Ever since the coronavirus pandemic struck, several restaurants and fast food joints in the United States are struggling to find enough workers. The same problem is being faced by franchisees of McDonald’s. They are finding it difficult to hire enough employees to run their businesses. In order to overcome this problem, US franchisees of the fast-food giant have decided to increase hourly pay. Along with it, they are also offering some other benefits to lure new workers. Among the most important ones are giving workers paid time off, help them cover tuition costs, and offering child care. These new benefits will also help the company to improve its image as an employer. In order to support the efforts of franchisees, McDonald’s corporate parent has decided to make the multimillion-dollar investment. 95 percent of stores of McDonald’s in the United States are owned by Franchisees. There are 13,450 stores in America. Some of the benefits being offered by McDonald’s Owners have become popular among companies during the coronavirus pandemic. As companies and employers emerge from the pandemic, there are several challenges that they are facing.
Labor shortages have been of the biggest challenges for service-heavy businesses in the United States in the post-pandemic scenario. One of the reasons behind that is the layoffs that took place last year. Restaurants had to cut down on the strength of employees because the coronavirus pandemic prompted shutdowns and restrictions. A year later, the industry is struggling to bring back employees. While other sectors have nearly returned to employment strength that was before the pandemic, restaurant and bar employment is short by 1.3 million workers in the United States. The sector still has one of the highest ratios of people quitting. Many are leaving the industry and joining other sectors. According to the Labour Department, the rate of employees leaving the restaurant industry touched a two-decade high in April and continued till May. With the number of cases falling and more and more people getting vaccinated, the industry has now resumed full operations. Some of the other major restaurant chains that have to resort to similar majors to attract new workers are Chipotle, Papa John’s, and P. F. Chang’s. Apart from boosted incentives, they are also offering sign-on bonuses to workers along with expanded access to caregiver benefits.
Talking about McDonald’s, its franchisees agreed last month to help workers in training along with giving them increased pay and workplace flexibility across markets. This is happening when the company had already announced a 10 per cent pay increase to some of its workers. This hike was applicable for workers of 650 company-owned locations. The increase came into effect in June. After that, the average money earned by entry-level employees was anything between USD 11 to USD 17 per hour. Similarly, shift managers started earning USD 15 to USD 20 for an hour. The company said that it is expecting that the average hourly wage being offered would increase to USD 15 by 2024. The company is yet to comment on the extended benefits it has agreed to offer. Earlier, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski had said that the company is injecting around USD 1 billion as an effort to change the mindset about paying employees. All these announcements come as McDonald’s has emerged strongly after the pandemic and is spreading its outlets. The burger giant recently said that it will open at least 50 outlets in the United Kingdom. The fast-food giant already has around 1,400 restaurants in Britain and Ireland and employs roughly 130,000 staff.
Carolyn is a technology graduate and loves to write about anything related to technology as well as writes in others sectors. Carolyn is a professional writer with over 7 years of experience. Initially starting off as a programmer, Carolyn decided to combine her knowledge about technology and writing and that’s how she joined Reporter Expert.
