With its famous golden arches and instantly recognisable “I’m lovin’ it” slogan, the McDonald’s brand is one of the largest and most recognisable corporations in the world. McDonald’s is the worlds second largest private employer (behind Walmart) and has 1.9 million employees in branches and offices around the world.
Because the brand is such a large one, McDonald’s invest a large amount of time into the HR and company culture of the fast-food chain, and continually introduce initiatives to improve it for their employees. They have won a multitude of impressive awards for their approaches to HR and company culture. So what ways have the burger brand been boosting their HR profile? Let’s take a look…
They cultivate pride:
Over the years, McDonald’s employees have taken a bit of a rap due to the nature of the company they work for. Jobs at McDonald’s had an attached stigma or negative connotation – which McDonalds recognise and actively try to reduce. They work hard on cultivating a sense of pride among staff, and use opportunities such as providing its employees the opportunity to work at cool events it sponsors, such as the London Olympics where it sent 2,000 of its staff.
They provide equal opportunities:
Something that McDonald’s are very well known for is creating equal opportunities for everyone.They have made a point to attract and retain a very diverse group of people, and they make sure this is done by providing managers with diversity training and workshops. Thee workshops allow managers to learn how to bring the best out of everybody no matter their physical wellness or levels of health.
They provide opportunities:
If you’ve never heard of The Hamburger University…where have you been?! The training campus has been called the ‘Harvard of the food industry’ and apparently, the school only has a 1% acceptance rate. Sounds exclusive! More than 275,000 franchisee’s and managers have graced the halls of the training campus and each has received an actual degree in ‘Hamburgerology ‘. I think this really shows off the tone of the company. They care about their employees but can still have a bit of fun. In a new HR employee engagement programme, McDonald’s invested £35 million into training for its staff, which shows they really want to invest and retain the best talent.
They treat employees as individuals:
Due to the nature of the restaurant and the huge numbers of staff they employ, it could be easy for McDonald’s to refer to colleagues as a mass of people or a number, instead of actual human beings. Due to this reason, McDonald’s introduced the “Meet our people” campaign, which aimed to show-off the breadth of employees as ‘talented individuals from all walks of life’. This campaign was actually the first McDonald’s campaign that had zero negative feedback. Not only did this show customers that each employee is a real person, it also helped show workers that they were appreciated.
They promote gender equality:
McDonald’s are doing great things for the promotion of equality for females in the workplace. The number of female executives on its board has risen from 10% 2007 to 27% in 2010. They also have a Women’s Leadership Development Programme and a women’s leadership network and coaching/mentoring scheme to champion female talent in the company. It’s fantastic to see a large corporation promoting gender equality.
Overall, it looks like McDonald’s is a great place to work!
What measures do you take to ensure your employees and happy and motivated in the workplace?
