaries?
- Change the business model in several ways (for example, stop serving alcohol)?
- Other ideas?
