Day 154 - 13 Jul 95 - Page 31
1 employment, then, really, they were not very productive.
2 You can disagree as to how productive they are, but they
3 are obviously going to be less productive than somebody who
4 has been with us a long time. Therefore, the net effect is
5 that the food, the uniform and the time spent training
6 would be a cost of turnover. That is a fairly common ---
7
8 Q. How can food ---
9 A. -- definition of turnover.
10
11 Q. -- be an additional cost?
12 A. Additional?
13
14 Q. Additional, over and above the cost of a six crew members
15 that have been there for six or seven weeks, or 20 years?
16 A. When I spoke about the cost of the food, the cost of
17 the uniform and the cost of training, I was speaking of
18 that in relation to the cost of turnover within a
19 restaurant. So, for instance, say you had a crew member
20 who left after three weeks, that crew member would be
21 virtually of nil use, or would be very unproductive during
22 their first three weeks, yes, but we would still give them
23 free food, we would still provide them with a uniform
24 (which they may not bring back), and we have spent time and
25 energy training that person up for those first three
26 weeks. That is what I meant by the cost of turnover. It
27 is a fairly sort of common usage in any industry, as far as
28 I am aware. It is recognised universally.
29
30 Q. if somebody leaves after three years working for
31 McDonald's, do you hire two people to replace them?
32 A. We may have to, yes, initially. Your assumption is
33 that you require absolutely no skill or training to work
34 for McDonald's. That is not the case.
35
36 Q. I am not arguing about training. I am arguing about any
37 extra cost for food and uniforms. There is no extra cost,
38 is there? Uniforms wear out just as quickly, whether or
39 not it is somebody who has got three years experience or
40 two days experience?
41 A. Yes, they wear out just as quickly, but what I am
42 saying is, there will be a proportion of crew who do not
43 bring their uniforms back. Newer crew are more likely to
44 lose parts of their uniform as well, through experience.
45
46 Q. They then do not get their pay. While crew are going
47 through their training period, they are not earning as much
48 as somebody who has been a crew member for three years, are
49 they?
50 A. They are not, no.
51
52 Q. So are you saving money in that respect?
53 A. Not saving any money specifically in that respect. What
54 we are doing is training that person up. In any industry,
55 whichever one you look at, there will be a calculation of
56 the cost of turnover, and that is to what I was referring
57 when I mentioned those costs. As far as I was aware,
58 I thought it was fairly common knowledge.
59
60 Q. If people are leaving sooner rather than later, you also do
