Date:01/09/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/09/01/stories/2005090101720800.htm

Back McDonald's India believes in grooming talent from within

Anjali Prayag

Bangalore , Aug. 31

WHILE quick service restaurants across the world have taken to temporary employees in a big way, McDonald's in India begs to differ. All employees of the McDonald's team in India, nearly 3,000 of them, are on the company's rolls.

This is in line with McDonald's global management philosophy of grooming talent from within, says Mr Amitabha Sen, Head of Human Resources, McDonald's India (Western Region).

In fact, the famous example of Charlie Bell, the late CEO of McDonald's, who started his career as a crewmember in MacDonald's Australia when he was 15 years old, is not an exception. "Even in India, about 40 per cent of the current middle management team members started off as crew members," says Mr Sen.

He attributes the success of this management practice to a well-designed and developed training programme. At McDonald's, a new recruit's operations training stands him in good stead when he is chosen to head the restaurant or is moved into the middle management, he says.

For instance, crewmembers are trained extensively to learn the operational skills necessary for running the restaurant in addition to lessons on food safety and food handling processes and working shoulder-to-shoulder with their trainers. So, it's a comprehensive training encompassing the front counter to the kitchen areas.

To foster growth of internal talent, employees are also encouraged to invest in higher education. McDonald's has designed a fast-track programme - the Graduate Career Advancement Programme - to strengthen this `internal growth' philosophy. The completion of this programme takes the crewmember directly to the Second Assistant Manager level, which in turn will chart a career path into the management cadre, according to Mr Sen.