People Culture Contemporary Leadership: Hungry Jacks

This assignment analyzes the HR practices of Hungry Jacks, a popular fast food chain in Australia, with a focus on employee engagement and welfare. The company's unique HR strategies are evaluated, along with suggestions for improvement and an overview of the current state of employee engagement. The assignment concludes with a structured plan of initiatives for the HR department.

Running head: PEOPLE CULTURE CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
People Culture Contemporary Leadership: Hungry Jacks
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Executive summary
The purpose of this assignment is to understand and analyze one of the popular
employers of Australia, in order to conduct the study the organisation that has been chosen is
Hungry Jack’s, which a popular fast food chain in Australia. The company has around 390
restaurants and has been operating for a long time. The company wants to expand the business
within the country and do not have any international presence. It operates under the American
fast food chain Burger King. Form the analysis it has been observed that the company has some
unique HR strategies which work positively as well as negatively for the company. The HR
practices of the organisation are all based on the welfare of the employees and envisioning the
future that they hold with the organisation. With the triple bottom line business model the
company showcases benchmarking strategies and activities to not only engage the employees but
also offer the society opportunities of well being and prosperity. One of the major findings of the
assignment is that the HR employee engagement practices are based upon the training and
development of the employees; this can be improved with some more fun elements to the
engagement plan.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Company overview..........................................................................................................................3
Identification and discussion of the organisation’s HR strategy.....................................................5
Evaluation of the existing HR practices..........................................................................................6
Overview of the current state of employee engagement.................................................................7
Structured plan of initiatives............................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference list:..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The Human resource department form one of the most important departments in an
organisation as it takes care of the people who are responsible of the daily operations of the
business. The role of the HR department in brief is to ensure the safety and health of the people
associated with the company, recruitment and maintaining a work friendly environment in the
organisation as well as deal with the issues and grievances of the employees of the company. It is
also one of the duties of the HR department to ensure that the people who are associated with the
company have a scope of career development as well. Therefore, broadly the role can be divided
in three sections: staffing, employee compensation and benefits, and defining/designing work.
In this assignment the organisation that is going to be analyzed is Hungry Jacks. The assignment
will address a company overview followed by the HR practices that are adopted by the company.
Company overview
Hungry Jack's is iconic in Australia, over the years of establishment the company has
been through a lot of changes in the management and corporate divisions but then established in
1971, the organisation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Burger King Australia
(Hungryjacks.com.au 2018). The owner of the organisation is Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns
and operates or sub-licenses’ all of the Burger King as well as Hungry Jack's restaurants in
Australia. Burger King wanted to expand their operations in Australia and the company did it
with aligning the company with a local organisation (Hungryjacks.com.au 2018). There are
almost 390 stores in Australia; the focus of the company is in the quality of the product Hungry
Jacks has over 16,500 employees in the current status (Thehungryjacksway.com.au 2018). The
company is associated with several games and activities of the community which indicates that

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they have a triple bottom line business model, where only financial aspect of the company is not
the sole objective of the management.
The aim of the organisation is to cater to the requirements of the target market and adapt to the
changes in the industry accordingly.
The objectives of the company are:
 To create a valuable relationship with the customers in order to ensure a loyalty
 To build a sustainable future
 To ensure that the company expands the operations further
 To be able to meet the changing needs of the customers (Hungryjacks.com.au 2018)
As a franchise, the company strives to maintain the quality of the burgers that they serve their
customers in order to conform uniformity and uphold the motto of the company; “The burgers
are better at Hungry Jack's”. The organisation is a major employer in Australia, they are known
for employing people who are young especially looking for a job to sustain their studies and
pocket money. The company spends around $250 million in salaries and wages which is why it
can be said that the company has a significant impact on the economy of Australia as well
(Thehungryjacksway.com.au 2018). The company follows six values: guest-led; meritocratic;
empowered; accountable; teamwork; and fun (Thehungryjacksway.com.au 2018).
In April 2011, the company was under the radar for underpaying almost 700 employees
and the company was imposed with a penalty. Another accusation was admitted by Hungry
Jack’s is that they had failed to keep a track and proper record of the employees present as well
as past (Fairwork.gov.au 2011).

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Identification and discussion of the organisation’s HR strategy
One of the major strategies of HR is to hire young people in order to engage better with
the target market as people from 16-25 make up the primary target market of the organisation
(Nankervis et al 2002). Apart from that this strategy is also driven by the fact that the company
wants to provide young people, without experience an opportunity to understand the industry and
develop positivity form the youngsters. There is a significant amount of employees in the
company who are under 18 years (Thehungryjacksway.com.au 2018).
Training is an important part of the HR strategy, the employees are trained to
communicate, understand and comprehend with the customers, not only that they are also trained
to deal with several issues and grievances that the customers come up with
(Thehungryjacksway.com.au 2018).
When the company comes up with a new store depending upon the strength of the
location around 35-50 people are appointed to serve the customers of the new restaurant. Before
opening these people are trained to improve their skills in order to make the process of operation
smooth and efficient (Nankervis et al 2002).
The salaries and the wages of each branch is kept uniform, in order to deal with crisis
situations like the one that has been stated above. The locations of the branch do not make a
difference. Approximately $600,000 is offered to each restaurant on a yearly basis. The amount
on the other hand also adds to the local economy as well (Thehungryjacksway.com.au 2018).
Following the first strategy that has been discussed this is another unique HR practices
that is followed by the company. More than 90 percent of the total population of the employees
work on a part time basis while enjoying all the facilities of job security along with the flexibility

