Did McDonalds website advise employees to save cash 'by eating food in smaller pieces'?
Fast food giant McDonald's has pulled the plug on its "McResource" website, a budget-assistance website for US after it became a target of derision from a group seeking higher pay for hourly workers.
McDonalld's pulls employee website
The group, Low Pay Is Not OK, has criticised the site, claiming that it encouraged employees to do things like break their food into pieces in an effort to stretch their budgets. More recently, the site advised them to cut down on fast food to stay healthy.
"The site did not advise against eating fast food; rather it provided counsel on using information to make informed choices," a McDonald's spokeswoman said.
A related telephone help line had also had been mocked for previous advice to workers about getting government assistance or getting a second job to make ends meet.
The company finally had enough of defending the site and shut it down on Christmas Eve, said The Wall Street Journal, citing a company memo.
"The McResource website, managed by a third party vendor, has been in existence for years and was designed to provide valuable tools and information for employees of subscribing companies, including McDonald's and some of our franchisees," according to the memo, sent to franchisees and executives on Dec. 24 by Heather Smedstad, chief human resources officer for McDonald's USA.
"Unfortunately, as you may have seen in the news over the past few days and weeks, a number of stories have scrutinized some content and advice found on the well-intended website. Given that the content has been taken out of context and that we are unable to screen and approve all content posted on the site, we decided to remove it from our suite of resources," the memo continued.
The McDonald's spokeswoman said the company will continue to provide services to employees through an internal telephone help line.
Activist groups have been hammering the fast food industry for its reliance on minimum-wage labor. McDonald’s, the largest, has come under particular fire for some of its messages to its employees, including suggestions that workers seek government assistance or get a second job to make ends meet.
Low Pay Is Not OK said McDonald’s suggested that if employees want to stretch their grocery budget, “breaking food into pieces” is key to feeling full on less food. The assertion got a lot of attention from bloggers and some mainstream news organisations.The WSJ. said the site does make that claim, "which is pretty standard nutrition advice,"but it is not provided in the context of helping employees save money.