Day 151 - 10 Jul 95 - Page 18
1 know. It is sounds daft to me, so -----
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you do not -- do you know?
4 A. No.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: That is the sort of basic thing that any manager
7 would know, though, what information they are able to get
8 access to, directly or indirectly, through Head Office?
9 A. I do not know whether or not a grass roots manager
10 would know what information Head Office could provide.
11 I would be sceptical to whether or not they knew what
12 information -- my experience is that some managers, even
13 with the best will in the world, it is going to be very
14 difficult for people to appreciate what information is
15 available from their Regional or Head Office.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Presumably, if it is information which they
18 need to any significant extent, they do know where they can
19 get it, because they have to get it from somewhere; query
20 whether they need to go to Head Office.
21
22 What Mr. Morris is contemplating here is someone wanting to
23 start a job at a new restaurant, when he has previously
24 worked at another McDonald's restaurant, and there is some
25 discussion about the rate of pay, and he says: "I was paid
26 whatever at Leicester"?
27 A. Yes.
28
29 Q. The easiest thing then, I suppose, would be that the
30 manager of the new store accepts that on face value, having
31 heard him say what he said about how long he worked there,
32 and so on, what his increase was, or if he has any doubt
33 about the matter and wants to check, he can ring up
34 Leicester to ask them to tell him on the phone?
35 A. And that, in my experience, is exactly what happens.
36
37 Q. It may or may not occur to him to go to Head Office
38 instead, but if he thinks it is easier just to ring up
39 Leicester, he does not need to know whether Head Office can
40 provide the information?
41 A. What I would want to know, not only the starting rate,
42 but the performance of the individual concerned. He may
43 well be on £3 an hour or paid £5 an hour, but if the
44 reasons and the circumstances in which they left the
45 previous restaurant were involuntary, for example, then
46 I would need to know that, first of all. So, I think, in
47 my experience, I have certainly 'phoned up other restaurant
48 managers to find out, and they will certainly tell me
49 everything I need to know from thereon in -- especially the
50 reasons for leaving.
51
52 MR. MORRIS: Which of course has a code on the computer, in any
53 event, has it not?
54 A. A code on the computer? Not for hourly paid -- again,
55 this is Human Resources, but, as far as I can recollect for
56 hourly paid employees, we do not have anything on the
57 computer records. I know for salaried, we do. But,
58 again -- I mean, I make the comment guardedly -- I am
59 pretty sure that on a computer -----
60
