The fast-food restaurant chain last year introduced its 'hire with a smile' strategy to ensure it continued to recruit for employees' ability and what they can bring to the organisation, regardless of age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, race, ethnic origin, religion or nationality.
The judging panel had particular praise for its campaign focusing on the talents of older workers. Working with Lancaster University Business School, McDonald's was able to prove customer satisfaction levels were higher in outlets employing older workers. It currently employs 1,000 staff out of 80,000, who are over the age of 60.
The company has also increased the number of female executives on its board from 10% three years ago to 27% at the end of 2009 through its Women's Leadership Development Programme and has a women's leadership network and coaching/mentoring scheme to champion female talent in the company. And in the past year McDonald's focused on a partnership with Remploy to help people with disabilities find a job in one of its restaurants and, to date, it has hired more than 100 employees this way.
Building these initiatives on top of flexible working schemes and programmes to encourage staff from other EU countries to apply for McDonald's as well as a diversity communications programme, the company reports almost 93% of staff feel treated with respect, regardless of their gender, disability, race, marital status, ethnic origin, age, race or sexual orientation.
According to one judge, the fast-food chain had devised some "fantastic ideas" and was able to show some highly positive results from its investment in diversity.
FINALISTS
Santander
Tesco
University of Lincoln
