Impact of the Legal Environmental Element on the HR Planning, Job Design, and Quality of the Work Practices of the Organization
The human resource management can be defined as the administration and development of the employees in an organization. It includes supervising all the things related to handling an organization’s human capital. This report includes the human resource management in the hospitality industry of Australia and the effect of the penalty rates on the employees. As the basis of the penalty rates, the employees should be properly remunerated for the working long hours at expedient and antisocial hours. The penalty rates are important for the people having low pay.it substantially increase the income of the employees. On July 1, 2017, certain penalty rates in the hospitality industry have been reformed. These changes affect penalty rates for permanent and causal employees working on Sunday, public holidays or till midnight. This report examines the variation in the legal environmental factor that how it has impacted the HR planning, job design and work practice qualities in the hospitality industry. The recommendations are given to advance the negotiations with the concerned parties.
The Fair Work Commission (FMC) has proclaimed a reduction in Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for the hospitality industry. The penalty rates have long secured the Australian weekend. It has been more than a century; they have incentivized uneven hours of work and remunerated employees for their time separately from family and friends. The penalty rates endure having an authentic role in reimbursing employees for the working long hours. It should be noticed that the penalty rates are subjected to review as the society changes (Albrecht, Bakker, Gruman, Macey & Saks, 2015). The FWC realized that the penalty rates do not accomplish the modern rewards objective and provide a rational and pertinent minimum safety. The penalty rates are effective for the public holidays. From 1 July 2017, both full time and part time employees are getting compensated 225% of their base pay rate for doing work on the public holiday. The employees even get 25% of their base pay rate for the work on the Christmas day even if it falls on the weekend. The casual employees get 250% of their base pay rate for functioning on the public holiday. The penalties are applied to the employees if they work late nights and early mornings from Monday to Friday (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
HR planning is the constant procedure of regular planning to attain optimum use of the organization’s maximum valuable asset that is its human resources. The HR planning confirms adequate supply of the human resources and the effective utilization of the human resources. If we talk about the penalty rates then the workers will endure to obtain penalties under the 2017 rules but they will be condensed (Peetz, 2016). The penalty rates are helpful in the HR planning as it is helpful in expanding employment opportunities for the younger workers. It assists younger workers to find employers who are ready to employ even on Sundays and public holidays. When it comes to such combative matters, it is vital HR has the capability to accomplish and communicate effectively with the employees (Oliver & Yu, 2018). The HR even helps such employees in managing employee’s complaints and in the effective business communication. The lower penalty rates in the hospitality industry have helped to reduce labor turnover. There is a need in the organizations to recruit new persons to take up the position who have left the organization. The employees working on Sunday and holidays have reduced the requirement of the additional employees. Whenever the hospitality industry plans to expand then more persons are required to take up the positions. In such a scenario, reduction in the penalty rates motivates to work even on the Sundays and holidays (Pekarek & Gahan, 2016). It removes the burden of hiring new employees. So, the reduction in the penalty rates is effective in the expansion plans. The reduction in the penalty rate even anticipates the surplus or shortage of the staff and avoids the unnecessary dismissals.
The Job Design Impacts of Penalty Rates on Permanent and Casual Employees
It has been observed that the Saturday penalty rates meet the objective of the award cross the hospitality industry whereas the Sunday rates did not meet the relative standards. For the full time and part time employees of the hospitality, the Sunday rates decreased from 175% to 150% of the fixed wage. It represents challenges to the hospitality industry as trading hours of the operation has a tendency to expand. It is beneficial for the employers who claim that they could not afford to have extended hours. Whereas rate cut is continued to be seen as contravention to the employees and the willingness to do extra hours can be a hurdle for the employers (O’Brien, Markey & Pol, 2018). There are thousands of workers who will be negatively impacted by the decision in the short term. It even reduces the capacity to employ additional workers promised to employ in the short term (Peterson, 2015).
The job design is the vital task of the human resource management and is linked to the description of substances, methods, and relationship of jobs. It improves job satisfaction and reduces the problem of employees. The job design goals at drawing and forming tasks, duties, and accountabilities into the sole unit of work for the attainment of the specific purposes. The job design includes several tasks like job simplification, rotation, enrichment, and enlargement. The job design sets out the national employment standards as the legal minimum (Nicholson, Pekarek & Gahan, 2017). It also comprises the enterprise agreements and registered agreements. The job designing includes what a person is required to perform. The penalty rates affected job designing for some permanent and casual employees. The employees who work on Sundays are subjected to the minimum penalty rates (Bailey, Mankin, Kelliher & Garavan, 2018). In July 2017, the new penalty rate was 170%, in July 2018 160% whereas it is expected to fall to 150% in 2019 on Sundays in the hospitality sector. The penalty rate is 225% for the public holiday rates. Low penalty rate in jobs means more productivity. The decision of reducing penalty rates is governing much of the hospitality to more closely align with the Saturday rates. Lower penalty rates motivate employees to perform even on the weekends and holidays which automatically lead to more productivity. It even caused to more employment as employees are attracted towards doing more jobs. The FWC vindicated that the cuts on the grounds would help to enhance employment in the hospitality industry. The prevailing level of the Sunday rates has steered to restricting trading hours, reduced staff levels and has shortened the services offered (McIvor & Markey, 2017).
It is seen that the workers in the hospitality industry get remunerated additionally on the weekends and public holidays but not everyone approves they should. There are also erratic changes for the early and late night work burden for restaurant workers. It can distress mainly to the Australians who depend on the penalty rates to earn relatively a low wage. In the case of hospitality, the minimum wage is $17.70 per hour and an eight-hour shift can be capable in earning $248 from Sunday shift.
