Case Scenario: Castle's Family Restaurant

Castle Family Restaurant is a chain of eateries that has recognized a need for a HRIS. Currently they have no such system in place and all human resource functions are being handled by the chains operations manager. This individual has approached my company in hopes of gaining consultation that will lead to the introduction of a HRIS at Castle.

Business Assessment

Castle Family Restaurant consists of eight restaurants all located in northern California. This chain of eateries employs 300 to 340 workers. About 60% of their work force is part-time leaving the remaining 40% considered as full-time. This food chain has no formal human resource department in play and also lacks a separate payroll department.

A majority of these essential business functions have been handled by one employee. This one employee named Jay Morgan has an official title as the company's operations manager. His current routine involves physically traveling to each location at least once a week to address any issues.

Castle Family Restaurants have remained profitable through these difficult economic times but their budget remains to be extremely tight. Cost per hire has risen since last year and the food chain is struggling with high turnover rates. The average

part time worker only stays with the company for 36 to 40 weeks. There is a constant need to increase training budgets because of the low success rate of long term part time workers.

Part time workers full most of the positions at this chain of restaurants. The job titles of these positions include kitchen workers/ line cooks, waiters/ waitress, a bus person, dishwasher and a night cleaning crew made up of four people. Individuals holding these titles work less than 40 hours per week and gross a yearly income between 12k and 22k. Full time workers hold less than half of the positions at Castle. These job titles include the head chef, kitchen manager, purchasing manager/ bookkeeper, host/ hostess and the restaurant assistant manager and general manager. Individuals holding these positions work an average of 37 to 45 hours a week. Each employee will receive overtime pay for any hours worked pass 40 in any given week. Full time workers have a gross pay of between 20k and 47k per year. The highest paid employee included on Castles payroll is Mr. Morgan. He is also the only salary based employee, the only employee granted four weeks paid vacation each year; he is the only employee who receives gas reimbursement and is given an expense account.

Currently there is no individual position dedicated to human resources. Mr. Morgan has a formal title as the food chains operations manager but he handles all administrative functions as well. Castle Family restaurants is not a franchise so each location is ran by general managers but all eight stores are overseen by the restaurants founders Mr. and Mrs. Castle. The owners play an active role in major business decisions but remain somewhat off hands when it comes to everyday functions.

IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS

Due to the increase in gasoline costs, Mr. Morgan wishes to greatly decrease his travel time for visiting each location each week. Currently Mr. Morgan conducts payroll individually using an Excel spreadsheet and printing payroll checks from his main office. This process has become costly in terms of time and resources for Castle Family Restaurants and the development of a HRIS is in great need. Mr. Morgan must travel to each location to manage scheduling, recruiting, hiring, and answering questions for the employees as needed. Not only is he taking on a great amount of work but he is also trying to stay within budget.

Although Castle has remained profitable over the last year they still are not meeting their business goals. Budget cuts must be consciously made so that the quality of the restaurants does not suffer. It is a priority of the chain to uphold a good reputation and embody a healthy working environment for all its employees. In order to ensure all HR functions are being tended to and the budget is being kept in mind