Imagine McDonald's advertising job openings and experience activities in the district chief's office?
This is part of McDonald's diverse workforce policy. Lan Yuxiu, vice president of McDonald's Human Capital Business Group in Taiwan, said: "Actually, the district manager knows more about suitable candidates in the community than we do, and knows who would be interested." Making good use of community resources and cooperating with the district manager's office can effectively reach middle-aged and elderly job seekers. who.
As early as 2016, McDonald's felt the changes in the labor market. The declining birth rate has led to a shortage of jobs. As Taiwan has entered an aging society, the average age of the labor force has also increased. Therefore, the company focuses on the human capital business group, and joins the integrated marketing group, learning and development department, operations development department and public relations department to form the Good People team to promote the "diversified human pool" strategy, conduct publicity externally, and gradually adjust the human resource structure internally.
Let stores voluntarily conduct trial recruitment, accumulate successful experience and then promote it to the whole Taiwan
For example, the plan is to recruit new residents and middle-aged and elderly workers, so that each store can sign up voluntarily instead of making it mandatory. Stores that are willing to do so will start with trial operations, and then gradually expand after accumulating successful experience. "For example, our team's senior associate of the operations department, Guo Zhengxin, took the lead in supporting it because they are the first-level theater with the fiercest competition for manpower and have the highest willingness."
After the trial, the stores gave feedback to the company. For example, training for middle-aged and elderly people should be interspersed with time to sit down and read materials to avoid standing for long periods of time. After accumulating successful experience, it will be helpful to promote it to other stores. "Although this method is relatively slow to implement, it can be effectively implemented so that every store can sincerely accept middle-aged and elderly employees."
The next step is to hold workplace experience activities. "We hold more than 2,000 of them every year. You go into the restaurant to experience the work and understand the salary, benefits and corporate culture. After the activity is over, an interview will be arranged immediately. You don't have to worry about your resume being ignored." She pointed out that the effect of the experience activities Very good. In September this year, for example, there were nearly 9,000 participants, and more than 40% of them entered the interview stage. "This is equivalent to nearly half of the people in one event wanting to work at McDonald's."
After admission, training is the key to retaining talents. Through the "shoulder-to-shoulder" system, the company assigns partners for training and teaching to help new middle-aged and elderly employees adapt to the environment. "We arrange an 8-week training period, which can be extended if necessary." Lan Yuxiu explained that as long as there is enough time for training, employees can be competent at their jobs.
Let supervisors embrace change and maintain a friendly work atmosphere
Once you find someone, can you keep them? McDonald's attaches great importance to a diverse and inclusive organizational culture. Lan Yuxiu believes that the key lies in corporate values and supervisor attitudes.
When deciding to implement a diversified manpower policy, the company attached great importance to communication and training of supervisors, allowing supervisors to embrace the changes. "You have to accept now that the composition of the manpower is different, and the work pace will not be as fast as before. But don't worry, we have complete training." , give him a little more time, and practice will make perfect." When supervisors set an example by accepting and supporting diverse human resources, junior employees will naturally follow suit. "Everyone will realize that my new partners are here to help share my work, not to add trouble or take jobs. They will be more willing to learn from each other."
In addition, corporate values must be coordinated with the system so that policies can be implemented in all 417 restaurants in Taiwan. The company has established a complete grievance channel so that employees can report workplace issues, such as shift status, management atmosphere, etc., through the internal app. "We will encourage employees to report directly to their supervisors first, but we will also provide different communication channels, regularly review employee feedback, and handle it in a timely manner." Lan Yuxiu said that the company holds regular meetings to calibrate the overall management atmosphere to ensure that each store maintains Friendly work environment.
With the declining birthrate and labor shortage, the technology industry is competing for employees across industries. Since 2016, McDonald's Taiwan has promoted a "diversified human pool" and has created a cross-generational and diverse workplace environment. Taking the middle-aged and elderly as an example, the number of employees over 45 years old in the company has increased by 1,200 in the past five years. By October 2024, the number of middle-aged and elderly employees has reached 3,600, accounting for 15% of the total employees; there are 863 new residents, accounting for 3.6% .
Lan Yuxiu said that in the catering industry with high turnover rate, the turnover rate of McDonald's full-time employees is only 10%, and half of the employees have more than 10 years of experience. It proves that the company is willing to invest resources, create a diverse and open organizational culture, and plan a complete strategy. Ultimately, diverse human resources can create a win-win situation for the company and employees. "It not only solves manpower needs, but also demonstrates the company's values."
The manpower composition is different, and the work pace will not be as fast as before, but everyone will realize that the new partners are here to help share the work, not to add trouble or take jobs.