Human Resource Theories and their Impacts on HR Planning and Job Design Recommendations
The human resource theories like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is effective in the HR planning and job design. This theory focused on what motivates employees to work for the extra hours and even on the Sundays and holidays. This theory came up with the five needs of the employees. The first need is required to be satisfied before moving to another stage. As per Maslow, needs vary from one person to another and individuals are required to fulfil their needs. Under the Maslow’s theory, physiological needs are the physical needs like food and water which is need to be met before moving to another level. It will be difficult for the employees to survive if they do not make enough money to have food and water. The second level is known as safety needs. The employees are required to work in the safe environment. The employees can not contribute their full efforts if they do not feel safe themselves in the environment. The third level is identified as love, affection and belongingness needs. When the physiological and safety needs are met then the employees move to attain love, affection and belongingness. The fourth level is called esteem and it is represented by the dual sets of needs. In the first set, employees are empowered by the desire for strength and achievement whereas second set calls the desire for status. The fifth and the final level is identified as self-actualization. It states the desire for self-fulfilment which means to become everything that one person is capable of becoming. When these five needs are fulfilled by the organization then the employees are more capable of producing and contribute towards the organization.
The quality of the work practices ensures that company’s management and employees follows the rules, regulations, laws, standards and ethical practices applicable to the hospitality industry. The reduced penalty rates are born out of the need to meet standards of the Australian business laws. The FWC deals with the rights of employees and the employer/ employee relationships (Barry, 2016). The quality management in the hospitality industry specifically focuses on the ongoing customer satisfaction and consistent service delivery. Whereas the food and beverage regulations are for the defence of the consumers. The FWC provides the terms and conditions for the employee and employer (Sutherland & Riley, 2017). The responsibilities towards the working environment has been set out and ensures acquiescence with the act. FWC realized that Sunday penalty rates in the hospitality industry are not capable of achieving the fresh awards objective. It is because they do not offer an impartial and appropriate lowest safety net. But the reduction in the penalty rates has helped to improve the quality of work practices by higher business profits and productivity. Whereas, the higher penalty rates leads to the reduced demand for labor and increased costs to the government (Kaine & Boersma, 2018). The reduction in the penalty rates helps employers to hire more employees. The quality of the work practices will lead to the operation of more hospitality venues on Sundays and holidays. It offers a better experience to the customers with the availability of more staff on the exceptional days. The industry can also make more money from the enhanced working hours and increased staff levels. As a result, more money will be available to reinvest into the business. The reduction in the penalty rates is enough to improve work quality and cover weekly living expenses (Barry & You, 2017).
The penalty rates do not certainly bring assistances for the customers. The reduced penalty rates can also result in damaging work morale. As per the theories, the work morale can be positive and negative responding to the abnormalities. It will exercise more or less power reliant on the interpretation of the change (Gahan, Pekarek & Nicholson, 2018). The prolonged working hours can even have damaging communal impacts. As employees active in the hospitality industry are low remunerated. They are also required to work for the longer hours on Sundays and public holidays to compensate the loss due to cuts. It results in less time for friends, family and the society. Along with the economic tool, penalty rates are replication of the values of the Australian society (Gahan, Pekarek & Nicholson, 2018).
It is important to set the accurate level of reward for non-standard hour work to take deliberation of the labour supply side. The policy makers are required to sustain a balance between economic competence and worker’s socials requirements to decide penalty rates. In the case of the hospitality employees attitudes to a personnel strategy, full time workers desired occupied during regular hours whereas part time and casual employees are recommended to work during non-standard hours provisional on the penalty rate payments (Sutherland & Riley, 2017). The focus should be given on the work satisfaction as it reduces penalty rates and results in the high staff turnover.
The employees working on the Sundays and holidays in the hospitality industry are also required to have some skills so that they can contribute their effort efficiently. These skills comprise commitment, interpersonal skills, flexibility, team work and more. The main task in the hospitality industry is customer satisfaction (Haggan, 2017). It requires to do anything whatever makes customers happy. The commitment should be made with the employees working on the Sundays and holidays that their efforts result in customer satisfaction and leads to the positive perception of the hospitality industry. Whereas the interpersonal skills provides spectacular customer service and relate with the customers on the constant basis. The reduced penalty rates cause employees to work on the extended basis and it helps to contribute overall productivity (Barry & You, 2018). In such a scenario, problem-solving skill develops innovative and practical solutions to solve minor problems faced in the hotels. The employees in the hospitality industry are also required to be organized and able to tackle multi tasks without any hurdles. The hospitality employees usually have unusual hours than the average job so they should be ready to face the unexpected situations. Being versatile and having multi skills makes tremendously resourceful to the employees (Wright, 2018). The employees are also recommended to upgrade their certifications. The hospitality training courses can be attended by the employees and are essential to begin employment.
Conclusion
The hospitality sector is going through the largest ever expansion period and is a 24/7 industry. The rates on the Sundays and public holidays reflect the modern working environment. The reduction in the penalty rates can be vindicated by assistances to consumers, businesses’ short term viability and the entitlement made by businesses to enhance staffing. Though, these entitlements are scarce in proof and encourage conflict nationally. The theoretical evidences has represented that the reduced penalty rates can have contrary impact on the in equally across income earners, regions, economic growth and employment. It can be possible through the channel of deteriorated aggregate demand and labour supply side along with the social aspects. It is extremely important for the policyholders to take stakeholders into account to decide accurate points of the industry precise penalty rates.
References
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