As the number of young Brits not in education, employment or training (NEET) approaches one million, McDonald’s UK has stepped into the breach with what it says is the largest personal work experience program the country has ever seen.
The fast food giant, one of the UK’s largest employers of under-25s, today unveiled a nationwide program offering 2,500 paid job opportunities in the first year, with the stated aim of increasing engagement annually. What is crucial for a generation that is increasingly having to do without unpaid internships is the fact that every internship comes with a salary.
The initiative will be implemented across McDonald’s network of franchisees, the local business owners who operate the majority of its 1,400+ restaurants, and is intentionally targeted at the country’s NEET hotspots. A quarter of all internships are for young people who are already NEET or believe they are at risk.
To underpin the launch, McDonald’s has commissioned its first Youth Confidence Index, a study that reveals the gap between hopes and opportunities faced by under-25s in the UK. While 80 percent of those in education, training or employment believe they can offer something positive to society, this number drops to 57 percent in the NEET cohort. Two thirds (67 percent) of the young people surveyed said that they would like to take advantage of the opportunity for an internship but cannot find it; Nearly seven in ten (69 percent) cited a lack of opportunities locally, while 61 percent said they simply couldn’t afford to work for free.
It’s a familiar picture to anyone who has studied the small business crisis of the last decade, with a job market where the number of entry-level roles has fallen, hospitality and retail vacancies are no longer the rite of passage they once were, and the Bank of Mum and Dad has quietly become a prerequisite for a foot on the corporate ladder.
Lauren Schultz, managing director of McDonald’s UK & Ireland, described the move as both a commercial and civic responsibility. “At McDonald’s we believe in the potential and abilities of young people and want to help them achieve it,” she said. “With over 100,000 employees under 25 across the UK, we have the reach to make a real difference and are uniquely positioned to open doors at scale. Everything a young person needs to learn about the world of work, from communications to financial skills, can be learned at McDonald’s.”
The announcement was welcomed in Whitehall. Pat McFadden, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said the program shows “what is possible when government and businesses help young people into work”, citing McDonald’s “strong track record” in training. The Rt Hon Alan Milburn, chair of the government’s Young People and Work Review Commission, was slightly less reserved, describing the NEET crisis as “a national outrage with long-term consequences” and urging other employers to follow suit.
Industry observers and academics also expressed support. Lee Elliot Major OBE, Professor of Social Mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “We don’t have a shortage of talent in this country, but a lack of opportunity. By offering paid work experience at scale, McDonald’s is showing how companies can increase social mobility and productivity, potentially transforming the life chances of thousands of young people.”
Haroon Chowdry, executive director of the Center for Young Lives, said the data was clear. “Young people want to work. They have hopes and ambitions, but what they often lack are opportunities and support. Every young NEET is a person who has been let down by the system.”
For the participants themselves, all of whom are 16 years of age or older, the offer consists of a five-day, practical internship that covers the core functions of running a restaurant, from inventory control to drive-thru operations to customer service, all under the supervision of an experienced staff. In addition to the practical experience, there are sessions on interview technique and time management, the soft skills currency that small and medium-sized employers across the country regularly complain is missing from resumes.
The program builds on a body of work that predates the current NEET emergency. McDonald’s UK & Ireland’s apprenticeship program has supported more than 22,000 people to gain qualifications since 2006, while community initiatives such as Fun Football and Taste for Work, which have reached more than 210,000 young people, have long been part of the company’s social investment. With today’s announcement, the chain is also partnering with two of the country’s most influential think tanks. The Center for Young Lives is releasing a new report, “Turning the Tide on Rising NEETs,” setting out evidence-based policy recommendations, while the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is launching a two-year research program called “State of a Generation.”
For a government that has staked political capital on its Youth Guarantee, a promise to make every young person earn or learn, McDonald’s intervention is timely. Whether other large employers can be persuaded to write similarly large checks remains an open question. As Milburn put it, this is the “kind of leadership that employers need to demonstrate if we are serious about giving every young person a fair start.”
For SME owners watching from the sidelines, the message is harder to ignore. The talent is there. Likewise the appetite. What’s missing so far is a door wide enough to let them through.
