Times are tough for a lot of companies across the country. With many people struggling economically due to the pandemic , many businesses cannot seem to hire employees due to “lower pay” and lack of benefits .
Now, many companies are desperate to gain some sort of employment so that their businesses can continue on and grow.
But, not everyone has a good strategy to do so.
For years now, the restaurant industry has been struggling when it comes to staffing.
For instance, Panera Bread has an annual turnover rate of just below 100% — and that’s considered good by industry standards!
The average turnover rate is much higher, sitting at just over 130%.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers have skyrocketed.
The chair of HR Studies and International & Comparative Labor at Cornell, Rosemary Batt, explained to MSNBC :
“Now turnover is absolutely excessive , and some chains are beginning to put numbers on the cost of turnover. I know some chains that are focused on it,” she said.
With employees dropping like flies, many chains have been forced to get creative with their marketing techniques.
Some companies have done this by raising wages for upper management positions. Others are investing in tech and automation .
But Burger King has deployed a completely different strategy, and it has the majority of the internet pretty upset.
Burger King wants to hire your kids.
It’s a whopper of an idea, to say the least.
Instead of focusing on improving working conditions and incentivizing current employees, Burger King instead appears to be shifting their focus on the youth.
Recently, someone on Twitter caught a glimpse at Burger King’s recent ad to get some new employees.
The ad spoke to parents of 14 and 15-year-old kids.
Essentially, the chain fast food joint is willing to hire young tweens to work in their restaurants, showcasing that they are really struggling to get adults or anyone “of age” to work for them.
While it seems a bit strange, it’s not illegal.
It seems to be a bit strange to ask parents to throw their kids into the workforce at 14-years-old, but according to law, many states allow tweens to begin working at 14 as long as they have legal working papers.
It’s also clearly stated in Burger King’s hiring policies that they will/do hire children as young as 14-years-old.
According to job-applications.com, 14-year-olds may be hired to perform non-hazardous restaurant tasks — so long as they have an employment certificate .
This is also subject to state employment laws.
People online, however, could not stop dragging them.
Many felt that the reason adults and even teens did not want to go work for the chain is because of their low salary and lack of benefits.
Many began to respond and totally drag BK for their lack of consideration in the matter.
Others couldn’t help but point out the obvious.
Some were pointing out that this is one of the reasons businesses are always closing.
They never pay their employees a realistic, livable salary, but meanwhile, CEOs are making an incredible amount of money.
The wage disparity between executives and employees is undeniable.
At Burger King, cooks, cashiers , and crew members make on average $9 an hour.
Shift managers make slightly more (roughly $11), and general managers usually top out at around $12 per hour.
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By comparison, the CEO of Burger King makes more than $20 million a year.
That’s a whole lotta hamburgers.
My math is admittedly terrible but that basically means that the CEO is making a little more than 1000x the annual salary of their front-line workers.
This has led many to ask if the rich should be allowed to get richer from the hard work of a tween labor force?
What do you think? Should kids stay kids for as long as possible or should we be encouraging them to find work?
Leave a comment and let us know!
