Skillstories

Contact Details

• Download Vcard
• Add to Binder

Business Drivers

McDonald's is a modern and progressive company and our philosophy for junior staff is the same as it is for our executive team – we believe passionately in career long learning – “from crew room to board room”. We have a comprehensive roadmap of development from the moment you step into the restaurant working your first part-time job. At all levels we combine functional and operational training with softer skills, such as hospitality and team working; at the restaurant level, we use shoulder-to-shoulder training combined with learning workbooks and in-store classes.

But we were aware that we can do more to ensure that no one is held back by not having the basics of literacy and numeracy.
We believe that whether you are with McDonald's for 6 months, or choose us as your destination career, we have a responsibility, and a desire, to train and develop the skills of those that spend time with us. By providing the best training in our sector, we can attract the best staff. And by ensuring they have a great experience with us, they will become ambassadors for us in the future.

Implementation

Our skills programme is available to our staff via an innovative career and lifestyle website. The website, called Our Lounge, enables all 67,000 UK staff to log on and plug their skills gaps, with the support of an online tutor. Employees go on to take nationally recognised Level 1 and 2 qualifications in accredited exam centre restaurants. These qualifications compliment Government targets to improve skills levels in the UK and one or both qualifications could benefit over 80% of our people. We offer English and maths currently and these are at school leaving level (age 16, GCSE).

The Individual Learning Plan generated for each learner is unique to the learner's own curriculum needs, which are assessed via an initial skills check. E-tutors are assigned to learners at the beginning of the programme and are on hand throughout to assist, help and advice. E-tutors are “Skills for Life” tutors who have, or are in the progress of, completing Level 4 qualifications in Skills for Life tutoring.

The programme is optional and crew can study at their own pace and is also flexible enough to allow them to study whenever and wherever they feel comfortable. Exams are held in specially chosen exam stores with trained invigilators. The maths and English qualifications map to National Standards as follows: Level 1 is the equivalent to the Skills Level of a GCSE D-G and a Level 2 is equivalent to the Skills Level of a GCSE A*-C.

Partners

We have worked closely with Tribal, who designed our bespoke and innovative on-line learning platform, My Learning. We are also involved with People 1st on a number of levels. They provide networking and benchmarking opportunities that have proved invaluable when we design new training products. In addition, People 1st have provided much guidance as we have moved toward the formal accreditation of our training programmes.

Impact

McDonald's success in many ways has been down to our training systems. Our recent re-focus on training of our junior staff has contributed to our lowest level of staff turnover and our highest recorded Pride rates from Employee Satisfaction Surveys, in the company’s history. As we continue to expand the training offering for our staff, particularly through the external qualifications we offer such as Skills for Life, Apprenticeships and Diplomas, we expect to see motivation and retention increase even further. By educating our people we will increase their competence and as a result their confidence, which will lead to higher levels of Quality, Service & Cleanliness for our customers.

To date, over 2,100 people have visited the learning site and over 1,800 are progressing through their learning plans to achieve their national qualification. Over 250 learners are ready to take, or have already taken, their exam.