“We are exploiting people, and we are doing it well” was the slogan of a fake advertisement in France for McDonald’s. Are the crew members really exploited like in a sweatshop or is it just a myth?
At first sight, McDonald’s seems to be a pleasant company to work.
Every year, the «Institute of Great Places to Work» publishes the rating of the ‘Best workplaces of the world,’ and McDonald’s came in 8th place in 2011.
No need for a diploma
First, to be a member of the “team”, you don’t need a high level of study. Indeed, 80% of the restaurant managers don’t have any A-levels, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t skilled. They compete with business school graduates thanks to a conversion process of the work experience into a professional certificate. Thus, it allows people who left school early to have work experience to use it to their advantage.
An easy evolution
Furthermore, McDonald’s gives its employees the possibility of easily climbing up through the ranks. Thanks to a system of continuous assessment and training, McDonald’s trains the future managers in the basis of business management. If you are ambitious, determined and dynamic, you can easily be promoted.
Flexible work schedule
Another significant benefit of working at McDonald’s is the flexible work schedule timetable. 50% of the workforce are students because McDonald’s offers the possibility of adapting their work schedule to their school timetable.
But in reality, working at McDonald’s is often seen as a holiday or temporary job as opposed to being long-standing due to the downsides of the fast food restaurant.
A scrappy working time
70% of the McDonald’s turnover is brought in between 12 and 2pm and between 7pm and 9pm. Therefore, in order not to pay its employees during off-peak times, McDonald’s divides their working time into two shifts. Most of the time, you work at lunchtime and in the evening. It forces employees to stay at work because they have a short break and not enough time to go home, or if they have the good luck to live near the fast food chain, to go back home and wait for their second shift.
A week end work
Of course, like any other restaurants, McDonald’s receives a significant increase in the number of customers at weekends. Consequently, a larger workforce is needed and almost all McDonald’s employees work at weekends.
Hard working conditions
Being a member of the McDonald’s team is not easy. Firstly, they stand during the entire shift; it means that sometimes they are subject to 5 hours on their feet.
Furthermore, customer relations are further difficulties of the job. Customers are not always pleasant and can be rude. Employees need to be calm, courteous, conscientious and above all smiling no matter what.
Thus, working at McDonald’s engenders stress for employees who must be prepared for a job which is maybe not as easy as it seems.
Versatile employees
And to top it all, employees are expected to be versatile. When you sign your employment contract, you agree to hold every position in the fast-food restaurant: from the kitchen to the counter service. Thus, as the employees can do several jobs, when there isn’t a lot of customers, McDonald’s make only a few employees work who will hold all the functions. So, by adapting the workforce to the amount of customers, McDonald’s may prevent employees from staying inactive but it encourages workers not to be specialized. They are not competent at all tasks but passable. They are also more stressed.
There are numerous consequences of McDonald’s policy. The main one can be the high level of staff turnover. The negative work atmosphere encourages workers to resign and search for work in a better company. However, in today’s context of globalization and of crisis, we can wonder if a company which cares about its employees really exists.
Margaux
Margaux
I would never have thought that McDonald’s would be able to reach a ranking as number 8 in the rating of the "Best workplaces of the world".
ReplyDeleteThe reason I am so surprised is due to my perception of this company. According to me, this company represents a kind of last resort, considering the working conditions of the labour force.
As mentioned in your article, this company has both positive and negative elements, but nowadays, our society is intensifying one of the wrong sides, having consequences on the stress generated.
In saying this I am focusing on the fact that currently, companies are trying to satisfy the customers, by demanding their employees to work faster and faster and at the same time asking them to deliver a good service. The “Fast food” market is successful because people are always in a rush, between taking care of their kids, work; hobbies etc. – however, things are never considered as fast enough.
Consequently, nowadays, the globalisation context makes it hard for the companies to take care of their employees, as well as the demand of the society.
Yvoha DC.
This article seems quite surprising when you know that Mc Donald's bases its strategy on work team.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I read some articles with relation to this topic, and I learned that, according to the firm, a dynamic, open and participative corporate culture was a key element, given that it had a decisive influence on customer satisfaction.
However, I imagine that once you've worked in Mc Donald's, you see it differently, above all if you do it because you have no other means to make both ends meet.
Camille
McDonald’s is known for employing a large number of students and by doing so, I easily admit that the company can take advantage of this young labour force. However, how can we explain McDonald’s good rating of the ‘Best workplaces of the world’? At the same time, I am wondering how well employees are paid there.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, there is a particular point I would like to emphasize. Personally, I have never worked at McDonald’s, but I have been told several times that a working experience with this company was a certain reference in your CV, meaning you are efficient and well-structured in your job. Therefore, even if McDonald’s imposes hard working conditions as mentioned in the article, I think students will keep applying there because a temporary contract with this company can significantly improve their CV. I am afraid ‘being exploited’ will be encouraged in our society.
Emilie Fert
ReplyDeleteBeing myself a fast food employee (I do not work for Mc Donald's) I have to say that the article is pretty relevant.
ReplyDeleteI mean it is true that sometimes customers might be a little annoying but so can say any salesman .
If we consider the working conditions I can personally say that it's pretty hard to have a 9 hours shift standing on your feet and carrying heavy weights as well as cleaning up the entire restaurant.Moreover during the rushes the managers can put a certain pressure on you in order to have the job done.It might seem unfair and sometimes really is.
But what I want to focus on is the teamwork and the skills you develop working in a fast food restaurant.
First, teamwork. In these jobs you rely entirely on your colleagues if someone srcews up, everybody suffers from it so you develop your teamwork abilities and you mostly are to be close friends with your coworkers.I have to admit that I am happy to go to work most of the time. You also learn selling skills and custormers diplomacy.Also you learn to work under pressure,to do things in a fast and efficient way and to become as you said versatile .Tthe evolution you talked about is a reality as I have been working for six months, I was awarded employee of the mounth on october and i will soon start my certification to become a trainer for the new employees.
J.T