McDonalds Restaurants
Employees
McDonalds McJobs program partnered service providers with their restaurants in order to bring in qualified employees with disabilities, a program which continues today and has led to other similar programs which all run alongside their equal opportunities group which started in 1992.
McDonald's Europe served as one of the principal corporate sponsors of the 2003 European Year of People with Disabilities (EYPD) and working with the European Disability Forum and national disability organizations, they have launched or expanded initiatives to increase employment opportunities for disabled people, provide quality of life enhancements and raise public awareness of the need for maximum inclusion. Their active commitment to inclusion of disabled persons has given rise to an array of other programs and activities.
For example, since 2000 McDonald's Spain has been working with Fundación ONCE, Spain's principal association for the social and economic integration of disabled persons. Through this collaboration, 42 specially recruited and trained disabled persons are now working in the Spanish branches of McDonalds. In the U.S., McDonalds have long supported such organizations such as the American Association of People with Disabilities and the World Congress on Disabilities. Furthermore McDonalds now participate in various state Business Leadership Networks, through which businesses share best practices and conduct programs to promote the employment of people with disabilities.[i]
McDonalds Ireland has been working with disability management consultants Access Ability to identify methods of becoming an increasingly inclusive organisation to those with disabilities. Access Ability trainers are working with the McDonalds training department to develop a customised two-day training programme relevant to people with disabilities working in restaurants. Furthermore McDonald's managers have all attended disability awareness training alongside interested employees and Franchisees, in an attempt to educate the workforce on disability and sweep away old-fashioned views on the matter. McDonalds training libraries contain, where available versions to accommodate disabilities.
In Japan the restaurant business is very competitive. Customers have many choices and very high standards, which could have been a barrier for any restaurant company... People with disabilities also face many barriers... I try to counter those barriers by providing work experience for many disabled men and women. And I'm proud to say I've hired 48 such people in four years. I have a vision to one day operate a store in which a third of the positions are filled by employees who have a disability.
Akira Sato Kansai, Japan 32 Years with McDonald's.[ii]
Employee Benefits
Both short and long-term disability coverage is provided at no cost to employees. Short-term disability provides benefits if an employee cannot work for more than 10 consecutive days; how long benefits continue depends on the nature of the employee's disability and years of service. Long-term disability coverage replaces 60% of the employee's monthly base salary while he or she is disabled.
Customers
McDonalds ensure approximately 99% disabled accessibility in their restaurants and continually strive to update their disabled facilities, including unique paper Braille and picture menus, offering people who are visually impaired an easy way to understand and order from the menu without the need for assistance.
At McDonald's, over 2,000,000 million customers eat in our restaurants everyday. Customer service and ease of access are critical to the success of our business and, with one in three of us either disabled or close to somebody who is, we strive to deliver high levels of service in and accessibility to our restaurants. For example, approximately 99% of our restaurants have level access. That said, we are constantly reviewing our facilities and considering options to improve our service and restaurants – from staff training about best possible service to disabled customers to using the latest design innovations in our restaurants. Disabled customers are reported to have spending power of around £80bn per year and therefore it makes good business sense for us to maximise accessibility to our restaurants.
Jack Upton, Legal counsel, McDonald's Restaurants
Awards and Recognition
- Among the Top 10 Companies for Demonstrating Inclusion of Disabled Persons (2002) – Employers' Forum on Disability (UK). [iii]
- Among Top 50 Employers for People with Disabilities (2001 – 2002, 2004)
McDonald's is a proud member of the United States Business Leadership Network, a business-to-business group that seeks to share best practices and resources in the area of employing people with disabilities.
Community and Sports
McDonalds have paid attention not only to tackling problems involving disability in the workplace, but have taken bold steps and poured funding into community programs to ensure equality for those with disabilities and to attempt to educate communities to move them away from the traditional views of disabilities.
In Russia the Ronald McDonald center has been created as a sports complex for physically and mentally handicapped children and is now charted as a phenomenal success with nearly 2,000 children visiting the centre weekly absolutely free of charge. This is amongst a range of projects run and funded by McDonalds all over the world offering services to the mentally and physically handicapped giving people the rights to a normal way of life without fear of exclusion.