Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    7,957.80
    +32.60 (+0.41%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6509
    -0.0051 (-0.78%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,703.20
    +27.40 (+0.36%)
     
  • OIL

    82.63
    -0.09 (-0.11%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,156.60
    -7.70 (-0.36%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    97,992.99
    -6,259.62 (-6.00%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     

McDonald's is hiring a new kind of employee

The McDonald’s (MCD) of the future will have fewer people behind the counter taking orders as the fast-food giant modernizes its restaurants by incorporating kiosks, table service, increased mobile app functionality, and curbside delivery into its locations.

On the company’s first-quarter earnings call, CEO Stephen Easterbrook was asked if the so-called “Experience of the Future” initiative would require additional labor or more training.

“Additional labor? No, we’re not seeing additional labor,” Easterbrook said.

The hospitality service person

“What we are seeing is a reallocating of labor positions in the restaurants, and we need less people behind the front counter taking orders,” Easterbrook said. “Part of the significant benefit, both for us and for the customer on this, is we can repurpose them into the dining area.”

Customers use the digital screen to place an order at a McDonald’s restaurant as the companies stock price reached record territory on April 25, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Customers use the digital screen to place an order at a McDonald’s restaurant as the companies stock price reached record territory on April 25, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

He continued: “Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean the same people can do both roles. So what we’re also seeing – and we’ve learned a whole heap from Canada, in particular, Australia, UK more recently – is there is a new role in McDonald’s, and that’s kind of the hospitality service person.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Easterbrook added that they have a dedicated job description for this hospitality service person.

“We hire specifically for that. Because it does require a different skill set,” he said. “Those social interactions are different. And clearly, they will end up being busier, not just helping customers in and around the kiosk, but actually as we roll out table service as well. They will actually be delivering to food to customers’ tables as well, so not additional labor, but repurposed.”

Tightening labor market

Toward the end of the conference call, Easterbrook commented that they are seeing “tightening” in the general labor market compared to three or five years ago. As a result, the company is trying to make itself a more attractive place to work.

Courtesy of McDonald’s
Courtesy of McDonald’s

“What you may have seen, for example, and part of our response to this, as well as we modernize our restaurants, as we introduce technology, we’ve become a more appealing place for people to work,” Easterbrook said.

“And we believe that people in the service sector are more tempted to a modern McDonald’s today than perhaps they would have done to a type of McDonald’s of yesterday, but the other piece you may have seen is we’ve worked hard above the line on employer reputation, on jobs, on training, on skills, on education.”

Just last week, the company updated its uniforms with a more modern, monochrome look in an effort to make the job experience more appealing.

“And you will also see us going increasingly hard and even if it’s as recently as just this last week, when you’ve seen about the new uniforms we’re rolling out,” Easterbrook said. “We’re looking at every aspect of the employment proposition here, because we do see it getting tighter. And we just believe the more attractive we can make ourselves, that put us in a better chance of being a winner in this marketplace.”

In March, the fast-food giant outlined plans to reimage about 650 restaurants in 2017. Combined with the previously updated locations, the company plans to have 2,500 Experience of the Future restaurants by the end of 2017.

Shares of McDonald’s rose to a record high on Monday after the fast-food chain reported earnings per share of $1.47 on revenue of $5.68 billion, beating analysts’ expectations for earnings of $1.34 on revenue of $5.53 billion.

The company also reported first quarter comparable U.S. sales that jumped 1.7%, surpassing expectations for a decline of 0.8%. Global comparable sales rose 4% during the first quarter, better than estimates of 1.3%.


Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.

Read more: