McDonald’s tech updates have some workers walking

For Dudley Dickerson, the mobile-app orders were the last straw.

McDonald’s has been updating with new technology, delivery, a revamped menu and curbside pickup. But the “Experience of the Future” has employees handling more tasks — in many cases, they say, without pay raises or adequate staffing. So Dickerson, 23, handed over his spatula for the last time.

“They added a lot of complicated things,” Dickerson said. “It makes it harder for the workers.”

Many fast-food employees hop from job to job. But with unemployment so low, turnover is becoming a problem. Workers are walking rather than dealing with new technologies and menu options. The result: Customers will wait longer. Drive-through times at McDonald’s slowed to 239 seconds last year — more than 30 seconds slower than in 2016, according to QSR magazine. It’s also pokier than Burger King, Wendy’s and Taco Bell.

Turnover at U.S. fast-food restaurants jumped to 150 percent — meaning a store employing 20 workers would go through 30 in one year. That figure is the highest since industry tracker People Report began collecting data in 1995.

McDonald’s and its franchisees haven’t seen an increase in crew turnover over the last year, nor is there a correlation between the new initiatives and turnover, spokeswoman Terri Hickey said in a statement. “Together with our owner-operators, we are investing in all necessary training to ensure successful implementation of any changes in our restaurants.”

McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook has been pushing initiatives that have helped turn around comparable sales, which rose 3.6 percent last year in the U.S. But they’ve also made it tougher to retain employees.

“The ball is really in the court of the workers,” said Michael Harms, a People Report exec. “Not the employers.”