With more than 115,000 people employed across 1,030 restaurants in communities across Australia, McDonald’s is not just one of the country’s most recognisable brands, but also one of Australia’s largest employers. They’re also one of Australian Disability Network’s key partners in the Employing 100 initiative.
As one of the key deliverables under the Employing 100 initiative, McDonald’s has been working closely with our team over the past 6 months to engage their business and people in the development of a national Workplace Adjustment Policy and Procedure.
This has included leading the business, its franchisees, and people through a thorough consultation process, and using that data to design a fit-for-purpose framework and procedure. Our shared vision is to ensure corporate offices and restaurant teams are provided with even more tools to understand what they can do to better support and enable employees with a disability.
McDonald’s Australia’s Chief People Officer, Emma Napoli-Hala, explains what this has meant to McDonald’s ongoing commitments:
“One of the ways we live our Macca’s values is by creating workplaces that represent the incredible diversity of our employees and the communities we serve.
“Participating in the Employing 100 Program is an important opportunity to elevate our long-standing commitment to accessibility and inclusion, ensuring that we have the right frameworks, processes, and procedures in place to continue to support and deliver meaningful and rewarding careers for people with a disability at McDonald’s.
“We want our employees to continue to feel empowered to bring their authentic selves to work, and to know we will support them wherever we can to ensure they can perform at their best in their role.”
“We are grateful to the Australian Disability Network for their partnership and support in this journey.”
McDonald’s is well underway with all key streams of work under the Employing 100 framework, including identifying unintended barriers to inclusive recruitment, reviewing offices and restaurants for opportunities to improve accessibility, and incorporating these into its newly refurbished Head Office in Sydney, and rolling out disability confidence training to managers and teams.
Australian Disability Network, in partnership with McDonald’s Australia, CSL Limited, Marriott International, and The Salvation Army, launched Employing 100 in 2023. The project, funded by an Australian Government Department of Social Services grant, aims to find meaningful work for people with disability within high-growth industries including the healthcare, social assistance, food and accommodation sectors.
Excitingly, Macca’s has recruited over 80 skilled and dedicated new crew members across their restaurants under this program, already exceeding the program target for each employer of 25. Congratulations to McDonald’s on this wonderful progress and demonstration of a deep-rooted commitment to inclusion and continuing to ensure their doors are open to everyone.
We look forward to continuing this incredible partnership with McDonald’s.