Sheila May Azul has been with McDonald’s Philippines for more than six years now. She is one of the predominantly Gen Z crew working right now at the quick service restaurant.
“Nag-join po ako sa McDo noong nag-18 po ako. ‘Yun pong family ko, lima po kami na nakapagtrabaho dito. ‘Yung tito ko po nasa Australia na po at nagtatrabaho rin sa McDonald’s (I joined McDo when I turned 18. My family, including my aunt and uncle have also worked at McDonald’s. My uncle is now in Australia working for McDonald’s),” Azul shared.
A working student, she balances work and school with determination, hoping that she could one day become a McDonald’s manager like her former trainer at work who has been recently promoted to a higher position.
“Natutunan ko po sa McDo ay yung kailangan lagi kang ready at enjoy ko lang sa trabaho. Kailangan po mag-enjoy ka kada shift para maganda ang naibibigay mong service para sa mga customers (What I learned in working at McDonald’s is to be always ready and enjoy your work. Enjoying your shift allows you to give a better service to customers),” Azul said.
Making customers happy is something that she and her fellow crew work to achieve every day.
“Pag na-enjoy po nila ang experience nila, babalik-balik na po sila. Masarap po yun sa araw-araw na trabaho kasi naalala nila yung pangalan namin at nagpapasalamat sila samin. Kahit ganun kasimple lang, natutuwa po kami (When customers have an enjoyable experience, they would come back to the store repeatedly. This gives us a nice feeling, especially when they remember our name and thank us. Something as simple as that makes us happy),” Azul said.
Engaging the Gen Z Workforce
This practice of gratitude and empowerment is something that McDonald’s Philippines strongly believes in. This is why in November last year, it launched its “Salamuch Crew” initiative that promoted being thankful from various perspectives.
Customers were encouraged to express their appreciation for the hard work and service provided by crew members through the Salamuch Wall, where they can post their thank you notes; Salamuch Box, where they can drop messages for the crew; and Salamuch Crew Virtual Wall, a digital wall where they can post their Salamuch stories.“Majority of our crew are Gen Z and there is a different way now in engaging these members of the workforce effectively. It has to be an experience for them and we needed to be creative in how we connect with them,” shared Adi Hernandez, Assistant Vice President for Corporate Relations at McDonald’s Philippines.
As of 2023, McDonald’s Philippines has 740+ stores across the country, with close to 60,000 crew, 95% of which are Gen Z.
Opportunities for Growth
“There’s no better time to be part of the McDonald’s Philippines family because we are in a period of aggressive growth. In 2023, we opened 50 stores and this 2024, we’re aiming to open at least 60 new stores and that will continue for the coming years. With more stores that are opening means there are more people needed to run them, therefore we’re opening more employment opportunities for young Filipinos,” Hernandez shared.
“With our aggressive growth means a bigger workforce and a responsibility for us to improve the employee experience. There are a lot of ways to engage the workforce and one of them is through recognition like Salamuch Crew,” she further said.
Last April 17, the Salamuch Crew program had its culminating activities in over 380 McDonald’s Philippines stores all over the country. One of the branches that hosted the festivities was McDonald’s Quezon Avenue-Ligaya in Quezon City.
“We believe if we recognize our crew and give them a better experience, they would do the same for our customers. We believe that if we do employee experience well, our customer experience would also follow,” said Ben Marasigan, VP of Human Capital Group at McDonald’s Philippines.