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Subscribe by EmailReducing Long Hours Worked by Restaurant Managers
Restaurant managers, including those at chains like McDonalds and Hooters, are among the salaried employees who routinely work many hours of overtime without receiving any overtime premium.
There can be issues about whether they are truly exempt from overtime pay. But in any event there are some signs of change, as the chains attempt to become more family-friendly and to retain managers longer:
Compelled by the desire to create a signature eating establishment, the traditional manager makes the restaurant his or her life.
Increasing numbers of today’s casual dining establishments are taking a hard look at following such a tradition. With the blessing of a new generation of managers who work within a formula and are likely not control freaks, big chains are seeing the advantages of scaling back managers’ hours.
Today’s managers, many with young families, are clamoring to cut back on the workload to free up more family time.
“Cutting back to improve quality of life”
This article details changes in this direction by several major chains, including Hooters and Cracker Barrel. Efficiencies allowing these changes are discussed as well. The story ends with some fascinating National Restaurant Association statistics, including:
- The restaurant industry employs more than 9 percent of U.S. employees.
- More than four of 10 adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some time during their lives, and 27 percent got their first job experience in a restaurant.
- There is a meaningful ladder to management opportunities in this industry, as nine of 10 salaried employees at table-service restaurants started as hourly employees, the number of foodservice managers is projected to increase 11 percent from 2005 to 2015, more than three out of five foodservice managers have annual household incomes of $50,000 or more, and eating-and-drinking places employ more minority managers than any other industry.
I’m one of those adults whose first job was at McDonalds, and I saw managers working very hard trying to climb that ladder. It was survival of the fittest.
Photo credit: cJw314 via flickr
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Comments
Do you realize how difficult it is to stay married to someone who works in this industry? I’ve been married 15 years to a man, who’s a GM. Although, the money can be OK, it doesn’t replace his lack of existance in the home. When a manager has a great track record of making decent bonus, that’s when the companies start tightening their budgets. I believe they like to lure you into their “web”, give you the chance to earn good money, then, pull the rug out from under you. Before you know it, you are working harder, longer, and for less money. Anyway, it’s been a horrible road, having a man married to his job. I believe that if and only if you want to enter into this type of career, don’t involve a spouse or children. There will be many times, when you will break their hearts, when you cannot be present in their lives. The money isn’t great enough to compensate, either.
Thanks for your views. Unfortunately, for decades men in many professions have been “married to their jobs,” causing pain to the very families they are working to support. Now women can do the same. Progress may be coming, but clearly too slowly for many people.
I stumbled upon your site while googling and was happily shocked to see credit given for use of my photo. Thanks for your (legally required) honesty - it’s a rarity in this world.
God bless and Merry Christmas. :)