The Impact of Staff Training on the Business of McDonald’s

The Impact of Staff Training on the Business of McDonald’s

 

The world’s leading chain of fast food restaurants, McDonald’s Corporation, serves

hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, French fries, breakfast items, soft

drinks, milk shakes, desserts, salads, wraps and fruit to almost 47 million customers

daily. It also offers a natural-style playground for  children with lounge areas and

fireplaces and children-oriented advertising. Its restaurants are operated either by a

franchise, an affiliate or the corporation itself, with revenues coming from franchisees’

rent, royalties and fees and company restaurant sales. McDonald’s revenues rose 27%

 to .8 billion over three years up to 2007, and grew 9% to .9 billion in terms of

operating income.[1]

 

McDonalds’s employees are comprised of restaurant workers, corporate staff and

franchise owners, with a typical restaurant employing between 50 and 65 workers.

The entry-level positions are made up mostly of crew members, three-fourths of which

are part-time workers who receive low wages. Shift managers are the first of their kind

in the hierarchy, but with only slightly higher wages than crew members. From Assistant

Managers up, staff are salaried, and  for each McDonald’s restaurant, there is one

Restaurant Manager. Sixty-seven percent of restaurant managers started as crew and

50% of franchisees were once employed by the restaurant.[2]

 

The highly structured McDonald’s employee training is where staff are taught the skills

that they demonstrate at work. Training new staff starts with a one-hour company

orientation, with step-by-step manuals and video tapes that covers all details of the

operation. New employees will be trained systematically in each of the restaurant’s 25

workstations from the grill area to the front counter until each is learned. A crew person

learns to handle 3 stations in the first 30 days and continues progressively until all the

stations are mastered. This is a demonstration of McDonald’s staff training that starts

from the bottom and gradually moves up the ladder to give future managers and

franchisees first-hand knowledge of the fast food restaurant business.[3]

 

McDonald’s recognizes that customers should define the quality of customer service,

and that front-line workers are given the disposition to do what is needed to make the

customers’ happy and feel that they are getting good value for money spent. Staff

should always smile in the course of their quick service, which  include maintaining

accurate orders, ensuring food is hot and fresh, maintaining hygiene in the setting

and handling customer complaints. A Quality Management system is in place at

 McDonalds to ensure crew and management share and expand  on their specialized

 skills. Making judgment calls by role playing is taught to the crew and identification of

the services personnel favor in other stores are asked to orient them on the customer’s

 perspective. The continuous improvement process aims to lead to a distinct and

 tailored quality system for every store.[4]

 

These systematic training of staff addresses McDonald’s thrust of providing Quality,

 Service and Cleanliness to its customers. The business believes that offering the

 finest available products through prompt and courteous service in a clean and

spotless environment is the key to drawing customers to its restaurants. It places a

high value on an all smiling crew and management staff because this quality helps in

bringing customers back. McDonald’s emphasis on reminding its staff on treating

customers the way they would want to be treated themselves translates into 100%

 customer satisfaction. McDonald’s believes that their success is founded on the quality

 of their training, which is designed to allow the employees to achieve company goals

and increase profitability and market share. Regular training evaluation is done to make

the process up to date to business needs and  rules and regulations are periodically

reviewed to ensure their correct implementation. The company’s policy of promotion

within the organization, the providing of private medical care and life assurance to

employees and their being awarded beneficial Loyalty points improve team-working

skills and lessen staff turnover.[5]

 

[1] “Staff Training in McDonalds”, OPPapers.com, 2011,

<http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Staff-TraInIng-In-Mcdonalds/217129>  [accessed 30 May 2011]

[2] willie-ga’s description of the system employed at McDonald’s, Google Answers, 2002,

<http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/75588.html>  [accessed 30 May 2011]

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

[5] “Does McDonald’s Offer a Model Which Other Businesses Should Follow?”, WowEssays, 2004,

<http://www.wowessays.com/dbase/ab1/utv172.shtml>  [accessed 30 May 2011]

Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

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