Employee Relations in Building Competitiveness of McDonalds in 2024

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to show how the HR of McDonald’s UK can utilise employee relations strategies to improve its way of handling allegations of sexual harassment, bullying, racism and homophobia, which can improve its competitiveness in 2024. The report uses a literature review to evaluate how these allegations can lead to poor brand reputation and employee performance. The literature review further explores employee relations strategies that the corporation can utilise to handle their alleged misconduct. This report has also offered some key recommendations for McDonald’s in addressing its recent misconducts: enforcing policies and procedures, ensuring trust in reporting and grievance mechanisms, and regular training of managers and employees on how to handle misconduct. These strategies are aimed at improving the HR of McDonald’s UK, which will improve the company’s competitiveness through maintaining a positive brand reputation.

1.0 Introduction

Managing a diverse global workforce can be highly challenging for these corporations due to the varied organisational cultures and values of these organisations (Triantafillidou and Koutroukis, 2022). For example, recently, in the UK, where McDonald’s has 1450 restaurants and employs more than 170,000 people, most of whom are between the ages of 16 and 25 years, it was accused of having HR issues related to sexual harassment, bullying, racism and homophobia (Nanji et al., 2023). This incidence was documented by BBC’s June 2023 documentary, which detailed that among the people it interviewed, 78 said they faced sexual harassment, 31 talked about facing sexual assault, 18 said they faced racism, and six said they faced homophobia behaviour while working in McDonald’s (Nanji et al., 2023). Some of these employees said they had reported these allegations to senior management and other employee support systems, but actions were not taken against the offenders. Rather, the victims sometimes were fired or, in other cases, chose to quit. The company’s top leadership in the UK responded to the documentary claims by offering an apology to the offended employees and said it would take the necessary actions to end the toxic culture. However, in November 2023, BBC reported that 200 employees at McDonald’s UK had reported similar cases of sexual harassment, while the UK equality watchdog said that more than 400 employees in the company had contacted their email hotline over sexual harassment allegations after the wake of BBC allegations (Nanji et al., 2023).

The continuity of these allegations up to November 2023, months after BBC aired the documentary to call out McDonald’s for its toxic behaviour, shows that McDonald’s UK will have to deal effectively with this HR issue in 2024 in a comprehensive and sincere way. This paper will use a literature review to show how allegations of sexual harassment within McDonald’s affect it and how it can use employee relations strategies to handle the toxic issue.

2.0 Literature review

2.1 Impact of Toxic Behavior of Sexual Harassment, Racism, and Bullying at Workplace

Sexual harassment, racism and bullying can have a detrimental impact on individual employees, especially because it undermines their human dignity (Acquadro Maran et al., 2022). That implies that employees at McDonald’s who undergo acts of sexual harassment, bullying, and discrimination can feel the organisation does not respect them enough. Rather, it requires their services for profit making. When employees experience such disrespectful situations, they might choose to fail in reporting to their jobs or quit their jobs. That can cause corporations such as McDonald’s to incur losses such as training new staff and recruiting and selecting new staff. However, it is important to consider that the victims at McDonald’s who undergo such treatments complain that their grievances are not taken seriously as they can be easily replaced (Nanji et al., 2023). That is because McDonald’s relies on young employees who are at entry level in the job market; therefore, these employees can be easily replaced.

In addition, cases of sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace can reduce the morale of the employees, which in turn reduces their productivity (Acquadro Maran et al., 2022). That is because employees feel unsafe while working at McDonald’s. Therefore, McDonald’s UK can incur low-income generation because employees’ output is low. Mcdonald’s has been severally viewed as a profit-centric corporation, and therefore, the claim of its toxic culture impacting its revenue generation can act as a core motivation for a positive change. Moreover, the toxic culture associated with bullying, sexual harassment, racism, and bullying can lead to poor brand reputation among the company’s stakeholders, such as customers, employees and the government (Gianakos et al., 2022). In the case of McDonald’s, its allegations can lead to the company losing customers due to poor brand image, especially when these allegations are aired on national television like BBC. Also, the company can face legal challenges in the UK as the government has several questions about why it does not close its franchises, which are associated with tough allegations. That shows that government intervention in McDonald’s toxic culture can impact the corporation’s expansion efforts and revenue generation. McDonald’s UK responds to the allegations that affect its brand reputation in a concerted way by accepting its failures and assuring it will change its cause. However, despite this PR response from the corporation’s top leadership, it appears the management of the company does not take actions that align with its PR assurance.

2.2 Employee Relations Strategies in Managing the Cases of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination 

One key role of HR is managing human relations, especially in addressing sensitive issues such as sexual harassment, bullying and racism (Bulińska-Stangrecka and Bagieńska, 2021). Employee relations refer to an HR remit that defines how employees relate towards each other in an organisation. The remit encompasses aspects such as communication and collaboration with employees to promote a harmonious working environment. Managing HR practices in regard to human relations plays a critical role in promoting a positive brand reputation and improving employee performance (Bulińska-Stangrecka and Bagieńska, 2021). That indicates that McDonald’s should act urgently to provide employees safety from acts of sexual harassment and racial and sexual harassment discrimination.

