Mcdonalds - Employment Brand Strategies

In 2005 the global fast food chain McDonalds got actively involved in attempting to change the public’s perception of them as an employer. McDonalds wanted prove that there is nothing demeaning, dead-end or embarrassing about having a McJob. This change seems to have been triggered by the Oxford English Dictionary when in 2001 they included the word McJob in their online edition with the following definition: “an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector.”. McDonalds took various steps to change this perception (Qumer, Purkayastha 2009).

When the very first McDonalds restaurant opened in 1955, Ray Kroc, the founding father of McDonalds had already developed a strategy that acknowledged that the friendliness of staff was just as important as food quality when it comes to customer satisfaction. (The Irish Times, 2001). According to a research paper written by Hoseong Jeon Beomjoon Choi (2012) customer satisfaction is, in fact, directly linked to employee’s job satisfaction. When investigating Training and Development as well as how to retain qualified employees in Jackson, Schuler& Werner “Managing Human Resources” 11th edition the following stands out: Should employees feel that there is a lack of career advancement and no additional competencies to be learned, job satisfaction is generally low (Jackson et al, 2012). Another strong influence on job satisfaction is the working conditions and of course the total compensation (Jackson et al, 2012). In essence the definition of McJob was giving McDonalds a bad employer brand in the market and created a lack of pride amongst employees of the brand. If the factor of the Psychological contract is taken into account the definition of McJob as it stands in the online dictionary has a serious effect on new and current employees. This would have no doubt affected the quality of service and motivation of the employees at McDonalds. When starting a job...