Day 124 - 10 May 95 - Page 50


     
     1   MS. STEEL:  For crew, that is?
     2        A.  Well, it is not a fixed figure.  That is something,
     3        that is the range moves with the sales volume of the
     4        restaurant.  It also changes with the experience level of
     5        the crew.  It also changes with the investment that the
     6        manager wants to make in training, crew meetings.  That
     7        sort of thing.  So it is not a fixed figure, that once you
     8        sit down and go through that process, that that sticks up
     9        on the wall and that is something you shoot at for the rest
    10        of year.
    11
    12   Q.   But roughly what was the range of the target?
    13        A.  It was in the high teens, as I recall.       You
    14        understand what I mean by "high teens"?
    15
    16   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.
    17
    18   MS. STEEL:  Between 15 and 20 per cent, well, 15 to 19?
    19        A.  15 to 19, yes.
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:  We have had quite a lot of evidence on this
    22        already, from Mr. Nicholson, on this subject, but are there
    23        any, as far as you know, any fundamental differences on the
    24        way, for example, labour costs are approached in America,
    25        to the way they are approached in the UK?  Is it roughly
    26        the same, as far as you understand, the same target?
    27        A.  I would think our approach in America is similar to the
    28        method that is being used here, that we have passed on our
    29        approach to labour to all of our partners abroad.
    30
    31   Q.   One thing that just struck me.  It has been said, by
    32        Mr. Nicholson, that McDonald's in the UK have a policy for
    33        all staff of not working overtime.  Do you know, is that a
    34        policy that applies in all countries or is that -----
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why not ask about the States, because that is
    37        what Mr. Beavers is most ----
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:  Is that the policy in the States, about overtime?
    40        A.  The policy, if there was a stated policy, it is doing
    41        what is reasonably appropriate.  It is the responsibility
    42        of the store manager to make the final call on whether or
    43        not he or she wants to work a number of employees
    44        overtime.  Let me further explain that by an example.  If
    45        we have a situation where, let us say, it is 1 o'clock in
    46        the afternoon, you normally, from 12 to 1, would have 22
    47        employees, and then at 1 o'clock the sales volume drops
    48        off, and you reduce the staff to, let us say, 10 or 11
    49        people, people would leave the restaurant.  If, in fact, we
    50        had additional, more business than we had planned from that 
    51        one to two period of time, a couple of buses pull up on the 
    52        lot, it would be appropriate for the store manager to ask 
    53        some of the employees, if they could, to work overtime.  In
    54        fact at that particular time when they punched out on the
    55        clock if they had gone past 40 hours for the week, if the
    56        employee chose to want to work the extra time then we would
    57        employ them.  So, to me, that is exercising good judgment.
    58        You want to serve the consumer by having the store properly
    59        staffed, and if it means that you work some of your
    60        employees overtime, if they wish to do so, then you want to

Prev Next Index