Please read the article and answer the questions listed below the article
Help Wanted! In the early fall, John Smith, the owner of Events by Stars catering company, came into the service manager’s office beaming. “We got the Cameron party,” he said enthusiastically while throwing the BEO on Jones’s desk. “Great!” Jones exclaimed as he picked up the contract and started reading. Immediately, he realized that the October 28 date was the same as that of four other events for the catering company that night. It was also Halloween weekend, a favorite for the college crowd. He continued to read the contract and found that he would need 22 staff members and two supervisors for the dinner portion of the event alone. His enthusiasm faded. Earlier the same day, there were at least two other events, requiring another 38 service personnel. These plus the other 24 for the Cameron dinner put him at 62 service staff needed for one evening. That would be paying approximately 400 man- hours in one night. Unfortunately, the events on October 28 were too important just to send warm bodies. A service staff with skills was needed; there was no room for bad service. Where were these people going to come from? Catering in the city is very seasonal and it is very difficult to maintain a full-service staff at any given time because the work is so inconsistent. One week someone could work 40 hours, then for a month there would be no hours. Tourism and hospitality are the top industries in the city. There are an enormous number of restaurants and lodging facilities. The city is the home of several small universities, one culinary school, one military school, one medical school, and several community colleges. One of the community colleges provides a culinary program and an associate degree in tourism and hospitality. A large university is 90 miles away and offers a Bachelor of Science degree in hotel, restaurant, and tourism administration. There are two hospitality-staffing companies in the area. Neither is typically reliable, providing average, untrained staff. Staff show up in a variety of styles of black and white uniforms, if they show up at all. Working with the staffing companies is kind of like rolling the dice – you never really know who you are going to get. By using a staffing company, the labor expense is increased. QUESTIONS 1. How does a company maintain part-time staff when there is not enough work to keep them busy all year round? 2. What policies and procedures, if any, could be put in place to avoid this situation in the future? 3. How do you train temporary staff to get them up to your standards? 4. How does a service manager better prepare for such a problem? Adopted from: Goldblatt, J. (2005). Special events: Event Leadership for a new world. 4th Edition. Wiley: Hoboken, New Jersey