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news

Working at McDonald’s No Longer Soul-Crushing

By Amanda Factor

20090106mcdonalds.jpg You know how when most people think of working at McDonald’s they picture a bunch of unhappy people who really have no other options cramped together and sweating over deep fryers, collecting minimum wage while working long hours serving greasy, high-fat food to screaming, overweight kids?
Well, it turns out those people are wrong and McDonald’s is actually one of the best places to work in Canada, if the results of a recent internal employee survey are to be believed. McDonald’s Canada ranked at #25 in the 2009 list of Canada’s 50 best employers, based on a survey conducted by Hewitt and Associates. Out of almost forty-two thousand people surveyed, 84% considered themselves valued employees and a whopping 86% felt proud to be a McDonald’s employee. It’s like the questionnaires were filled out by forty-two thousand Calvins.
Now, we’re not saying this data is unreliable, but an anonymous source whose company made the top 50 list in years past offers this tidbit: “They would give us an extra day off in celebration of the fact that we were voted one of the top 50 companies. It wasn’t explicitly stated ahead of time that a great review = more time off, but [the company] was voted to the top 50 list a number of times, and we kept getting the extra day off. Maybe my fellow coworkers weren’t as cynical as I was, but why would I give [the company] a bad review? That would mean I would lose an extra day off work.”
We have no idea if McDonald’s workers were plied with free Big Macs in exchange for glowing reviews, but it’s officially not the worst place to work in the world. Not only that, it’s also “creative, inclusive, and a whole lot of fun,” according to president John Betts. (Come on, “creative”?) We guess given the state of our economy this is comforting news to people who may find themselves working there. The company also received props from Waterstone Human Capital (on behalf of the National Post) in 2008 when it was named one of the 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures. Unlike the Hewitt survey, though, the vote was cast by 340 executives, which gives you an idea of who was doing the “admiring.”
Photo by Ian Muttoo from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

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  • http://undefined torontothegreat

    I worked at Rotten Ronnies for a few years during university.
    It was a great place to work and the hours were extremely flexible. Everyone likes to have fun there.
    Not saying it would be a great ‘career’ choice, but I have never felt it was a bad experience.

  • http://undefined McKingford

    I don’t know – a company that gives its employees bonus time off…sounds like a place people might like to work!

  • http://null MariaPD

    I think McD employees get free Big Mac’s anyway, at least they do in the UK (random fact I know, don’t ask me why).

  • http://undefined torontothegreat

    AFAIK not so much in Canada. When I worked there at least, it was 50% off all food products (while working only) and free pop.
    It may have changed though.

  • http://null Vincent Clement

    if the results of a recent internal employee survey are to be believed – Obviously, you don’t believe them.
    It’s like the questionnaires were filled out by 42,000 Calvins. – Yes, because it’s hard to believe that some people actually like to work there.
    Now, we’re not saying this data is unreliable – But you are implying that the data is unreliable.
    but it’s officially not the worst place to work in the world – No, that would be the Torontoist.

  • http://undefined torontothegreat

    lol, yea the tone of the article bugged me too. Especially cause the author probably has no experience working there and is making crazy assumptions based on selective perception.

  • http://undefined montauk

    Vincent, are you a disgruntled ex-Torontoist employee? I’m not being sarcastic, I’m just curious, based on this comment and your comments in the past…are you?

  • http://null rek

    I worked at a McD’s for a few years in high school. It wasn’t soul-crushing but it was tedious. Soul-crushing is what I found at a factory temp job a few years later, doing work that will inevitably be done by robots in a few years (if they haven’t already switched by now).

  • http://undefined torontothegreat

    did you work front or back rek? I worked back for a while, found it WAY too tedious. Switched to cash and actually found my shifts would go by really quick!

  • http://undefined Ben

    clearly your manager wasn’t crushing hard enough.

  • http://null joelphillips

    Is this news? McDs been in the top 50 every year since 2005.
    At least this study actually surveys employees, rather than relying on self-reporting from the organisation, like the one that put McGill in the top 100 employers last year, despite all its teaching assistants having been on strike and all its admin staff looking dangerously close to striking early this year.

  • http://undefined David Topping

    Unless “Vincent Clement” is a pseudonym, no, he’s never worked for Torontoist. But he sure sounds disgruntled.

  • http://null Green Sulfur

    Note to author: there is no style guide in the world that condones spelling out 42,000, except if it’s the beginning of a sentence.

  • http://undefined rek

    I was king of the grill. The two times I had to work the counter I wanted to die.

  • http://www.quink.ca chazm

    I believe the author and in the implications made in this article. My belief isn’t based on any personal experience working for the Clown God; it’s based on my experience with the joyless, dead-eyed wage slaves who take my order whenever I break down and want some engineered “mouth-feel.” The employees are the opposite of the “cheerleaders-for-meat” depicted in the billions-of-dollars worth of inescapable advertising.

  • guest

    Yes, working there is a whole lot of fun! I’m not even joking, I have the best time there. I’m even quitting my other job just to stay with them. But I’m in high school still and yeah… things will get going.