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of work time, the company believes that this allows the employees to have a work-life balance as
it is essential for the employees interest to align with the objectives of the company (Nankervis et
al 2002). Only 5 percent employees in the company are full-time involved with the operations of
the business where as approximately 2 percent are casual employees
(Thehungryjacksway.com.au 2018).
The organisation also employees people with special abilities as they want to offer
everyone a fair share of chance and to establish as equal opportunity employer. The HR
department works closely with the work with the employment and placement centers in the
localities of operations in order to train and employee such people (Thehungryjacksway.com.au
2018).
Evaluation of the existing HR practices
The company views it as a responsibility to offer such a platform for young people to join
an organisation as well as continue with other important things in life as well. The HR
management of Hungry Jack’s understands the responsibility of teaching young people work
ethics and skills which are necessary in their career (Nankervis et al 2002). This is a part of the
company’s Triple bottom line model as well which states that the company not only focuses on
the finances of the organisation but also identifies the duties and the responsibilities that they has
as a corporate towards the well-being of the society as well as the Environment (Nankervis et al.
2013).
One of the drawbacks of the part-time and the young people policy is that this strategy
leads to low employee retention rate (Nankervis et al. 2013). Mostly people work with the

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company for a couple of months and then they leave, for young people being first time exposed
to work culture may be also difficult to adapt which can be the reason for low attrition.
With the HR practices like employing people with physical disabilities and understanding
the needs and requirements of the employees the company has created goodwill in the industry,
which not only resonate the quality of the product and services that they offer but also showcase
the values and principles that the organisation follow (Nankervis et al. 2013).
Overview of the current state of employee engagement
As Meritocracy and empowerment are some of the major part of the values that the
company follows, the emplacement engagement policies of the company is also base on this
value (Menguc et al. 2013). Therefore, the company offers several opportunities to the
employees to learn and grow with their Employee Foundation, which is a charitable trust that
supports and helps the employees of the organisation in need. Young Endeavour Program, is a
scholarship that the company has launched as a gesture to thank the employees for their
commitment and contribution towards the growth and expansion of the business. The company
also has training program and management courses for all the employees (Anitha 2014).
Structured plan of initiatives
Because fun is a also a part of the values of the company, the HR department should
introduce some fun activities for the employees, considering the average age of most of the
employees are less than 20 (Tims et al. 2013). According to the JD-R (Job Demand and
resources) Model coined by Arnold Bakker and Evangelia Demerouti, state that when the job
demands are soaring and job positives or resources is small stress is inevitable. One the other

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hand if the resources are also at par with the demands then it can translate in to engagement and
motivation (Bakker and Demerouti 2014).
The companies also have the opportunity to deal with some of the common
environmental issue, with the help of the employees. More and more organisations are engaging
their employees in their CSR activities this improves the motivational rate among the employees
and makes them being part of community (Truss et al. 2013).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that Hungry Jack’s has a hierarchal organisation structure which
makes it easy for the employees to operate as they have a supervisor or a manager who directs
the employees to strive towards achieving the objectives of the company. Hungry jack’s is
known for their quality and timeliness of their service, the HR department of the company is not
only focused on hiring people but also ensuring the people working for the organisation get
opportunity and scope to develop their career with the company.

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Reference list:
Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance. International journal of productivity and performance management, 63(3), p.308.
Bakker, A.B. and Demerouti, E., 2014. Job demands–resources theory. Wellbeing.
Fairwork.gov.au. 2011. Hungry Jack’s fined for underpaying almost 700 staff over $665,000.
[online] fairwork.gov.au. Available at: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media-
releases/2011-media-releases/april-2011/20110413-hungry-jacks-court-court-penalty [Accessed
7 Apr. 2018].
Hungryjacks.com.au., 2018. About US. [online] hungryjacks.com.au. Available at:
https://www.hungryjacks.com.au/about-us [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Menguc, B., Auh, S., Fisher, M. and Haddad, A., 2013. To be engaged or not to be engaged: The
antecedents and consequences of service employee engagement. Journal of business research,
66(11), pp.2163-2170.
Nankervis, A.R., Baird, M., Coffey, J. and Shields, J., 2013. Human resource management:
strategy and practice.
Nankervis, A.R., Compton, R.L. and Baird, M., 2002. Strategic human resource management.
Thehungryjacksway.com.au., 2018. People. [online] thehungryjacksway.com.au. Available at:
http://thehungryjacksway.com.au/people/hungry-jacks-is-a-major-australian-employer-were-
proud-to-give-so-many-young-australians-a-leg-up-by-employing-them-in-their-first-ever-jobs/
[Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].

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Tims, M., Bakker, A.B. and Derks, D., 2013. The impact of job crafting on job demands, job
resources, and well-being. Journal of occupational health psychology, 18(2), p.230.
Truss, C., Shantz, A., Soane, E., Alfes, K. and Delbridge, R., 2013. Employee engagement,
organisational performance and individual well-being: exploring the evidence, developing the
theory.