CSR Minute: Wages and Benefits on the Rise in Food Industry

Wages and Benefits on the Rise in Food Industry

Headhunters are offering higher pay, more weeks of vacation and more paid days off, and bonuses to prospective employees. That’s not unusual. What’s different is to whom the recruiters are making these offers: fast food workers. Today’s tight job market has resulted in better benefits for food service workers, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

At the end of last year, the US unemployment rate reached a nine-year low of 4.7%, resulting in a record 113% annual turnover for restaurant workers as they moved around to take advantage of competitive employment terms.

At companies such as Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Chipotle, the industry standard of the minimum wage has been left behind as raising hourly pay has become crucial to attracting and retaining staff. That’s good news for workers, but now, franchise owners and operators must revise their business models to deal with thinner profit margins due to rising costs. I’m John Howell for 3BL Media.