McDonald's to invest 'heavily' in staff recruitment and training

McDonald's, the fast food giant, has pledged to continue investing heavily in staff recruitment and training as other employers around the UK slash spending on employees.

Many organisations are cutting their training and recruitment budgets this summer as fears of a recession grow. A CBI report last month warned that up to 200,000 jobs could go across the UK by the end of 2009.

But David Fairhurst, senior vice-president and chief people officer at McDonald's UK & Northern Europe, insisted spending on staff was vital to the group’s survival.

“We are still actively recruiting,” he told Caterersearch sister website PersonnelToday.com. “Indeed, we have recently made a significant investment in a state-of-the-art online recruitment system. 

“As we enter choppy economic waters, I think it is important for us to remain focused and work hard to maintain the momentum we have developed in recent years – not forgetting that a key driver of that momentum has been our people.”

Fairhurst added that McDonald's relied on good-quality customer service to be successful. “One way in which we will achieve this is by continuing to invest £15m each year in training our people,” he said.

Fairhurst admitted that McDonald's was not recession-proof, but said it was more resistant to bad conditions than many, with customer visits and sales continuing to grow.

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By Daniel Thomas

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