Day 118 - 01 May 95 - Page 55
1 the box there is a paragraph which you can read to
2 yourself. (Pause) Have you read at that paragraph?
3 A. Yes.
4
5 Q. Why should somebody have to make the necessary adjustments
6 at the end of a week by trying to cut a lot of hours in the
7 last day? Why would they want to do that?
8 A. I do not know. I did not write this and I have never
9 been on this particular course. This is crew scheduling
10 and I am not an expert crew scheduler. In fact I know very
11 little about it. You need to ask someone from the
12 Operations Department questions on crew scheduling.
13
14 Q. Well I put it to you it is because the company puts
15 pressure on managers to reach a labour percentage?
16 A. No.
17
18 Q. Of sales?
19 A. No, they do not put pressure on to reach a labour
20 percentage. The store manager sets his budget and he tries
21 to meet budget, but not just on crew labour on everything
22 that is within his controllable expenses.
23
24 Q. We are talking about labour percentages at the moment?
25 A. Of course he sets a labour percentage. He sets a
26 percentage on everything and he tries to meet it.
27
28 Q. In the next sentence, Mr. Nicholson, it says here: "Your
29 manager or owner/operator/supervisor..." -- so this applies
30 also to licensees?
31 A. Yes, they get the same training.
32
33 Q. "...can help determine acceptable labour costs for your
34 restaurant"?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. "Anything above that is a problem and you need to identify
38 the facts that are causing the problem". So is it not the
39 fact that the company sets acceptable labour costs and
40 above that, which effectively you have to keep below as a
41 manager?
42 A. No, no. You try to reach your budgeted labour costs.
43
44 Q. If you get something above that figure it is a problem,.
45 That is what it says there, does it not?
46 A. I would accept that. If you are way above your
47 projected budget on labour costs you have a problem
48 somewhere because are you not meeting your budget, but that
49 is exactly the same thing with anything else on the P&L.
50
51 Q. On page 597 under "Managing Labour"?
52 A. Yes.
53
54 Q. If you would like to read that paragraph. The middle
55 sentence there says "Regardless of sales when labour is
56 running high many managers automatically begin to cut
57 unit-producing hours." That is labour costs effectively,
58 yes?
59 A. Well, read on. "This in turn negatively impact QS and
60 customer satisfaction", so it is not approved of.
