The Customer Service Problem at McDonald's Is a Symptom of a Much Bigger Problem

[laundry_queen]

55. I'm not sure a living wage is the entire solution

though it's no doubt part of it.

I live/lived in several areas with the same issues - a serious shortage of people who wanted to work at minimum wage. McDonalds HAD to offer much more than minimum wage in order to attract any employees at all (generally retirees and 14 yo kids). The service still sucked, even at $15/hr for starting wage.

I'm more inclined to think it's the corporate culture (and yes, low wages - even relatively low wages that are high in some other parts of North America are part of that) and the entire prevailing attitude of senior management. Of course they aren't going to point at themselves as the culprits - but that's a lot of it. When you treat your employees as nothing more than peons, expect them to take shortcuts.

And there is the theory also, that when employees don't get what they perceive as a fair wage, they will act in ways to 'make up' for that difference. They will put in minimal effort, they will curb rules (example - eating 'wrong orders', taking home TP from the janitor's closet), they will shirk their duties - whatever it takes to level the playing field. It can have a large effect on productivity in a company with mostly low-wage workers, especially if the senior management is perceived as rich/detached/indifferent to the plight of the workers in the company. I think that is likely a large part of the problem with McDonalds. It's not necessarily the wages but the GAP between workers and management that is important. (I really like the idea of chaining minimum wage to CEO compensation - bonuses and stock options included of course...)

Corporations and their bean counters all too often neglect to take into account the costs of low wages. Initially it looks great on the financials, but then you get costs that aren't accounted for that pop up - 'silent' costs. The cost of upset customers, the cost of loss of 'goodwill', the cost of loss of productivity, the added costs of high turnover and continuous training, the costs of loss of highly qualified franchise owners...and so on. Unfortunately business schools neglect to teach 'big picture' thinking. And also, in this day and age of trust fund babies taking over mommy and daddy's corporations, you see a lot of mismanagement. Anyhow...that's getting off topic....