Challenges in Human Resource Management at Red Rooster

This paper discusses the challenges faced by Red Rooster, a fast food company in Australia, in terms of human resource management. It identifies two significant challenges and provides recommendations for addressing them.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
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The increasingly changing lifestyles of the people along with the rising pace of living
have inspired the popularity and the birth of the fast food companies and industry. The very
recent craze of consuming healthy food products has not influenced the sales rate of this
industryi. Instead, the fast food industry has found a new way of satiating the nutritional and
health needs of consumers all around the world through offering healthy versions of food
products. However, notwithstanding these facts, it is to note that the fast food companies, like
any other companies in any sector, face some significant challenges in terms of Human
Resource. This paper shall elaborate on discussing Zambrero, a fast food company, based in
Australia. The main aim of this paper is to identify two significant challenges that the
organization is likely to face in the coming future. It would make use of the SHRM model for
accessing the situation and verifying whether or not these are actual problems and
determining how these challenges could be addressed.
Company Background
Red Rooster is an Australian fast food centre or restaurant chainii. It was founded in
the year 1972 by Nick Keenan (CEO) and Kailis family. The company is headquartered in
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia. It is to note that Red Rooster supplied a wide range
of products including half roasts, whole roasts, and burgers, different varieties of fish
products, salads, desserts, beverages and wraps. It also has online ordering facilities for its
consumers, and in the year 2014, the company has launched its trial delivery service in
Syndey as welliii. However, it is to note that the company is an excellent place to work in.
About more than 7500 number of employees work for Red Rooster in its different stores
present all around Australia including Adelaide, Melbourne, Las Vegas, Harlem, New South
Wales etc.
Assessing the situation using the SHRM model

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Human Resource is one of the critical factors that contribute to every organization
success. HR is highly noticed as being the fundamental component of the competitive edge
for the modern day companiesiv. Employees always remain the most valuable asset in gaining
a competitive advantage. Notwithstanding, this fact, there are also many difficult assets that
help in managing an organization. It is to note that SHRM (Strategic Human Resource
Management) has a significant impact on the organizational performance at both the practical
and conceptual level. As per Zehir, Uzmez and Yildiz (2016), SHRM always has a positive
effect on the organizational performancev. Red Rooster is successfully conducting its
business in the Australian market. It is being regarded as one of the most liked and favoured
fast food centres for the Australian. However, the way this company manages its human
Resource is also to be assessed to identify whether this success if a long term success or a
shorter one.
Red Rooster’s approach towards its people- At Red Rooster, employees are a tight-
knit bunch who do appreciate each other for possessing unique realness and personalities.
The company provides its employees and staffs with a working environment that supports the
safety, academic commitments and health of the team members. The company also apply a
company minimum age policy of fourteen years, excepts where more stringent legislative
restrictions apply. Furthermore, it is also to mention that the Red Roosters stores are owned
by the independent Franchise Partners present in Australia. They include the entrepreneurial
businessmen and women who do know what it takes for achieving success. These men and
women get massive support from the team of Red Rooster and its head office.
The communication process in Red Rooster- It is to note that everyone at Red Rooster
gets a 'weekly bulletin', a record of all the receipt and actions. Through this weekly bulletins,
the company ensures to keep the employees updated with all the latest information and news.
There is also a presence of social networking team at Red Rooster who helps in providing

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smooth communication flow. With the same, Red Rooster use "The Roost" to share its
messages of the CEO to the employees and in this way, it connects the people and shares the
success stories. Furthermore, it is also to note that most of the stores of Red Rooster make use
of roster program called ZUUS. It is an application, and through this, the team gets the roster
through e-mail, directly. If required, then the employees can also request changes to their list
with the help of this ZUUS appvi.
Learning and development opportunities at Red Rooster- The company makes its
people aware of all the necessary information to keep them safe and help them in succeeding.
There is a "Restaurant walk and talk" system at Red Rooster. Once a new employee is hired,
they are given store training by an experienced team member who is responsible for showing
the new employees the ropes and get them off to a great beginning. There is also an online
training facility for the employees that are provided through RedSpace. Through this
application, the company offers training to employees and give them the necessary
company/policy information and communication information.
Issues that the company is likely to face in the coming years
Although Red Rooster is doing its best to ensure productivity and long-term success,
it is likely to face some significant challenges in the coming years. Firstly, it is to note that
the rate of unemployment in Australia has hit a historic low. Though it is indeed a good thing,
it is challenging for the restaurants, more particularly, the fast food channels as this can
present a challenge for them to hire and retain their staffs. Red Rooster in this process is
likely to face this same issue if it has a low level of employee satisfaction. This will make the
company suffer the most in the tight labour market. Being a widely popular brand, KFC,
Sonic and Wendy's had some meager staff satisfaction rates as per the year 2017vii. Also, the
rates of Dunkin’s and McDonald’s were not that much better eitherviii. Hence, Red Rooster is

