McDonald’s Workforce Preparedness Study Shows Importance of Soft Skills Development in First Jobs
July 24 2018 - 12:01AM
McDonald’s today released the findings of its Workforce
Preparedness Study that sought to understand American opinion of
skills development and workforce preparedness across generations.
Soft skills, such as teamwork, customer service and responsibility
were found to be overwhelmingly important. McDonald’s commissioned
Morning Consult to conduct a survey in May across the nation
targeting 6,247 people in the general US population. This included
966 from the youngest workforce generation Gen Z (individuals
16-24) and 762 McDonald’s alumni.
“As the workforce gets older, our nation is facing a seismic
shift in the workplace – one that will require all business owners
to take a fresh look at employee training and development,” said
Melissa Kersey, McDonald’s USA Chief People Officer. “As employers,
we should re-examine which skills matter most, especially for the
next generation entering the workforce. We should lay that
foundation for employees to build the soft skills they need that
will serve them throughout their career.”
Some of the key findings from
the Workforce Preparedness Study
include but are not limited to:
- Soft skills, such as teamwork, customer service and
responsibility are seen as more important than hard skills, such as
computer programming or accounting for positioning young employees
for success at the beginning of a career
- In terms of cultivating soft skills, workplace experience and
in particular first jobs are seen as being especially important
more so than developing them at school or home
- 88 percent of respondents considered the opportunity to develop
soft skills “important,” including 60 percent who consider the
opportunity to be “very important”
- Former McDonald’s restaurant employees (48%) have higher
confidence in their soft skills compared to the average respondent
(40%)
- As generations age, they believe it is more difficult for
businesses to find qualified young people to meet the needs of the
job
- Gen Z (18-24 years) – 46%
- Millennials (25-37 years) – 54%
- Other ages (38+ years) – 65%
Gen Z, America’s largest generation and the
first born as digital natives, recognize their shortcomings of
their skills. 37% percent of Gen Zs have gone as far as admitting
that technology has weakened their ability to maintain strong
interpersonal relationships and develop people skills, according to
insights in Gen Z @ Work, a book on how the next generation is
transforming the workplace. But most importantly, Gen Zs
acknowledge they need help getting these skills as they find
themselves struggling to get into the workforce.
“If we don’t address the current gap in soft
skills, particularly for Gen Zs, it will have a detrimental impact
on the future of work in our nation,” said Kersey. “As employers,
we play the leading role in helping teach those skills. McDonald’s
and our independent franchisees help restaurant employees develop
that critical skill set every day whether it’s training them on
delivering food to customers through table service to enhance their
customer service skills, encouraging employees to work as a team to
exceed customers’ expectations, or teaching them responsibility
such as punctuality when they show up for their shift. This will
have a long-term effect they can carry into their future
careers.”
“This research validates the critical role employers and the
right first job can play in training and preparing young people for
their future,” said Cheryl Oldham, Senior Vice President, Center
for Education and Workforce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
“McDonald’s and its franchisees understand that upskilling
entry-level employees will not only support their own business
needs but it also helps provide the youngest generation opportunity
for long-term career success.”
As part of their effort to build a better
McDonald’s, the company and its independent franchisees are
committed to providing jobs that fit around the lives of restaurant
employees, develop transferable skills for life and provide access
to education and advancement opportunities. Recently, McDonald’s
announced a $150 million dollar investment in the Archways to
Opportunity education program, which nearly triples the amount of
money restaurant employees can receive to further their development
and education, and reduced the minimum time worked in order to be
eligible for the benefit.
As a next step, McDonald’s USA will look at new
and expanded strategic partnerships with organizations to develop
new tools for restaurant employees that focus on developing skills
and link to education and career advancement opportunities. New
career exploration resources for eligible restaurant employees are
expected to be available later this year.
About McDonald’s USA McDonald's USA,
LLC, serves a variety of menu options made with quality ingredients
to more than 25 million customers every day. Nearly 90 percent
of McDonald's 14,000 U.S. restaurants are independently
owned and operated by businessmen and women who are independent
employers, and set their own employment policies and practices,
including pay and benefits for the people working in their
restaurants. Customers can now log online for free at approximately
11,500 participating Wi-Fi enabled McDonald's U.S. restaurants. For
more information, visit www.mcdonalds.com, or follow us on
Twitter @McDonalds and Facebook at
www.facebook.com/mcdonalds.
Contact Information: Christie Shein
christie.shein@purplestrategies.com(646) 457-8224
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