(Sydney, Australia) 6 March 2019: McDonald’s Australia has today revealed that, since it first opened in Australia in 1971, it has hired around 1.3 million Australians nationwide – that’s more than 5% of the current Australian population. The majority of those who have worked with the business have been young people, under the age of 25, many of whom have taken a job at McDonald’s to enter the workforce and start building the foundations for their career.

Recognising its responsibility as one of the largest employers of young people in Australia, McDonald’s strives to provide its employees with opportunities, through training and on-the-job experience, that allow them to develop skills they need to progress with a great career, whether that’s within McDonald’s or elsewhere.

Jennifer St Ledger, McDonald’s Australia Chief People Officer, said “At Macca’s, we’re so proud to be able to offer so many young Australians what is often their first job. We take that responsibility very seriously and believe it is our privilege to provide them with the foundations to build skills for life, setting them up for future success.

“Beyond offering practical, on-the-job experience in our restaurants, we also offer courses through our intranet and face-to-face training at the Charlie Bell School of Management, Hamburger University and training centres across the country. We’ve been a Registered Training Organisation for over 20 years, so many of these courses provide our people with externally recognised qualifications that are not just relevant to their progression at McDonald’s, but to other career paths in the business, retail, food service or hospitality sectors,” added St Ledger.

McDonald’s Australia recently commissioned research that consulted current McDonald’s restaurant crew, parents of current crew and alumni, to assess how successfully Macca’s is preparing its employees for their future careers. The findings showed that almost 95 percent of current employees believe McDonald’s is teaching them useful life skills and skills that will be valuable in the future.

Similarly, almost 90 percent of current employees believe McDonald’s is setting them up for success, while four out of five alumni felt working at Macca’s was a great way to enter the workforce.

“As employers are looking more and more for candidates with exceptional soft skills, on top of technical skills, we are adapting our training to ensure our restaurant employees are being given what they need to be successful. We are constantly reviewing and adapting our training to ensure we are delivering on our commitment to help equip those working for us with the foundations for a great career, wherever that may be,” concluded St Ledger.

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Notes to editors:

The breakdown of people employed by McDonald’s in each Australian state and territory since opening in 1971 is as follows:

Note: data rounded to the nearest hundred.

Research commissioned by McDonald’s Australia The research consulted:

• Four experts in the Human Resources field from the banking, education, government and recruitment sectors

• 3,035 current McDonald’s employees

• 213 parents of current McDonald’s employees

• 251 McDonald’s alumni, who had left at least one month prior and started working at McDonald’s age 25 or younger

About McDonald’s Australia

Australia’s first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Yagoona, Sydney, in 1971. Today there are over 980 McDonald’s restaurants across Australia, nearly 85 percent of which are franchised and run by local businessmen and women. The organisation employs more than 105,000 people in restaurants and corporate offices Australia- wide and is the largest employer of youth in the country. McDonald’s creates more than 3,000 new jobs each year and spends over $40 million per annum on training and people development.

For more information visit www.mcdonalds.com.au or www.facebook.com/McDonaldsAU. McDonald’s is also on Twitter – check us out at Twitter.com/maccas.