The Human Resources Behind Chick-fil-A Human Resources essay PDF

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The Human Resources Behind Chick-fil-A Human Resources essay...

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The Human Resources Behind Chick-fil-A Human Resources essay Introduction In 1946, S. Truett Cathy opened a diner called Dwarf Grill, which later changed the name to Dwarf House. Being in the foodservice for almost 20 years, Cathy finally discovered that making chicken sandwich by using a pressure-fryer is more efficient than the traditional fried chicken preparation in the fast-food industry. He was so proud and confident with his discovery so in 1967, the first Chick-fil-A was opened in a food court in Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta. The chain is a family-owned business with the current CEO is Dan T. Cathy. Today, with a huge demand, Chick-fil-A has proudly opened more than 2400 stores in 47 states, except Hawaii, Alaska and Vermont. However, this fast-food chain has already started constructing in Hawaii and is looking forward to serving the local soon. Furthermore, this family-owned chains have also expanded globally but success would not come easy unfortunately. Back to the 90s, the chains settled its international stores in Canada and South Africa. However, both locations did not bring much profits to the company revenue so they decided to close their restaurants. Recently, the current store in London is also temporarily closed for 6 months because a group of people protested agaisnt the chain after finding out the company opposed same sex marriage. Despite their failure in international market, Chick-fil-A returned to Toronto, Canada in 2018 and they are planning to open 15 more restaurants over the next 5 years in this country. In 2018, with the sale of $10.36 billion in America, Chick-fil-A accelerated from rank No.7 to No.3 among fast food chains, only behind McDonald's and Starbucks, with $38.52 billion sales $20.49 billion sales respectively. Surprisingly, Chick-fil-A brings more sales per unit

than McDonald's and some experts believed that it is likely to become one of the biggest and scariest competitors for McDonald's. Furthermore, among the employees' choices, the company ranked #72 as an ideal place to work. On Glassdoor.com, the Chick-fil-A has been received over 5.600 reviews with its overall rating is 3.9/5

Jobs in the Company Chick-fil-A is a very powerful and diverse company with a lot of people that come together to make the brand so powerful. They have many different positions at a variety of different locations. The company has jobs in almost every aspect of business such as, Marketing, Management, Finance, Accounting, Hospitality, etc. Most of their higher management positions are based out of their headquarters located in Atlanta, Georgia. Each position varies in salary and responsibility, but the overall aspect of the business is that they are shut on Sundays. Many people have come and go as employees, but overall they have similar reviews of the company.Chick-fil-A has a 3.9 stars out of 5 on glassdoor for company review. An example of some of the positions are Team Member, Brand Manager, Accountant, Property Manager. A Team member is very low on the employee spectrum. They are employees that work in the restaurants and have direct contact with the customers. Their tasks could vary from front of the house to the back of the house. Some include receiving guests, order taking, meal assembly, meal delivery, table touch, clean (front/behind counter, dining room, restroom, etc). Overall they are in charge of preparing the food, serving, and charging the customer. They make about $8-$11 an hour. Team Members feel that the staff is very supportive, they enjoy Sundays off, and love the free meals. They do not like the sporadic hours and the high expectations with low pay. A higher level position is a Brand Manager. These employees are responsible for influencing the brand

and coming up with new marketing strategies. Their salary is estimated $113K - $122K, which is significantly more than the lower level employees. Brand Managers love the effect that they have on the customers and the environment in which they work in. They love the creative aspect to the job. However, they feel that they do not have that much freedom in the position because higher level managers are telling them how and what to do on a daily basis. Another position that has a direct effect on the customer is the store manager. The store manager has to hire and train the team members and find people who will embrace the culture. This is very difficult and takes trial and error. Their daily tasks are directing daily functions, report to higher level managers, and enforce the culture. These functions have a direct impact on the stores revenue. If the store manager is not doing well the store itself will not be as successful as it could be. Store managers make anywhere from $14-$19 an hour. Overall they enjoy the job and company. Some of the positive comments they had were that the company has a great culture, they have a chance to grow, and a very friendly environment. Some of the negative comments they had were that they were often understaffed, overwhelming, and their pay was not up to expectations. A position that they report to is the supervisor. The supervisor is in charge of organizing the workforce and keeping the company on track with the mission/vision statement. They make about $65,000 per year, but varied from different locations. They enjoyed the pay, the positive environment, and they love their management. Some negatives they came across were that they work with a large amount of people, often hectic, and there is a lack of communication. Overall the various positions at Chick-Fil-A enjoyed the atmosphere of the company, but they felt that they were under waged.

Glassdoor reviews

Based on around 50 reviews by employees regarding working at Chick-fil-A we can paint a picture of the work-life balance policies and practices at the company and how employees feel about them. One of the most popular reviews about Chick-fil-A describes this balance by saying, “The people are probably the best part about working at Chick-fil-A. Everyone is nice, friendly, and very willing to help out whenever you need information or guidance. Even the customers can be quite nice at times due to the atmosphere that the company provides.The work itself is challenging but satisfying. You are constantly helping others get what they wanted, which can give a sense of accomplishment. In addition, the job itself pushes great skills onto you such as time management, leadership, and teamwork - all of which come into play as you work here.” This employee shows how the policies and practices implemented at Chick-fil-A leads to a healthy work-life balance because everyone is so friendly and helpful at the workplace in addition to the policies which allow for skill development. According to our professor, a healthy work-life balance includes “proper prioritizing between work (career and ambition) and life (health, pleasure, leisure, family),” Work-life balance “is essentially about resource allocation. Resources (money, energy and time) are limited and valuable resources.” Another review on glassdoor speaks of having a good balance saying, “Flexible, No Sundays, Good Pay, Good ownership” which seems to emulate all the signs of a good work-life balance.” When talking about the culture and belief system that seems to sometimes interfere with with a good work-life balance one employee dissolves any concerns with a review saying “Great culture, great beliefs. Management are willing to do the team member jobs and they have very good training skills.” This review seems to provide evidence suggesting that the management relieves stress on the employees at Chick-fil-A allowing them to allocate some energy which is a necessary work-life resource. Work and life seem to blend

together when working at Chick-fil-A because many reviews suggest customers and employees beginning to feel like family. One specific employee references this phenomenon in his comment saying, ”They have opportunities for you to move up through the company and even become part of corporate office or own your own store. It is a nice family environment that has a lot of repeat customers. Many of the customers have become like family to me.”

