McDonald’s goes on massive hiring spree

MCDONALD’S is up to something so big, it claims it is having to hire five new employees an hour just to make it happen.

MCDONALD’S is seeking older Australians with hospitality experience as it looks to hire 8000 new staff in the coming months.

The fast-food chain says it’s creating 15,000 new jobs across the country as it revamps its customer service approach to become more like a traditional restaurant.

The Create Your Taste overhaul, which gives customers the ability to design their own burgers, has already launched in 450 McDonald’s outlets and the company expects it to be rolled out to most of its 940 Australian stores by the end of June.

The new employees are required for a variety of newly created front-of-house and kitchen roles, and the company says it’s hiring five people every hour to keep up with the demand.

McDonald’s Australia chief operating officer Shaun Ruming told news.com.au 7000 staff had already been hired since the start of the year, with a further 8000 expected in the coming months.

He said there would be an additional injection of more than $266 million into the national economy on the back of new restaurant openings, as well as increased capital expenditure and wage costs.

“It’s fantastic news for us, we’re extremely proud to be announcing 15,000 new jobs across our restaurants for 2015,” he said. “On the back of this job creation we’ve also just reached our 100,000th employee in Australia.

“We are very pleased to say that we now employ more than 100,000 Australians, but what is more pleasing is to be able to offer so many more young people the opportunity to start their working lives with McDonald’s.”

And while McDonald’s is already one of the largest employers of youth in the country, Mr Ruming said the new customer service focus was also attracting older Australians with hospitality experience.

“We actually have all different age groups working, and I’d imagine that these 15,000 will be pretty diverse,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of older workers come in to be hosts. Anyone who’s enthusiastic about serving a customer we’re interesting in talking to.”

He added that training was a big focus, with $40 million spent annually on training crew, managers and corporate employees, offering nationally accredited traineeships and qualifications.

NSW skills minister John Barilaro welcomed the initiative, which will create 5000 new jobs in the state. “McDonald’s has initiated a new service approach that will provide career opportunities and require more skilled staff to fill specific front-of-house and hospitality positions,” he said.

“We are determined to continue building a skilled workforce for the future that helps students make informed career choices and assists employers to identify skilled staff. The new service will also create local jobs and prosperity for communities in regional NSW, which is great news for local economies.

“In NSW there will be an additional injection of more than $90 million into the local economy on the back of new restaurant openings, as well as increased capital expenditure.”

While McDonald’s global operations have struggled with declining sales, the company has singled out Australia as a strong performer. “Australia is a great spot in our overall turnaround with positive comparable sales and guest counts since September of last year,” global CFO Kevin Ozan told investors in March.

“The team has re-energised the business with strong promotions and relevant menu items and they are fuelling this momentum with additional excitement around digital initiatives and the rollout of Create Your Taste across the majority of the market this year.”

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