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Despite more tech, you will have to wait even longer for a Big Mac

March 13, 2018

McDonald's new tech initiatives are pushing employees to continuously perform more tasks without any change in pay. And workers have had enough.

Too many options: The fast-food giant has been pushing more tech-infused ordering avenues like mobile apps, delivery, and self-order kiosks. As former employee Dudley Dickerson told Bloomberg, “They added a lot of complicated things. It makes it harder for the workers.”

Record turnover: The turnover rate in the fast-food industry is 150 percent, the highest since data began being recorded in 1995.

What this means for you: You’ll have to wait a little longer for your Shamrock Shake. Less-experienced employees juggling orders from all these new platforms could be to blame for the average 30-second increase in customer wait times last year, as reported by QSR Magazine.

Making more from less: Despite worker struggles, these new tech initiatives seem to be helping McDonald’s financially. The company saw about a 50 percent increase in revenue earned per employee. Numbers like that could make McDonald’s more likely to adopt more technological solutions, even if they take a bit of adjustment for the workers.

What’s next? McDonald’s has no announced plans for any burger-flipping robots, but executives may be watching to see if that technology develops better habits than the current workers.

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