2.2.1 Development of HR Policies and Procedures

One of the most crucial employee relations strategies that define a safe workplace is the establishment of policies and procedures that outline acceptable behaviour in the organisation, guidance for reporting violations of acceptable behaviour, and consequences of violating such behaviour (Wegwu, 2022). These policies and procedures can demonstrate the organisation’s commitment towards creating a safe workplace that is free from acts of racism, sexual harassment and bullying. Therefore, the establishment of such policies on corporations such as McDonald’s can create accountability for employees as they understand the potential consequences of failing to adhere to the policies. However, this measure has a significant drawback, as a company can establish policies without enforcing them, which can cause their implementation to fail (Parmenas, 2022). For instance, McDonald’s has clear policies and procedures that assure their employees’ safety from acts of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying. However, these policies appear to be developed of PR interventions because they are not effectively enforced because sexual harassment cases and racial discrimination cases have thrived over decades due to a lack of sincere ways of enforcing them. For example, in the recent accusations of sexual harassment, racism and bullying in the UK, the company management appeared to be reluctant to listen to the grievances of the employees in these cases.

2.2.2 Implementation of Training Programs for Managers and Employees

Training programs can be an effective way to educate employees and managers on their rights and responsibilities in working in a safe environment (Gupta and Garg, 2020). These training programs can address cases of sexual harassment, discrimination, and bullying that threaten employee safety (Gupta and Garg, 2020). In the case of McDonald’s UK, where most cases of sexual harassment are initiated by the managers on their junior staff, employees can be trained that they have the right to a safe workplace despite their position in the workplace. Also, employees can be assured of fairness when dealing with such cases. On the other hand, employees can be trained to respect each other regardless of their age, race and sexual orientation and, in that case, shun bullying and discrimination. One key disadvantage of this strategy is that one training program cannot have a long-term impact on behaviour change. Rather, it requires reinforcement and constant evaluation (Latham, 2020). Therefore, while McDonald’s adopts this strategy, it needs to reinforce it with constant reminders like email messages to remind employees of their conduct and evaluate the effectiveness of employees in responding to the training programs by adjusting the overall company culture.

2.2.3 Establishment of Clear Platforms for Reporting and Grievance 

Reporting and grievance mechanisms in an organisation can offer employees channels to report misconduct such as bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination (Dhanabhakyam and Monish, 2021). Such mechanisms can ensure that complaints relating to employee workplace safety are handled with urgency and with required confidentiality. Grievance mechanisms can ensure employees’ concerns are resolved in a fair way without the fear of retaliation, which promotes organisational justice and trust among employees (Abrol et al., 2020). However, one key drawback of this strategy is inadequate communication and lack of trust in the reporting mechanism can discourage employees from utilising the reporting mechanisms (Nakayenze et al., 2021). Also, delays in grievances can cause employees to lack confidence in HR and encourage a culture where employees are silent in cases of misconduct (Dhanabhakyam and Monish, 2021). McDonald’s has created clear reporting and grievance mechanisms for cases of sexual harassment, bullying and racism. However, these mechanisms face a challenge where employees’ concerns do not listen, and in worse cases, employees face retaliation for reporting misconduct, and they can be fired. Such failure can make misconduct related to McDonald’s thrive as employees can lack trust in company management and choose to remain silent about misconduct.

3.0 Findings and Discussions

It is evident that cases of sexual harassment, racism and bullying that have been impacting McDonald’s for a long time still exist to the present date. The recent narrations of the BBC report have shown this because a considerable percentage of McDonald’s employees interviewed in the documentary related to McDonald’s UK having the reluctance to curb these cases (Nanji et al., 2023). The employees’ narrations showed there was a lack of appropriate actions taken towards the offenders of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination, showing how McDonald’s UK has been delaying in ensuring employee safety. There are two key reasons that facilitate this irresponsive behaviour by McDonald’s in inhibiting responsible reporting and grievances of McDonald’s (Nanji et al., 2023). One key reason is that corporations suffer less loss in case of employees quitting their jobs because the company relies on young people who are new job entrants who are easily replaced. Secondly, in most cases, managers are involved in misconduct such as sexual harassment, and the top management of the company does not take appropriate responses for these offenders.

McDonald’s appears to have a core aim of addressing issues of sexual harassment, bullying and racism, which is motivated by maintaining a positive PR towards external stakeholders such as the government and customers. That is evidenced by the company’s response in the wake of allegations in the BBC documentary, in which the top leadership condemned such misconduct and apologised to the affected employees (Nanji et al., 2023). However, despite the top leadership’s commitment to ending the toxic culture of employee safety, the following BBC and the UK equality watchdog showed that similar misconduct cases were witnessed in McDonald’s UK after the documentary was aired. These follow-ups were published in November 2023, which indicates that in 2024, McDonald’s HR needs to take appropriate actions in dealing with cases of sexual harassment, racism, bullying and homophobia (Nanji et al., 2023).

