Analysis of Restaurant Industry Award: Key Issues and Trends

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the restaurant industry award, focusing on key employment relations, entitlements, and emerging trends. The report begins by addressing work entitlements, including who the award covers, the main entitlements such as wages, pay, allowances, leave, and termination, and the areas in which employees must be consulted. It also outlines the dispute resolution procedures. The second part of the report delves into key employment relations, issues, and trends within the restaurant industry, such as challenges related to labor, employee turnover rates, the changing demographics of the workforce, and the increasing investment in employee training programs. Furthermore, the report discusses major issues faced by the industry, including the need for proper job descriptions, the importance of employment agreements, various procedures and policies, and the process of induction and onboarding. The report concludes by highlighting how these issues and trends may impact individuals working in the industry.

Running head: INDUSTRY AWARDS
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Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
PART 1: WORK ENTITLEMENTS...............................................................................................2
Response to question a: Who else or which other occupations are covered by the award?............2
Response to question b: The main entitlements covered by this award..........................................2
Response to question c: Areas that as an employee I must be consulted upon...............................2
Response to question d: The dispute resolution procedures outlined by this award.......................3
PART 2: KEY EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS, ISSUES AND TRENDS....................................3
The operators of the restaurants are improving training..................................................................5
Lack of proper job description.........................................................................................................5
Employment agreement...................................................................................................................5
Various procedures and policies......................................................................................................6
The process of induction..................................................................................................................6

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PART 1: WORK ENTITLEMENTS
Response to question a: Who else or which other occupations are covered by the
award?
The restaurant industry award 2010 covers the catering services. This act covers all the
employees and the employer’s belonging to the restaurant Industry. Employees and employers
covered by the modern award are not covered under the act. This act covers the trainers
providing training to apprentice. This act also covers employers and employees who are engaged
in dealing with labor on hire basis. In case an employee is covered by two awards then those
awards will be applicable which is most appropriate to their working conditions (Barrie 2017).
Response to question b: The main entitlements covered by this award
The entitlements covered by the restaurant industry award are that of the hourly wages,
pay, allowances, leave and termination. All the entitlements are given in the basis of employment
status such as part time, full time, unsure and casual workers. For instance the hourly work of
part time employees covered by the act is that they can work for a maximum of 11.5 hours and in
a week of 4 roasters they can work for 10 hours. Similarly various other entitlements are given.
Response to question c: Areas that as an employee I must be consulted upon
Employees need to be consulted upon in case of any changes in the workplace and also in
case of any changes to the rosters. In case of any change to the production, structure,
organization and other factors done by an employer and which has an effect on the employees
they need to be consulted prior to making any changes (Fair Work Act 2009 2019). In case an
employer decides to change the regular roster of the employees or in case of changes to the daily

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work hours of employees then the employees need to be consulted before any such changes are
made. Therefore the employer should convey all these information about the changes he has
decided to make to the employees (Fairwork.gov.au 2019).
Response to question d: The dispute resolution procedures outlined by this award
In order to resolve any dispute, the parties to the dispute must first discuss with each
other in the workplace and in case the dispute is not resolved then another discussion has to take
place in the presence of the senior level management and in case it is still nit resolved the help of
fair work commission is sought and in that case the parties may agree to resolve the dispute with
the help of the arbitration, consultation and mediation by the Fair works commission (Gordon
and Brezinski 2016). And in case the dispute is still not resolved the fair work commission can
take the help of any other methods. The parties may even appoint any other person for the
discussion process. Further the employees and the employers need to follow the act and the
award to resolve the disputes properly and moreover an employee cannot fail to follow any
instructions given by employer where there are safe working conditions and where the work is
also appropriate for the employees.
PART 2: KEY EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS, ISSUES AND TRENDS
Some of the major trends in the restaurant industry that includes the catering services are:
Various challenges related to labor have started rising
The recruitment of employees of the restaurant industry becomes difficult, when
unemployment rates starts falling and the economy is growing. The issue related to labor was
majorly enhanced during the period of economic downtown. The employment rates in the
restaurants are continuously growing and it is growing faster than the overall growth in

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employment and as a result a gap is being created between the positions that are vacant and the
candidates who are available for that position.
The turnover rates of the restaurant industry are increasing
The recession also had an impact on the turnover of employees. This is so because when
the economic growth is not so good, people used to stay in their jobs but since the economy is
continuously growing therefore people are getting more option and as a result the turnover rates
are continuously increasing. Moreover the employee turnover rates in the restaurant industry are
the highest of the private sector because of employees who work seasonally. Therefore the
industry needs to make application of various retention strategies to help retain the talented
employees who are shifting to competitors (Hugo et al. 2018).
The prime pool of labor is reducing
Earlier the people belonging to the prime groups were the ones who belonged to the age
group of 16-24 years. However there is a decline in the participation of this age group is
continuously falling. Therefore the restaurant industry needs to find a new prime group of labors.
These leaders who have started thinking out of the box have become able to retain the talented
and skilled employees of the organization.
The old workforce
Another major trend of the restaurant industry is that demographics are changing
continuously. Similarly there is a change in the labor demographics. There is a continuous
growth in the demographics of the older people and as a result, the workforce of the industry is
also made up of these people. Therefore in order to get a solution for the major workforce issues,

