Washington
29 December 2007
The Oxford English Dictionary defines McJob as "An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, exp. One created by the expansion of the service sector."
It's no mystery that "McJob" is derived from terms coined by McDonald's Corporation, the ubiquitous fast food chain. During the past three months, the UK branch of McDonald's has collected close to 105,000 signatures to petition publishers of the dictionary to stop carrying the word "McJob." Employees, suppliers, customers and people on the street have signed close to 1,000 signatures a day.
"Its genesis came in the strength of feeling at McDonald's that the current definition is out of touch with reality and ultimately insulting to the hard-working people who serve the public every day," said David Fairhurst, Senior Vice President and Chief People officer at McDonald's UK subsidiary.
The first objection came from Jim Cantalupo, former Chairman and CEO of McDonald's, in an open letter to Merriam-Webster, Inc. in 2003.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines McJobs as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement."
Cantalupo is offended with the definition of McJob—also a registered trademark in the United States. He explains in his letter the benefits teenagers and the unskilled workers derive from starting out at McDonald's and other such franchises. "Young people learn what it takes to succeed. They learn how to interact with customers, how to prepare food properly, the importance of cleanliness, the value of showing up on time and what it means to work as an integral member of a team".
Franchises Bring Value?
There are more than 1,500 brands with more than 300,000 community-based franchise outlets in the United States alone, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper by Peter Cappelli and Monika Hamori titled, "Are Franchises Bad Employers?"
Cappelli is a director at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Human Resources and Hamori is a professor at Instituto de Empresa Business School in Spain.
Typically, a franchisor—such as McDonald's—allows franchisee investors to open up outlets (franchises) for a fee and a percentage of profits. The franchisor provides support services such as training, branded materials and advertising.
Many unskilled and uneducated individuals take a job in a franchise instead of having to work in the agricultural sector. Working at McDonald's gives these people a chance to learn new skills and gain confidence.
"Franchises appear to offer more sophisticated management practices and make greater investments in their employees," concluded Cappelli and Hamori.
Evidence suggests that employees fare better in franchises than in similar independent operations. Employees in franchises can count on better training and are treated more fairly than in similar kind of non-franchise businesses. Although turnover is still high, franchises provide more benefits to their low level employees than similar type of non-franchise businesses.
"Franchises paid their employees better than comparably-sized independent operators in the same industry and offered more training. Indeed, when it came to training, franchises beat their independent competitors on two different measures: they not only trained a higher percentage of their workers, but they also provided more hours of instruction per employee, on average," according to the article "Are Franchises bad Employers? A closer Look at Burger Flippers and Other Low-paid Jobs," recently published by Knowledge@Wharton, the publishing arm of the University of Pennsylvania.
A standardized system providing uniformity, brand recognition and transparency are of greater benefit than the complexities inherent in such structures.
Franchising News
On Dec. 3, Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm approved legislation to repeal a 6 percent state service tax, giving a tax break to franchises and other small businesses, according to a recent International Franchise Association (IFA) press release.
The IFA "VetFran" program—established in 2001 to assist honorably discharged soldiers to buy into a franchise by helping defray costs—has helped more than 1,000 veterans and is in the process to bring another 200 onboard, according to another recent release.
"The franchising industry not only recognizes the challenges faced by veterans, but demonstrates its commitment to making their return to civilian life more meaningful by providing a path to the dream of small-business ownership," said IFA President Matthey Shay in the release.
Females own 25 percent and minorities more than 19 percent of all franchises, according to a survey of business owners published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. Based on the latest available U.S. Census data, Asians owned 9 percent, Hispanics 6 percent and African Americans more than 4 percent of all franchises.
Franchise History
The franchising concept was invented in the 1850s by I.M Singer & Co. to increase sales of its sewing machines, but the concept died an early death.
The franchising idea came to life again in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, when Howard Johnson started his restaurant chain. But the idea did not gain a foothold until the late 1950s, when McDonald's, Burger King, Holiday-Inn, Baskin-Robbins and others realized the franchising potential.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enacted its Franchise Rule in October of 1979 to regulate franchising. The law mandated nationwide pre-sale disclosure circulars and outlined other transparency rules.
Source :
www.en.epochtimes.com
