Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 35


     
     1        we looked at just recently this morning made it fairly
     2        obvious that students feature very strongly in the
     3        departing profile.  It was a fifth, was it not?  So, yes, I
     4        am pretty aware.
     5
     6   Q.   OK.  Do you know also that the proportion of males to
     7        females in McDonald's is roughly?
     8        A.  Yes, there is a table here that shows them.
     9
    10   Q.   Do you know also that a proportion of those women are
    11        mothers of school age children?
    12        A.  I would be surprised if you had such statistics.
    13
    14   Q.   I am not asking you to think about statistics.  I am asking
    15        you to think about, what shall I call, human nature and
    16        probability.  If, Mr. Pearson, a substantial proportion --
    17        whether we put a number on it or not perhaps does not
    18        matter -- of the people at McDonald's are people who leave
    19        at the end of the school term, in the case of a student,
    20        and come back again at the beginning of the next school
    21        term and so on, or in the case of mothers with children,
    22        leave at the end of the holidays and come back again at the
    23        beginning of the next holidays, you are going to get, are
    24        you not, whatever the actual number, a number of what one
    25        might call repeat people within your turnover figures, are
    26        you not?
    27        A.  You certainly are, and I think that is one of the
    28        inadequacies of the exit interview table which has been
    29        presented, because it does not show this in all its
    30        fullness, because whether or not this is true and how far
    31        it is true is impossible to measure from the table that was
    32        before us.  I am prepared to accept that pen picture of the
    33        workforce with considerable number of students, a
    34        considerable number of women with dependents who look for
    35        seasonal work ---
    36
    37   Q.   That is right.
    38        A.  -- particularly term time work.  I mean, term time work
    39        is a standard category, is a well-known feature on catering
    40        industry.  So, I am sure that you must be right that
    41        McDonald's would have its own share of term time employees.
    42
    43   Q.   And it would also have people who like to do a stint before
    44        Christmas to get some money for Christmas presents -- just
    45        a stint -- and perhaps who would like to do a stint before
    46        the summer holidays, so to get some money for the holidays?
    47        A.  Yes.  But this is all quite possible, just how far the
    48        workforce of McDonald's approaches the job as just a stint.
    49        I mean, there is no evidence that I have seen to be able to
    50        sort of put that into proportion.  I mean, the exit 
    51        interviews could -- that survey could have picked up the 
    52        real reason for leaving for possibly four out of 10, for 
    53        whom I believe the categories are vague and insufficient.
    54        I have no way of -- if you see what I mean -- I have no way
    55        of really commenting on the proportionate relevance of the
    56        description you have given.
    57
    58   Q.   No.  That is a question of evidence, Mr. Pearson.
    59        I just wondered whether you accepted that one must not look
    60        at these turnover figures as though they represented each

Prev Next Index