McDonald’s sees 60% take-up of new voluntary benefits scheme

McDonald’s has achieved 60% take-up of its new voluntary benefits scheme.

More than half of the fast food chain’s 80,000 UK employees have taken advantage of its voluntary benefits scheme, saving £100,000, in the first three months after it was introduced in March 2010.

The scheme, provided by Asperity Employee Benefits, includes discounts at more than 1,500 retailers, cashback offers and discounted gift vouchers.

The scheme has been integrated with McDonalds ‘ourlounge’ employee website, replacing a previous discount scheme that McDonald’s had in place. It chose to expand its offering to employees with a new scheme with a larger range of offers from high street brands.

Jez Langhorn, UK HR director at McDonald’s, said that with a workforce as diverse as McDonald’s, providing an extensive range of benefits is essential to engaging employees. “Our employee discount scheme is a fundamental part of our employee website ‘ourlounge’. Nearly half of all our employees log on everyday to look at their schedules, enter competitions, or go on the employee discount site.

“Being a big company like McDonald’s, it is important we leverage the size of our business and our purchasing power to the benefit of our employees. Our people tell us it is one of the things they value really strongly in their benefits package. It is a central pillar of how to engage employees.”

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