What McDonald’s employees mean for the upcoming elections

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What’s the sudden obsession with McDonald’s in the race for the White House?

On Sunday, former President Donald Trump worked part of a shift at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, and Vice President Kamala Harris has been increasingly vocal about her experiences working at a California location during a summer while in college.

(It’s worth noting, however, that while one candidate actually worked at the fast-food restaurant for a while, the other only worked on the fries for 30 minutes before the campaign stopped, according to the New York Times.)

While the company says it doesn’t endorse political candidates, its mere presence on the campaign trail — and the candidates’ emphasis on working in a fast-food restaurant — is more about the experience of a segment of the economy and workforce. “It’s symbolic of what’s going on at the bottom of the wage scale,” said Joseph McCartin, executive director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.

McDonald’s has long been a popular part-time and full-time employer for people across the country. Although the company estimates that 1 in 8 Americans have worked at a Golden Arch location at some point in their career (this number is based on surveys and not direct employment data), more than 3.6 million Americans currently work as fast food and counter workers, the Ministry of Labor said. These workers earn an average hourly wage of $14.48 depending on location, a 30% increase from 2019, thanks to a number of wage increase efforts across the country.

Just as organizations were forced to adapt as knowledge workers jumped from job to job during the era of “The Great Resignation,” employers in the generally low-wage sector of the fast food industry raised wages to keep workers in their chains.

Better pay and insight into the part-time careers of the rich and famous – Jeff Bezos, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pharrell Williams, Shania Twain and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan have all donned the McDonald’s uniform, according to the WashingtonPost––may have destigmatized the antagonism experience. “This kind of work is becoming more and more appreciated,” says McCartin.

In the final weeks before the presidential election, it makes sense that both candidates are showing interest in wage workers (and voters). “The competition shown by both candidates around fast food workers is fair one indication about the importance of work and employees in the elections,” says McCartin. “They have really come to the fore.”

Enjoy reading and I wish you all a nice week!

WORK SMARTER

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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Up to 1.4 billion work hours are lost every year due to child care problems.

A new KPMG index tracks the number of U.S. workers missing work due to childcare issues. Using previously unpublished data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the index also tracks how many men and women have turned to part-time work due to a lack of affordable child care. I wrote about the index, what it brings to the conversation about childcare at work, and why employers should actually pay attention to this measure. An excerpt is below, and you can read the full piece here.

The cost of child care and its impact on women’s careers is well documented. But a new monthly index from professional services firm KPMG now tracks how many working hours men and women lose due to childcare problems. And the consequences for productivity are enormous.

On a 12-month rolling average basis, the Parental Work Disruption Index quantifies the total number of male and female full-time workers who missed hours or switched to part-time work due to childcare issues, as well as the number of workers who voluntarily worked part-time due to childcare issues childcare. Access to affordable and reliable childcare is becoming increasingly difficult – the annual cost of childcare in the US now exceeds the average rental cost in all 50 states.

“We know that the cost of childcare is a drag on labor force participation and that the childcare problem really affects both sides of the (gender) equation,” said Matthew Nestler, senior economist at KPMG US and author of the index. “But to what extent do child care issues impact working Americans?”

The answer: quite a lot. Between 26 million and 1.4 billion working hours are lost every year because employees have to leave to care for their children. Losing just one hour of work per week could amount to a loss of $1,504 in annual income. And then we haven’t even mentioned the impact on the rest of your employees. When employees leave, their colleagues are forced to return to work, leading to a higher number of burnouts.

Women are still disproportionately affected by childcare issues, but men are feeling the impact too. About 34% of workers who reduced their full-time hours to part-time this year for childcare reasons were men, and the number of men in this category nearly doubled between September 2023 and this year.

Nestler says these numbers will only increase. About 1.6 million workers missed work in September due to childcare issues, a 69% increase over the same month’s average over the previous four years. The index typically peaks in the winter months of December through February, so a rise in September suggests the coming months will also be high.

“It points to these underlying labor market tensions that people face, disproportionately women,” he adds.

TOUCH BASE

News from the working world

Meta laid off more employees at Instagram and WhatsApp last week. But it is even more surprising also fired about two dozen employees for misusing $25 Grubhub meal credits in what is now being dubbed “Grubgate.” Meta offers the meal credits, which can total up to $70 per day, to employees and is intended to be used while working in the office. But some allegedly used the Grubhub and Uber Eats credits to purchase other items, including laundry detergent, wine glasses and acne pads.

Immigrant workers will be the sole source of labor force growth in the US after 2052, according to a new report from the National Foundation for American Policy. Immigrant workers accounted for 88% of labor force growth over the past five years as the number of U.S.-born workers was affected by declining birth rates and an aging workforce.

In what could be a lesson for marketing departments: Intuit has reversed its “break up with your tax professional” ad campaign after a number of tax industry groups and professionals complained and met with TurboTax’s parent company last week. Tax professionals are not only competitors in the company’s do-it-yourself tax preparation market, but also customers: Revenue for Intuit’s professional tax services rose 7% last year.

Location, location, location: Sam’s Club CTO Cheryl Ainoa is leaving the company amid the latest return-to-the-office policy, Bloomberg reports. In August, Sam’s Club parent company Walmart asked executives from its brands to relocate to its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Losing employees due to RTO mandates is not uncommon (and may even be an intended consequence), but some companies have made exceptions for top executives. For example, Starbucks’ new CEO Brian Niccol has been allowed to work from his home in California as more company employees have been recalled to the Seattle headquarters.

NUMBER TO COMMENT

35%

Boeing proposes one 35% pay increase over four years in its latest preliminary agreement with the notable members of the International Association of Machinists. The company has reportedly lost $1 billion during the month-long strike, and the work stoppage has led to announcements of layoffs and furloughs. The union will vote on the new agreement on Wednesday.

VIDEO

How Yvette G went from salon tech to creative director of Nicki Minaj’s nail brand

QUIZ

Amid a legal battle over ownership and an ongoing recall due to a listeria outbreak food manufacturer also accused of violating workplace safety issues and tolerating vulgar office behavior?

A. Bright farms

B. TreeHouse Food

C. Bruce Pac

D. Hog’s head

Check here to see if you got it right.