Day 154 - 13 Jul 95 - Page 34


     
     1        that?
     2        A.  OK.  We actively encourage employees to stay as long as
     3        possible.  One of the, I believe, most obvious examples of
     4        that is service awards.  We give three year, five year and
     5        10 year service awards to people who stay a long time.  If
     6        we wanted people to leave at a sooner date than that --
     7        that is just one example -- if that is the case, then why
     8        on earth reward people for staying longer?
     9
    10        There are benefits which accrue to crew members the longer
    11        they stay with the Company, over and above their legal
    12        entitlement.  The Company has things like private medicine,
    13        PPP, things like that, for crew members who stay a while.
    14        Why on earth would we put those types of benefits into the
    15        system if we wanted crew to turn over and leave us?  Why
    16        would we have a promotion or a sort of a hierarchy which
    17        crew could climb up, if the intent was for them to leave
    18        soon after they started with the Company?
    19
    20        There is absolutely no benefit from encouraging people to
    21        turn over and leave the Company.  There is a cost to
    22        turnover which substantially outweighs any possible benefit
    23        that anybody might think of that you would get by having
    24        crew that were inexperienced and not having to do the job.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:  Another benefit of high turnover is the fact that
    29        if there are always people leaving McDonald's, it is easier
    30        to impose discipline on staff, is it not, on crew members,
    31        if they know that -- it is not unusual for McDonald's
    32        people to just disappear or basically be given the nod to
    33        get out and leave, because it is a very common occurrence?
    34        A.  I do not know how you can give somebody "the nod" to
    35        leave.  That is not a practice I have ever been a party to.
    36
    37   Q.   Not nods, but there are ways in which to say to people:
    38        "Your face does not fit; you have the wrong attitude" --
    39        which of course is part of your formal Company policy, that
    40        staff have to have the right attitude, as we have heard
    41        already.  I just put it to you that that is another benefit
    42        of high turnover at McDonald's, that it gives more control
    43        in the hands of management?
    44        A.  I have already said that we do not want high turnover.
    45        So if that is a benefit, then it is not something we would
    46        aim for; therefore, it does not apply.
    47
    48   Q.   Do you know why -- you said that under-18s are something
    49        like 30 to 50 per cent at Colchester?
    50        A.  Yes. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Why did you want to recruit so many under-18 year olds? 
    53        A.  Well, I do not think we specifically went out to
    54        recruit under-18 year olds.  That is what was available in
    55        the marketplace; they were the people who wanted to come
    56        and work with us at the time.
    57
    58   Q.   So the majority of people applying tend to be under-18 year
    59        olds, or young people anyway?
    60        A.  I would say the mixture of crew that we had was

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