What is it about highly successful companies and employee problems?

Disney has seen its share of problematic employee issues as have McDonalds and others.  And in the past few years the fast-growing Chipotle Mexican Grill ran into a government brick wall by incurring a multi-year investigation of its hiring practices by Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division (ICE).

Chipotle returned to an unwanted spotlight recently with a walkout and supposed mass resignation by employees at the chain’s operation near Pennsylvania State University.  According to published reports employee were upset by allegedly being forced to work long hours without rest breaks.   A sign posted in Chipotle’s storefront referred to “borderline sweatshop conditions” as the cause of the walkout.

In an article in Bloomberg News a Chipotle spokesman said that only “a few employees” were involved while other employees were “enthusiastic to return to work.”   Bloomberg noted that at its most recent shareholder meeting the publicly-held Chipotle, whose stock price is approaching $700/share encountered a different kind of pushback — from shareholders — when  77% of the votes cast  opposed a combined $49.5 million annual compensation package for Chipotle’s co-CEOs.

Our observation:  To paraphrase a well worn quote, “employee issues happen for a reason”. Employees who are well trained, fairly compensated, supervised by decent and caring managers, and provided with reasonable rewards for their work — including the basic necessities such as time off for a meal or rest break — generally don’t simply walk off the job without provocation; meaning that there is likely more to this story than has been reported.   Stay tuned.  Meanwhile, pay attention to the basic necessities.

Source: http://www.hospitalityhrsolutions.com/