Herzberg's Two Factor Theory In Chick-fil-A, the company emphasizes the value of collaboration over competition. They believe “whether within a particular branch or between branches, managers and employees can all stand to benefit from mutual coaching and mentor/mentee relationships.” This applies to one of the hygiene factors in Herzberg’s two-factor principles. Chick-fil-A values co-worker relations from “mutual coaching and mentor/mentee relationships”. They think better outcomes are mostly from teamwork, not competition. The harmony of every worker will give out better results. Furthermore, at Chick-fil-A, they try to give better quality rewards like health insurance and retirement plans. They believe with interesting benefits, their employees will try their best to give good outcomes.”If you want to attract and retain the top talent, and not just fill empty positions, go above and beyond the bare minimum that employees expect to find anywhere.”. Again, this fulfills the hygiene factor from Herberg’s two-factor principles. The company changes the policies which are the benefits (insurance, retirement plans) to boost the productivity and the effort of the employees. Also, they have to make the benefits are more interesting so the employees will not move to other companies.

The Equity Theory represents and determines the amount of resources distributed to each party. This is answering the big question of: Do employees feel that they are getting paid a fair amount? I believe the answer to this question is no. Employees feel that they are not receiving enough pay for the amount of effort they put into the job. Entry level employees for the most part loved their experiences at Chick-fil-A, but believe that the pay was not equal of their work. For the most part their was a common trend of the toughness to work for minimum wage. The employees motivation was definitely at harm. The reason they would perform well in work is because they felt a certain bond to the people around them. The pay and benefits for entry level jobs at Chick-fil-A are not up to the standard that customers believe they should receive. Both present and previous customers in the company feel that their salaries should be increased significantly. They feel that for the amount of hours they work and the physical demands of the job they should receive more money. They feel that Chickfil-A is not your average quick service restaurant and they deserve more than minimum wage.

Group perspectives In my perspective, I would like to be trained in Chick-fil-A. Firstly, this is family-owned business and its organizational culture and values passed from generation to generation with lots of pride. Furthermore, while keeping its traditional values, the company might be able to keep up with current trends from the younger generation to attract their customers. Since family business often maintains their goals and values, the turnover rate would be lower than the non-family firms. It also leads to the fact that employees will have more experiences and might avoid any conflicts when changing the presidency. Last but not least, with the Sunday closure, I have more leisure time to relax and do my personal things. ()

Looking over the analysis, I would love to be a part of the Chick-fil-A team. The very first reason is the company creates flexible schedules for their employees which allows them to balance their lives. Thus it motivates the employees to work with a positive attitude. Unlike other fast-food chains, Chick-fil-A gives Sundays off for their employees which makes them more special and stand-out. This gives the employees time to get some rest and enhance their social lives. Not just that, Chick-fil-A also has a friendly working environment where everyone is willing to help each other to create high-quality results. This not just motivates the employees to go to work but also avoid turnover rate. (Vy) In my perspective, the employee reviews increased my interest in working for Chick-filA because they seem to provide a positive work-life balance in addition to serving some of the best and most memorable chicken on the planet. (Ben) I (Chris) believe that the pay and benefits for entry level jobs at Chick-fil-a are not up to the standard that employees believe they should receive. Both present and previous employees in the company feel that their salaries should be increased significantly. They feel that for the amount of hours they work and the physical demands of the job they should receive more money. They also think that Chick-fil-a is not your average quick service restaurant. For these reasons I believe that I would not want to work as a team member at Chick-fil-a. In a larger position the corporate level people love their pay and benefits. They also enjoy the business being off on Sundays. It gives everyone a chance to reload and settle down. They love the atmosphere of the company and the family-like feel. I believe that I would enjoy a corporate position at Chick-fil-a.

Recommendations

A piece of advice to management to improve employee relations is to respect your fellow team members, inform yourself on regulations from the Federal Fair labor standards act, don't lie to or deceive employees about expected promotions, give breaks to employees who work highrisk temperature, and don't hire managers who just want to act as dictators to their employees.

References

Anonymous. Fil-A - Home of the Original Chicken Sandwich. Chick. www.chick-fil-a.com/. Anonymous. 4 Lessons in Employee Empowerment, Courtesy of Chick-fil-A. (2016) Retrieved December 15, 2019.https://www.csp.com/chick-fil-a/#.XfahYiVOklQ. Hoover. Working at Chick-Fil-A. Glassdoor. www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-Chick-fil-AEI_IE5873.11,22.htm.

Leadem, R. (2019). 25 Interesting Facts You Should Know About Chick-fil-A. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/311452 Patel, D. (2018). 8 Success Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Chick-fil-A. Retrieved December 15, 2019. https://www.google.com.vn/amp/s/www.entrepreneur.com/amphtml/322793. Taylor K. (2019). Chick-fil-A is now the 3rd-largest restaurant chain in America, and McDonald's and Starbucks should be terrified. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-athird-largest-restaurant-chain-in-america-2019-6 Taylor, K. (2016). The incredible story of how Chick-fil-A took over fast food. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-history-and-facts-2016-1...