Students are required to undertake a research project involving industry. After acquiring knowledge regarding how to conduct research, and possible problem spaces to research in, the student will be required to apply these skills in practice. The student should engage with an organisation to undertake this research project in.

Students are required to present a final written report based off their research project. This should follow the generic structure outlined in the study guide (topics 9-10). 

The study guide corresponding to this unit, in combination with the lecture material and textbook have been designed to equip the student with everything that they need to undertake this work integrated learning research project.

The Australian hospitality industry employs around 270,000 people. Around AUD 70million is spent by the hospitality industry towards training and development. Out of the total expenses, around 21.9% is spent on employee wages. (AHA, 2009) Around 53% of the total workforce comprises of casual employees and students who work part-time. Fulltime employees comprise of around 14%. (ABS, 2008). In this sector, females comprised 53.7% of all employment in the Australian hospitality industry. About 61% of total female employment is working as casual. Such high degree of casual, female and youth employment has led to a high labour turnover rate in this industry. (Pinnacle People, 2016)

High staff turnover in the hospitality industry is a major factor that affects costs incurred, efficiency and productivity. The labour market for the hospitality industry is dual faced – at one hand it is difficult to attract suitable labour and at the other hand it faces high levels of turnover causing an evident loss in investments made on human capital and its enhancements. (Davidson, Timo, & Wang, 2009) In Australia, turnover in the hospitality industry has attracted the attention of policymakers to come up with solutions.

Labour turnover represents a challenge for contemporary HRM strategies and practices. Various reasons are cited by academic researchers that contribute to employee turnover. (Im, 2011) Some of the major factors contributing to employee turnover in the hospitality industry in Australia are age, job profile, employment type, skills, pay, routinisation, overtime, lack of training and corrosive leadership. Though a number of factors are identified to impact employee turnover, these factors vary from organisation to organisation.

In this research, the factors causing high turnover rates in Miss India Restaurant in Strathpine, Queensland are explored. This report assesses the reasons, the extent and accountability for labour turnover in the restaurant under the prevailing HR strategy.

Organisation Background

Founded in 2004, Miss India Restaurant is a chain of restaurants with branches across Queensland. It offers authentic Indian food that is freshly prepared at each of its branch locations.  This research report is limited to Miss India Restaurant's Strathpine location. Currently, this branch employs around 25 people with five full-time employees comprising of one restaurant manager, one supervisor and three chefs. Out of the remaining 20, the number of full-time staff is 8 and the number of part-time staff is 12. The manager reports an increase in employee turnover of around 5% when compared to the previous year. This has increased the cost involved in hiring and training new employees.

(Some parts of the solution has been blurred due to privacy protection policy)