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people who are 55 years and approximately closer to that are the ones who can provide the
solution. This is so because the people belonging to this age group have a lot of experience and
therefore can offer much better services than others (Koutroumanis, Alexakis and Dastoor 2015).
The operators of the restaurants are improving training
The operators are presently investing huge amounts of money in improving the training
program to the employees and this is so because this will not only help in improving the
performance of the staff but it will also help to retain the employees because the employees will
also feel motivated after undergoing the training (Hallak et al. 2018).
Some of the major issues being faced by the Restaurant Industry are:
Lack of proper job description
There is a strong need to have an effective job description such that everyone knows what
is expected from them and also to avoid any type of job ambiguity. Everyone in the organization
needs to understand what their responsibility is and what are they accountable for and also the
skills that is needed by them to perform their duties safely (Lee, Sardeshmukh and Hallak 2016).
Employment agreement
The agreement of employment lays down the expectations and boundaries of the
relationship between the employers and the employee and helps in protection of the business. All
the benefits and obligations of the employees are clearly mentioned in the agreement of
employment. In the absence of an appropriate agreement, the tribunals and the courts may
interpret the obligation’s and the responsibilities according to themselves. The restaurant
industry provides jobs to many types of employees and as a result it becomes necessary to
properly provide job description otherwise there may be different firms of penalties. There are

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different clauses related to the same such as leaves, working house, intellectual property and
various others. Every business is required to assess its merits and circumstances to determine the
employment agreement (Lepkowska-White 2017).
Various procedures and policies
The procedures and policies manual can actually help in protection of the business
provided it is appropriately used. In case a company fails to implement these properly in the
organization or to comply with the same then the tribunals and various other courts may interpret
it in an expensive way. Moreover these procedures and policies of the organization helps in
taking action correctively which would otherwise have been taken wrongly (Lordkipanidze
2018). Some of these includes- prohibition of discrimination at workplace, child labor, using
mobile phones and various others.
The process of induction
It is necessary to conduct the induction program in a structured way and therefore help
the new employees understand all the policies, procedures and various other activities of 6he
organization. The participants are made to sign a document saying that they have understood all
the regulations, policies, procedures properly irrespective of the fact that they are the line staff or
the management people.
The lack of onboarding
The on boarding process helps in improving the relationship between the employers and
the employees. Effective on boarding can also help the restaurant industry to retain the talented
employees and that can ultimately help in reducing the organizational expenses of recruiting new
people. If an organization is continuously recruiting new people into the organization much

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resources and time is wasted to train them such that they can carry out the activities properly.
This process of onboarding can help the employees to work efficiently. Moreover these days
there is a system of electronic onboarding that can help to reduce the paperwork and further this
can help in cost reduction and improve the accuracy of the activities.
These all issues and trends can have either a positive or a negative impact on me because
I am also working in the same industry and therefore if my employers decide to make use of
proper training faculties than I will be benefitted and in case they lack any retention strategies I
may decide to switch my job to a better company.

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References
Barrie, H., 2017. Catering to diversity. Australian Ageing Agenda, (Jan/Feb 2017), p.15.
Fair Work Act 2009 (2019). Fair Work Act 2009. [online] Legislation.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00323 [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].
Fairwork.gov.au (2019). [online] Fairwork.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/872/restaurant-industry-award-ma000119-pay-
guide.pdf.aspx [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].
Gordon, R.T. and Brezinski, M.H., 2016. The complete restaurant management guide.
Routledge.
Hallak, R., Assaker, G., O’Connor, P. and Lee, C., 2018. Firm performance in the upscale
restaurant sector: The effects of resilience, creative self-efficacy, innovation and industry
experience. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 40, pp.229-240.
Hugo, C., Isenring, E., Sinclair, D. and Agarwal, E., 2018. What does it cost to feed aged care
residents in Australia?. Nutrition & dietetics, 75(1), pp.6-10.
Koutroumanis, D.A., Alexakis, G. and Dastoor, B.R., 2015. The influence organizational culture
has on commitment in the restaurant industry. Small Business Institute Journal, 11(2), pp.27-40.
Lee, C., Sardeshmukh, S.R. and Hallak, R., 2016. A qualitative study of innovation in the
restaurant industry. Anatolia, 27(3), pp.367-376.
Lepkowska-White, E., 2017. Exploring the challenges of incorporating social media marketing
strategies in the restaurant business. Journal of Internet Commerce, 16(3), pp.323-342.

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Lordkipanidze, R., 2018. The Strongest Key to Global Hospitality.