McDonalds has recruited 20,000 staff online since launching its online recruitment system in March, saving the firm 500,000 since the launch.

The company reports it is recruiting an average of 1,000 new staff every week online and attracts 1,400 applications every day.

The cost savings are primarily driven by the introduction of psychometric testing prior to initial interviews, saving time for interviewing managers.

In August McDonald's announced it would be recruiting 4,000 members of staff with a large-scale advertising campaign to encourage people to apply.

David Fairhurst, senior vice-president/chief people officer, McDonald's Restaurants Northern Europe, said: "With McDonald's continuing to perform strongly, it's more important than ever that our people are able to concentrate their focus on delivering great customer service in our restaurants, while the new online system removes the need for cumbersome manual processes.

"It also enables us to process the large volumes of applications we're receiving each day quickly and efficiently, so we can make sure we're in a position to spot and take on those with best suited to our recruitment needs."