Posted on 07/23/2007 5:02:41 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
A new McDonald's Corp. commercial tells the story of Karen King, who began her career as a teenage crew member in the 1970s and rose to head the company's $10-billion Eastern-U.S. division.
The spots are meant to resonate with American teenagers, who are leaving the workforce in droves — and leaving McDonald's with a labor crunch that threatens to take a bite out of its surging sales.
"It's a shrinking labor market, and we recognize less people will be available to hire," Ms. King says.
The declining number of teenage job-seekers presents a super-size challenge for McDonald's, where 40% of the top 50 managers — including CEO James Skinner — worked their way up from the cash register or fry vat, and which more than ever needs qualified workers to keep service from bogging down in an era of computerized cash registers and electronic ovens.
"There is a direct correlation between the quality of the crew and sales restaurants do," says Steve Bigari, a former McDonald's franchisee who now works with fast-food companies on labor issues.
With the number of teenage applicants dwindling, McDonald's has rolled out a new commercial emphasizing the opportunity for advancement at the company. For more photos visit McJobsChicagoBusines.
For years, McDonald's has manned its crews largely with teenagers. In the 1990s, 45% of its U.S. employees were under 20. Today it's 33% of the workforce, which totals 650,000 employees.
GETTING HARDER OUT THERE
It's not just that fewer teenagers are working at McDonald's — fewer are working, period. Last year about 44% of American teens held jobs, down from nearly 60% in 1982. The reason isn't clear, but many attribute the shift to an intensified focus on academics and after-school activities.
Whatever the explanation, the trend scares fast-food operators. "Everyone I talk to in the industry says it's becoming harder and harder to maintain their operations standards given what is happening in the workforce," Mr. Bigari says.
About half the employees in the fast-food industry are between 16 and 25 years old. The number of jobs in the industry is expected to increase about 17% in the next decade while the number of workers in that key age group is expected to increase 0.3%.
McDonald's is trying to get ahead of the coming squeeze with its aggressive new recruiting campaign, launched in May and driven by the TV ads featuring Ms. King. The company also revamped the recruiting portion of its Web site to facilitate online job applications, which are routed to franchisees, who hire the bulk of McDonald's front-line workers.
Lurking behind the recruiting drive is another reality: McDonald's could ease its labor crunch by raising wages. But that's a last resort for the franchisees. Increased payroll costs come directly out of their pockets.
Steve Russell, McDonald's U.S. senior vice-president of human resources and chief people officer, says the company doesn't feel pressure to raise wages, which vary by restaurant but average about $7.35 an hour, 26% over the current federal minimum wage of $5.85.
TOUCH SCREENS AND NEW MENUS
At the same time it expands recruiting efforts, McDonald's is trying to be more selective about its hires. About half of its stores require applicants to take a short test designed to measure their experience and behavior patterns. Mr. Russell says the number of stores utilizing the test quadrupled last year and the company continues to "rapidly deploy it."
The increased scrutiny matches the rising sophistication of fast-food jobs. Burgers are no longer flipped on a griddle but cooked in an oven operated by an electronic timer. New menu items have forced kitchen staff to master new preparation techniques and have given order-takers more buttons to locate on cash registers with touch screens — easy to use but often intimidating to workers uncomfortable with technology.
Fumbles with the equipment slow down order times — a big turnoff for customers looking for a quick meal. That's why it's critical to find, and keep, qualified workers. An internal McDonald's study shows stores with higher-performing crews reduce turnover by 30% and increase sales by $200,000 annually.
"Now more than ever, we realize our people are the main drivers of our business," Mr. Russell says.
This week in Las Vegas, McDonald's is holding a meeting of 15,000 managers at which employment will be a primary topic of discussion.
Industry observers say McDonald's has done more than any of its national competitors to promote employment, even while it may pay lower wages than some regional and national chains, such as coffee giant Starbucks Corp.
