Day 133 - 12 Jun 95 - Page 40
1 doing. That would also help to -- mean that someone, say,
2 a Floor Manager, would then receive a percentage increase
3 as opposed to an absolute pence figure.
4
5 Q. If you did (and I do not know whether you will or whether
6 you will not) change to a percentage basis for increases,
7 would that help to preserve differentials as well?
8 A. Yes, I think it would because then people would be
9 receiving an increase based on their rate, a percentage of
10 that, otherwise you can get compression between the rates,
11 perhaps, for the more senior staff.
12
13 Q. The only other thing I need to ask you about, Ms. Mead is
14 this: In 1991 for the first time in this country, at
15 least, McDonald's introduced a capping or maximum rate that
16 was obtainable for any given post?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. Do you remember that?
20 A. Yes.
21
22 Q. I can show you the document, if you want, but that was the
23 first time it had happened. Do you know what the reason
24 was, why it was decided to put a cap on the most a person
25 can earn in any given position?
26 A. Well, again I think as time goes on we have more people
27 remaining with us that what you need to do is to make sure
28 that you have a structure that makes sense, so you have not
29 got people necessarily at different levels, their earnings
30 outstripping each other. So, it is to try to make some
31 sense of it, because what you find when you actually deal
32 with this on the ground is that otherwise you can have
33 unfairness, perceived unfairness, by employees built into
34 things because they will feel that someone else is earning
35 more than them and, perhaps, should not be.
36
37 Q. Because they are junior?
38 A. Yes, that is right, because they do not have as much
39 experience and so on. So, you know, the different job
40 levels need to be structured in a logical way.
41
42 Q. Do you foresee any immediate or imminent change in this
43 area of pay by McDonald's, or is it just something that is
44 being looked at?
45 A. I do not whether a change is imminent, but it is
46 something that we are reviewing at the moment.
47
48 Q. Thank you, Ms. Mead. Let me just check through to see if
49 there is anything I should have asked you about and have
50 not. There is one thing (and I apologise to you personally
51 for this), did you in 1991, you personally, receive the
52 President's Award?
53 A. Yes, I did.
54
55 Q. I do not know mean from the United States of America,
56 I mean from within McDonald's, yes?
57 A. Yes.
58
59 Q. What is that for?
60 A. It is for excellence at work, excellent performance.
