Tech-driven automation is dramatically shifting the role of workers in nearly every sector worldwide, from finance and accounting to retail to QSR. QSRs have been making major investments in automation, apps, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics, which are changing the nature of work and the workplace.

A December 2017 report from the McKinsey Global Institute noted that the automation and AI technologies are bringing new prosperity and millions of jobs, but also the need for 375 million people to shift occupational categories and upgrade skills as a result of that transition, and at a faster pace than ever before.

Now that’s a lot of transition.

It’s true that the age of automation is touching every aspect of the fast food industry – from ordering and staffing to serving and food preparation.

At McDonald’s, we’re dealing with these changes that come with automation and AI head-on.

Some of the changes customers at McDonald’s are seeing include:

• Incorporating voice-enabled ordering capability into their mobile apps to redefine the drive-thru experience
• Investing significantly in digital technologies in order to offer mobile ordering and payment capabilities, including an option for curbside pickup
• Digitalizing the in-store experience through our Experience of the Future initiative, which includes in-store, self-ordering kiosks with automated tellers now available in 5,000 restaurants
• Partnering with UberEATS to improve and expand delivery options

But let’s be clear: McDonald’s is adopting automation not to distance itself from people, but rather the opposite – to deliver a better experience for our customers and create better lives for restaurant employees.

At McDonald’s, we’re asking the question, “What do restaurant employees need to succeed in their jobs?”

As economist James Bessen argues in his book, Learning by Doing: The Real Connection Between Innovation, Wages, and Wealth, we need to worry less about being overrun by robots and instead make sure workers have the skills they need to compete in an automated era. And that requires rethinking how we approach job training and education.

At McDonald’s, we’re rethinking both. The days of finite training and education are gone. We’re ushering in a new age of continuous learning. Here’s how we’re doing it:

• Through Job Training: In response to the evolution of restaurant employees’ preferred ways of learning, McDonald’s retired its old training program and introduced a new digitally-enabled way of training – one that rises to meet the real way people learn, a natural way that’s easy-to-access and easy-to-execute. By retiring our old, outdated training program, McDonald’s freed up $80 million worth of labor hours that the restaurants are reinvesting in hospitality and automation to improve the customer’s experience.
• Through Education: Restaurant employees also told us about their ambitions to finish high school and college, advance their careers and determine their own path for success. They said they needed programs that offered choice and flexibility and ones that were affordable and accessible. So we created Archways to Opportunity, which provides eligible employees at participating U.S. restaurants the chance to earn their high school diploma, receive upfront college tuition assistance, access free education advising services and learn English as a second language. And we recently doubled down on our effort with a $150 million investment in Archways that triples the amount of tuition assistance restaurant employees can receive and lowers eligibility for the program from 9 months to 90 days. To date, more than 27,300 people have enrolled in programs through Archways to Opportunity and been awarded more than $26 million in high school and college tuition assistance since its founding in 2015.

In an age when machines are replacing humans in the workplace, McDonald’s is also thinking about the soft skills that computers can’t learn like customer service, teamwork and attention to detail.

It starts with “Welcome to McDonald’s, may I take your order?” But it happens in the shift huddle each day when the team has to figure out how to tackle the day’s tasks and run a multimillion-dollar business. It happens when a customer complains and restaurant employees have to listen. And it happens when a manager asks a crew member what the solution to a problem is. We’ve even created a guest experience leader role in the restaurant focused solely on customer service and ensuring the quality of our guests’ experience.

And more 2018 McKinsey research shows, the surge from the demand for technological skills – predicted to rise by 55 percent by 2030 – is increasing the demand for social and emotional skills such as leadership and managing others across all sectors in the U.S. by 26 percent between 2016 and 2030.

At McDonald’s, our work is focused on food, which is innately human. As the 2017 McKinsey report mentioned earlier revealed, less than five percent of occupations can be completely automated. And let’s keep in mind that it’s us humans who will decide the role of robots and automation in our society.

At McDonald’s, we will never lose the one-on-one interactions restaurant employees have with customers. We may be in the burger business, but it is the people who are the heart of our work.

Source: www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-mcdonalds-thriving-age-automation-rob-lauber