Literature review shows that the witnessed misconduct at McDonald’s can have detrimental impacts on its welfare. For example, the company’s brand reputation towards its external stakeholders, such as the government and customers, can be significantly affected, especially when the misconduct gains publicity, like in a BBC documentary (Gianakos et al., 2022). In the case of the customers, they can have a poor brand image, and they can lose some revenue in cases where customers switch to purchasing fast food from their competitors. Secondly, in the case of the government, corporations can lose government credit when expanding to different markets. These cases of brand reputation impact McDonald’s core value of being a profit-driven firm. Therefore, they can act as core motivators for making the cooperation change the way it handles recent cases of misconduct.

One HR remit that this paper has considered effective in helping McDonald’s handle cases of sexual harassment, racism, bullying and homophobia is employee relations due to its association with addressing the relationships between the employees. Employee relations have been found to be a powerful tool in promoting employee safety through ensuring employee workplace safety, and thus, employees focus on achieving company goals (Bulińska-Stangrecka and Bagieńska, 2021). Additionally, employee safety can ensure McDonald’s has an improved brand reputation because the existing cases of sexual harassment, racism, and bullying are dealt with appropriately within the organisation before the acquisition of media publicity.

This paper has established three key employee relation strategies that McDonald’s UK can employ to ensure that it has dealt with cases of sexual harassment, racism and bullying in its organisation. One of the key strategies that McDonald’s can utilise is developing policies and products that guide employee conduct (Wegwu, 2022). These policies and procedures can build a platform for a culture that appreciates diversity and inclusivity, where employees are mutual employees for each other. McDonald’s has established such policies and procedures, although their effectiveness is low due to the lack of enforcement of such policies. That can help McDonald’s foster a culture of diversity and inclusivity where misconducts such as sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying are not tolerated by the organisational culture. For such a healthy culture to thrive in McDonald’s, the leadership of the company as key custodian of the culture should show sincere commitment to ensuring the employees’ conduct is guided by the culture (Parmenas, 2022). Thus, these policies appear to exist for PR reasons, where the corporation gains a false representation in dealing with sexual harassment cases, bullying and discrimination in the workplace. That is because, despite the company establishing these policies, it still faces rampant cases of sexual harassment, racism and bullying.

Another core strategy that McDonald’s can utilise in dealing with sexual harassment is establishing training programs for managers and employees (Gupta and Garg, 2020). This paper discusses how such training can help McDonald’s employees know their rights to have safe and secure workplaces. The managers can be trained to be responsible in dealing with misconduct and the negative impacts of keeping these cases secretive. However, while McDonald’s adopts this strategy, it should ensure a long-term evaluation of the impact of such training because a one-time training session cannot be viable in ending cases of sexual harassment (Latham, 2020). Moreover, establishing reporting and grievances channels has been outlined as one of the effective strategies McDonald’s can utilise in dealing with harassment and misconduct (Dhanabhakyam and Monish, 2021). However, this report has shown that McDonald’s has established such platforms, although employees lack trust in these systems because responses to their grievances are delayed or ignored, and in worst cases, they can face retaliation, such as being fired by their managers.

4.0 Conclusion

This report has shown that in 2024, McDonald’s UK will have a high likelihood of dealing with cases of sexual harassment, bullying, racism and homophobia. These misconducts are likely to have detrimental impacts on McDonald’s, such as low employee productivity and poor brand reputation, which can heavily impact the corporation’s revenue generation. This paper has upheld employee relations as a possible HR remit to combat recent cases of misconduct at McDonald’s UK. This remit has the ability to foster healthy relationships between employees, therefore empowering brand reputation and employee performance. The report further details that McDonald’s can employ various employee relations strategies to deal with cases of misconduct.

There are three key recommendations that can be made on how McDonald’s can address the current HR challenges based on the reflected employee relations strategies. One key recommendation is that McDonald’s should aim to enforce its policies and procedures that dictate employee conduct. That will help show commitment to creating a culture where employees respect each other regardless of their race, sexual orientation, and gender. Secondly, McDonald’s can work at creating trust on platforms for reporting grievances in cases of sexual harassment. Here, McDonald’s can ensure it responds to the reported cases promptly and employees do not feel threatened for reporting misconduct. This will help to build the failed trust in these mechanisms, which will allow the corporation to track cases of misconduct and prevent cases of poor brand reputation. In addition, McDonald’s should aim to train its management and employees constantly on how to handle cases of misconduct. Also, the corporation should aim to evaluate the effectiveness of this training based on metrics such as reporting misconduct and the rate of reduction of misconduct. In conclusion, when McDonald’s UK utilises these employee relations strategies, it can increase its competitiveness in the UK because its brand reputation can improve, which can attract customers and give the government credit for expanding to new markets.

References

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