What appear to be the problems at this Burger Boy?
As the ‘Burger Boy’ appears to be a valid and truthful narrative that was written by Jerry Newman that devoted almost two years of being employed at several restaurants of the famous fast food chain, the problems that he had identified in this experience retell are considered to be binding and credible. Several issues had been established with the given location, such as shortage of working staff; the absence of the understandable and coherent description of various jobs occupied by the staff; the lack of personnel that is responsible for the difficult and urgent situations at work, for example, one of the employees calling sick or else.
As the story of Jerry Newman tells the reader about the particular episode from his work days on the Friday afternoon around lunch time, the circumstances could be evaluated as stressful and overloaded with work. The problems with this particular location of Burger Boy were established when two out of ten workers warned the authorities that they will not go to work that day due to health problems. As a result, the remaining employees were departed from their formal daily positions in order to make restitution for the people that were not present. It came into sight that that particular Burger Boy location did not possess an adequate number of staff workers in order to compensate for missing employees during rush hours.
The policy of the management to make the current workers in charge of assignments that were usually not their responsibility had led to the dissatisfaction with the service not only of the clients but of the employees as well. To my opinion, this particular location of Burger Boy occurs as a quite agitated and edgy environment to work in, and its approach towards organization requires being re-evaluated.
How many of these problems could be explained by compensation issues?
After reading and evaluating the case written by Jerry Newman, it could be said that most of the problems described in the answer to the first question are caused by the compensation issues that aroused in this Burger Boy location. First of all, in order to achieve a great level of running a restaurant and administration in general by increasing the payment for all the workers and the employees who are responsible for the rush hours and unexpected situations in particular.
Moreover, the supervisors and management failed to provide a respectful, efficient and comfortable atmosphere for their workers. The author claims that he did not receive proper respect and morality from his administrator: “Leon looks over at me and shouts above the din: ‘Good job, Jerry. Keeping up with Friday rush on your third cooking day, good job.’ That’s the first compliment I have received in the two weeks I have worked here, so I smile at the unexpected recognition” (Newman 93).
Furthermore, due to the small payment, some employees may tend to call in falsely sick, which leads to the difficulties and challenges at the workplace. According to the author, the workers are not rewarded for working overtime or taking the responsibilities of other people that have been assigned by the manager; as a result, the employees at this particular Burger Boy location are not feeling appreciated and satisfied with their jobs, salary, and the administration of the restaurant. To my opinion, establishing a useful compensating strategy for every encounter and occurrences of working overtime would absolutely without any doubts lessen the physical and mental pressure on the workers; moreover, with implementing the compensating strategy would give the workers the motivation and encouragement to perform better.
How many other problems could be lessened with by diligent use of rewards other than pay?
In the case of this particular location of the Burger Boy, the implementing the reward system would significantly lessen various problems, for example, the dissatisfaction of workers with their working environment. “Angrily Leon stomps back to the office and confronts Otis. The yelling quickly reaches audible levels. Everyone in the store, customers included, hear what is quickly broadening into confrontations about other unresolved issues” (Newman 94).
At Burger Boy, employees should have been administered with adaptable working shifts; workers should be treated as equals to the managers; efficient relations between staff and management should be determined; workers should be adjusted to the primary target of the Burger Boy; workers should be aware of expectations towards them; staff members should be as well presented with rewards for outstanding and exemplary performance of their job; people in charge should always be apprehensive of each of their workers circumstances, special occasions or personal demands; and all members of the staff should be granted with the capability to preserve professionalism and stay consistent. If the measures mentioned above were put into practice, this location of the Burger Boy would have an opportunity to eliminate the issues that the restaurant is experiencing at the time.
Are hours of work a reward? What might explain why I was happy to be working 20 hours per week, but Chuck was unhappy with 30 hours per week? How might schedules be used as a reward?
A number of hours that the employee had worked at the restaurant could be considered as encouragement towards better work in cases where a person is also getting compensation through in financial or non-financial manner. The administration of the restaurant is strongly advised to grant their workers with a monetary refund for every hour they have worked overtime. Moreover, the implementation of the adaptable working shifts would be highly beneficial for the restaurant. The working schedule that satisfy the demands and personal needs of the workers is considered to be useful in a rewarding system along with granting an employee an opportunity to get some time off from work due to illness or urgent circumstances as long as there is another member of staff who would fill his place out.
Moreover, In the Burger Boy case Chuck was working 30 hours a week and did not get any compensation for overtime; as a result, he was dissatisfied with his work environment and management. “Chuck has only worked here for six weeks but has prior experience at another Burger Boy” (Newman 92). However, not only Chuck is disappointed in his payment and work hours. During a fight, Otis says, “I am sick of your whining, Leon. I work 50-60 hours a week. I’m sick of working 10-12 hours a day for crappy wages. I’m going home and try to forget this place” (Newman 93). If the management of the restaurant had established a better compensation and reward policy, all employees would be appeased by their positions.
Also, an individual working in a positive environment and being treated fairly by a supervisor and other staff could have a lasting effect on an individual’s performance on the job.
Works Cited
Newman, Jerry. My Secret Life on the McJob. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2007. Print.