Burger giant fights its 'McJob' image

McDONALD'S has launched a major campaign to improve the image of jobs with the chain as dead-end or starter positions.

The company has for years been on the receiving end of attacks over the limited benefits opportunities it is said to provide through so-called McJobs. But this week it has gathered 13,000 US managers in Las Vegas to try to reverse that.

McDonald's North America president Ralph Alvarez told the gathering of managers that the company was working hard to improve the image of its jobs. 'We can redefine what it means to be a McDonald's employee,' he said.

As part of the push, reporters were allowed to attend the convention for the first time, but only if they agreed to be accompanied by a McDonald's minder at all times.

So bad is the McDonald's employment image that the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2003 introduced the term McJob, to mean 'low-paying and deadend work'.

The image has hurt McDonald's, whose managers say that recruiting and keeping staff is their biggest problem.

The company has launched a television commercial in which a man in a business suit tells a McDonald's burger salesman that he, too, once worked at McDonald's.

Restaurant staff turnover at McDonald's is about 130% and manager turnover about 42% a year, according to research firm People Report.