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The People Problem of Fast Food Labor
Treat people as “infinitely replaceable” long enough and that is exactly how they are going to act.
Somewhat lost in the “Fight for 15” type arguments surrounding the fast food industry’s labor issues, wages, and looming changeover to more AI/Robotic-driven workforce is another reason the drive for higher wages may end up costing food service workers their jobs.
If you think it sounds like a mathematical impossibility for a company to lose more than 100% of its workers every year, you’ve never worked in the fast-food industry. At fast-food restaurants, losing 100% of employees — and then losing still more of the employees hired to replace those workers — is a common, and worsening, labor problem.
The case of Panera Bread shows just how deep the employee turnover issue is for restaurant companies. Panera loses close to 100% of workers every year, and by fast-food industry standards that’s considered good.“In the restaurant industry, turnover is 130%, turning over more than a full workforce every year,” said Panera bread CFO Michael Bufano at CNBC’s @Work Human Capital + Finance conference in July. “We are a little under 100%, but still a huge number.”
The official Bureau of Labor Statistics…