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also likely to face a significant fluctuation in the rate of employee satisfaction. One of the
other brands that have been plagued with its crisis of food safety just a few years age is
Chipotle, a well-known fast food company. This company also experienced a significant drop
in its employee and customer satisfaction level in the year 2017.
However, it is to note that in the coming year, this problem will not only be persistent
but is expected to get much worse than ever before. Low employee job satisfaction level is
likely to reduce the level of productivity in Red Rooster. According to Boamah, Read and
Spence Laschinger (2017), when employees are not satisfied with their job, they experience
and report stress on their jobix. It is a fundamental human nature- when a human being does
not do something that they enjoy, the chances are high that they would feel dissatisfied and
even little things will make them feel unhappy and stressed out. With the same, low
employee job satisfaction will result in poor morale amongst the employeex. A negative
attitude among the employees would be spread throughout the workplace like wildfire. If it is
not improved, the overall employee morale will take a very sharp decline. At the same time,
this would also result in high employee turnover rates in Red Rooster. Sooner or later, the
employees working in the company will quit if they find a job that they enjoy to do. It is a
known fact that the fast food industry suffers from high rates of turnover and the impotence
of retaining qualified workers. Hence, Red Rooster needs to implement some policies and
procedures that would help in improving the job satisfaction levels amongst its employees.
Secondly, the other significant challenge that Red Rooster is likely to face is that of
low customer loyalty because of the increasing competitionxi. It is to note that the fast food
industry is one of the most competitive industries and the level of rivalry existing among the
players within this industry intensifies the strategies of implementation of expansionxii. Every
company and brands in the fast food industry strive hard for differentiating themselves from
their competitors, and this further is increasing the rate of existing competition. This stiff

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competition from the other operators will be forcing the company to get engaged in the
aggressive marketing campaigns and to diversify its product offeringsxiii. The major limitation
of Red Rooster is the fact that it has adopted a reactive strategy instead of a proactive one.
However, the fast-food restaurant industry is highly competitive, and Red Rooster is
competing with some well-established food service companies based on its product pricing,
quality, affordability, choice and location. Some of its major competitors include KFC,
Burger King, McDonald's, Pizza hut and Zambrero.
Recommendations
a) Red Rooster needs to focus on improving the level of job satisfaction amongst its
employees instead of on wages. It is because most employees seek to engage in unions
when they feel like their working conditions are poor and that there supervisors and
managers are ineffective. Although increasing the wages of the workers might reduce the
level of job dissatisfaction among the employees, it would never increase their job
satisfaction level in any way. To ensure that employees are satisfied, the managers at Red
Rooster need to pay very close attention to their work condition along with the quality of
their working life. At the same time, the company also needs to ensure that its employees
feel that they are valued, no matter how little they are paid.
b) The company needs to invest in more quality Human Resources that would further
contribute to achieving a competitive edge over the other players within the industry. The
recruitment and selection processes are the keys to ensuring long term success of the
employees. The best resources for any organization today is the human resourcexiv.
Continuous development and training of the employees aid to a high level of efficiency
within the companies and in terms of continuing training, retailing and monitoring, it
helps in ensuring a high level of customer service by the employees. Red Rooster also
needs to be standardized and must ensure the implementation of compulsory training

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programs that would help in standardizing the service that is achieved throughout the
franchise outlets. With the same Red Rooster need to provide its employees with the
ongoing and updated training facilities so that its staffs could develop the required skills
and knowledge and could improve their existing skills. All this will add to the long term
success of the employees.
Hence, from the above analysis it can be concluded that although Red Rooster is working
for improving its human resource situation, the two significant challenges that the
organization is likely to face in the coming future are that of the high level of employee
turnover and increase in competition within the fast food industry. These two challenges are
likely to become a significant negative factor to contribute to its overall downfall in the
coming years. If these issues are not addressed by the company, growth and success is likely
to be hampered. Red Rooster needs to focus on improving the level of job satisfaction
amongst its employees. It should work towards ensuring that its employees are satisfied and
enjoying working with the company. With the same, the company also is required to provide
ongoing development and training to its employees as this will aid to a high level of
efficiency within Red Rooster.

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