CASTLE’S FAMILY RESTAURANT: HRIS NEEDS ASSESSMENT Essay

Introduction Jay Morgan, an Operations and HR Manager for Castle’s Family Restaurant has asked Preston’s HR consulting firm for a HRIS application proposal that will reduce the time spent traveling between the Castle’s Family Restaurants eight restaurants in the northern California area and help him complete his HR tasks in a cost-effective manner while allowing Mr. Morgan to do part of his HR tasks from his office. The following paragraphs provide a business assessment, detailing the type and size of Castle’s Family Restaurant, the identified HR problems, and a HRIS needs assessment. I have concluded with a brief overview and closed with why a HRIS application is the right strategic choice for Castle’s Family Restaurant. Business Assessment Castle’s Family Restaurant is part of the restaurant industry which according to the National Restaurant Association (2013) is now 13.1 million employees strong, and expected to increase 9.8 percent to 14.4 million by 2023. Castle’s Family Restaurant’s mission is to promote customer loyalty by providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value and to promote employee loyalty through leadership training, promotion, benefits, and rewards. Castle’s Family restaurant currently employee’s approximately 300-340 employees of which 40% is full time; in the eight restaurants owned in the northern California area. Currently Jay Morgan is both operations  manager and HR manager for the eight restaurants in which time and money is spent traveling between the eight restaurants to manually complete each restaurants HR tasks. Sales have shown improvement over the past ten years since Castle’s Family Restaurant opened up their doors, but contin ue to struggle with employee satisfaction that accounts for the increased turnover rates the company has experienced in the past two years. It is the mission of the company to not only satisfy their customers needs but also their employee’s and therefore it is imperative that the necessary means be taken to decrease the increased employee turnover rates. Identified Problems Castle’s Family Restaurant’s concerns over the past two years are with the increased employee turnover rates. Even though sales have increased Castle’s Family Restaurant is concerned with future revenue and profitability, low workplace moral, and deteriorating product and service quality which are negative impacts from high employee turnover rates. In order to reduce turnover rates more attention must be given to employee training, promoting, benefits, and rewards. Right now Mr. Morgan is spending time and money traveling among the eight restaurants in order to manage scheduling, recruiting, hiring, payroll, and answering employee’s questions; leaving little to no time for developing the employee’s. By automating HR tasks Mr. Morgan can travel less, spend less, and have more time developing the employee’s which in turn will reduce employee turnover rates. Scheduling software can help automate the process of assigning the right number of emplo yees to perform the tasks that need to be performed on each workday and during each meal service. Workflow software will aid in the hiring process by allowing applicants to fill out applications online, upload documents, and allow criteria’s to be set weed out prospects. Even though one-on-one training is important, technology can be used to track the development of employees and also be used in ways of training videos and manuals. Automating payroll will reduce the time spent on them and help avoid mistakes that can lead to legal repercussions. Specialized software exists for both payroll calculation and tips reporting; which exist in the restaurant industry. Such software can help Mr. Morgan by automatically calculating payroll while remaining in compliance with the relevant legislation, make it easier to enter payroll data into databases where it  can be searched, and save time that would’ve been wasted on manual calculation. Payroll software can also help with ot her measures such as directly depositing paychecks into employees’ bank accounts. Though, I believe that each HR tasks listed above could benefit the company if automated, it is in the best interest of Mr. Morgan and Castle’s Family Restaurant to automate payroll to reduce errors and compliance issues and also free up some time which can be used for employee development. HRIS Needs Assessment Currently Mr. Morgan uses Excel spreadsheets and a computer application to print payroll checks. He spends on the average eight hours to process payroll for the approximant 300-340 Castle’s Family Restaurant employees. Without schedule software each manager at the eight restaurants have to print weekly schedules and make changes as necessary throughout the week; increasing errors. Mr. Morgan enters the schedules in the Excel spreadsheets which he relies on his knowledge of Excel to make the correct calculations. An automated time keeping system will track employee hours and pay hourly employees accordingly; it will also allow Mr. Morgan to import employee hours into payroll software which will compute the time worked; which saves Mr. Morgan time from having to manually calculate employee’s payments and deductions. Automated payroll is also a record keeper which the â€Å"IRS requires employers to keep employment tax records for a minimum of four years. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Labor requires payroll records to be kept for at least three years† (Grace, 2014). With a HRIS application Castle’s Family Restaurant can connect all eight restaurants in the northern California area. HRIS will assist Castle’s Family Restaurant in two major areas: recording and recruiting. HRIS will allow the company to invest more time and money in their most valuable resource their employees. Conclusion It is without a doubt that Castle’s Family Restaurant is in need of Automating HR tasks in order to save time and money while keeping their customers and employee’s satisfied; because we all know that if the employee is not happy, neither is the customer. It is my suggestion that payroll be the first HR function to be automated. By Automating payroll time is saved,  errors are reduced; payments and deductions, and records are kept while keeping in compliance with state and federal regulations. Reference Grace, N., (2014). What are the Benefits of Automating a Payroll System? Chron. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-automating-payroll-system-2126.html National Restaurant Association. (2013). Jobs & Careers Powerhouse. Retrieved from http://www.restaurant.org/Industry-Impact/Employing-America/Jobs-Careers-Powerhouse