The effort may be paying off. Last year, according to Mr. Russell, McDonald's reduced its turnover by 9%, matching the chain's increase in sales, which hit $21.6 billion. The company won't disclose its retention rate; the industry averages about 150% annual employee turnover.
But it remains to be seen how McDonald's will replace the teenagers who continue to drop out of the workforce.
"There is not a readily available supply of teenage workers lined up at the door begging for jobs," says Joni Doolin, founder of People Report, a Texas-based company that tracks employment data. "And the problem is not going away anytime soon."
my 15 yr old is just waiting to turn 16 so he can go out and get a job.
My first job was a secretarial job that paid $2.35 an hour.
Damm. Ignorance would be better. At least that can be cured by edumacation.
Weren’t the temp! Thinkin bout “Supersized Big Macs” got er cranked up.
But what some would say is that because these people have so much, they obviously are shorting their employees. But the same issues apply here, that I posted, accept 8 times more.
A simple $1 an hour raise won't raise an employees lifestyle much. But $1 per man hour could make the difference between being in business and out.
I know! How I prayed for the diagnosis of ignorance but when all the tests were in it was the dreaded stupididus dumassimus,In it’s latter stages, I’m afraid it’s incurable.
They do have tattooed, pierced, ill educated and rude teens working there; lots of them. The word was that you could only be hired there is you knew someone who had worked there or was working there.
So she took a job as a waitress at a small tearoom and worked for her father as a researcher and transcribing.
I worked at an A&W as a cook. I remember sitting in math class the next day, elbows on the desk, head resting on chin, and smelling the grease on my hands.
That actually wasn't that bad of a job, all things considered. Living in Iowa, I worked detassling corn (for you city slickers, it was trying to get corn pollenated, for next year's seed crop). Basically you hit the field at 6AM, in 5 foot high corn, got soaked with dew, plucked the tassles out of the top of the corn, and then by midday, you were burning up to the heat and humidity in a windless cornfield, while you got all chafed from your wet clothes. Plus you got cut by the corn leaves, and had to walk miles. But....
It was a great incentive to study hard in school, to know I didn't want to be at age 30 and beyond with some extreme manual labor kind of job. Some people might like that, and that's ok, but I would rather use my noggin, than my back (and that is what I am doing now).
Much of that work has been taken by our friends from south of the border, though there still are some amount of Iowa teens doing that work. Mexico must really suck, if they would come 1000s of miles to do that crappy job.
Oh PUH-LEEZE! If I would have let the bruthas intimidate me when I worked a graveyard shift job at a hotel in Chicago while in Grad School”
Did the “bruthas” gang jump you and beat the hell out of you?
Did they come after you with knives?
Some of these illegals will kill you over a menial job.
And what effect does 30 years of abortion on demand have on the entry level labor pool...
May I suggest that you use your contacts and search out a better job for this obviously dependable worker. Perhaps one with medical benefits and a higher pay rate.
Just drop off a job application in an envelope preaddressed to the ‘new’ company.
Looks like a strap to me.
It had a weak moment. I’m sorry.
Here in San Diego you can not find anyone who works in any fast food place that speaks any English other than the usually middle-age manager.
When I went thru Oregon and into Washinton last year I couldn’t believe that there were ordinary white high school kids working at fast food places there. I was in the twilight zone. And high school kids pumping gas in Oregon!
I think this article is being put out to justify their hiring illegals for slave wages.
It may be, but it’s the thought that counts.
It may be, but it’s the thought that counts.
Mike Nifong is available.
LOL that was a good one!!
The Cato Institute has a report out that goes into great depth about the correlation between depressed wages due to influxes of illegal aliens, and the effects on the poor and working class children in this country.
Do you think the rise in the minimum wage may bring more teenagers and other underemployed groups into the working realm?
A wise observation - a sign of a successful leader.
This chain will simply need to pay its help more, even if it means raising prices. Teenagers expect more because of a robust economy and mom and dad bringing in more. McD's has plenty of resources to research an adjusted cost control model to accomodate this. It's all a part of free market economics, the Invisible Hand.
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