It's almost a cliché to say that fast food restaurants are miserable places to work — and
the sad fact is that many of the biggest companies treat their employees pretty terribly. These
are the worst fast food chains to work for.
"Quality is Our Recipe" may be Wendy's ethos, but it doesn't seem like the company's workforce
practices live up to that slogan. For one thing, in 2013, Business Insider reported
that Wendy's employees took home one of the lowest wages in fast food — just $7.39 on
average. Things have gotten a little better since then, with the same outlet reporting
in 2019 that Wendy's employees were making around $8 to $9, but that's still not much
better than some of the other big-hitting fast food chains.
The company has also been hit by a number of labor-related scandals over the years.
In January 2020, Wendy's was ordered to pay a fine of over $150,000 after stores across
the U.S. were found to be violating child labor laws, with hundreds of minors working
out of normal business hours. At the time, a district director for the Wage and Hour
Division said:
"Child labor laws exist to ensure that when young people work, the work does not jeopardize
their health and well-being or educational opportunities. We encourage all employers
to review their employment obligations and to contact the Wage and Hour Division for
compliance assistance."
Although McDonald's quickly became the center of the "Fight for $15" campaign, it actually
all began with KFC. In fact, two separate KFC employees in Brooklyn each became major
players in the movement.
The first was Alvin Major, a worker who, in 2015, penned an article for CNBC explaining
why he had gone on strike a number of times in the previous few years. Major had been
working at three different KFCs in Brooklyn, receiving just $7.25 an hour at each. He was
working up to 80 hours a week, on irregular schedules, and had even been injured on the
job.
Meanwhile, Naquasia LeGrand was making just $7.25 an hour working at two KFCs — but
still couldn't scrape a living.
"There's no reason I should have a second job when these multi-billion dollar companies
have the money to pay me for the work that I do."
Sadly, it doesn't look like the Fight for $15 campaign has done much for KFC's treatment
of workers. In 2018, a lawsuit was levied against the chain alleging that cooks, cashiers,
and shift managers had been underpaid at hundreds of KFC restaurants owned by the franchising
company KBP Foods. Similarly, in 2019, the Department of Labor Investigations found wage
violations that had been committed by Whiteford's Inc., a company that operated 30 KFC and Arby's
locations across South Carolina and Georgia. With transgressions like these still happening,
it's hard to believe a $15 minimum wage would do much for the company's reputation.
In 2014, CNN Money conducted an analysis of data that had been collected by the Department
of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, and found that Subway was the one fast food company
that underpaid its employees the most. The report revealed that individual Subway franchisees
"had been found in violation of pay and hour rules in more than 1,100 investigations spanning
from 2000 to 2013." In total, that meant around 17,000 actual violations had been discovered,
with Subway being forced to pay back over $3.8 million over the years.
And these numbers only reflect the wage violations that were actually caught. In 2013, Subway's
headquarters was even partnered up with the Department of Labor in order to ensure the
company's compliance with the law. A Department of Labor spokesperson said:
"It's no coincidence that we approached Subway, because we saw a significant number of violations."
Since then, things don't appear to have become much better. In 2019, a number of stores in
North Carolina were forced to pay almost $14,000 in back wages — and that same year, a franchisee
in Texas paid its employees nearly $80,000 in back wages after a Wage and Hour Division
investigation. Then, in 2020, leaked documents revealed that Subway was among a number of
employers that had self-reported wage and hour violations amounting to a total of more
than $20,000.
Burger King might like to position itself as fast food royalty, but it seems that many
of its workers feel they're treated more like serfs. Take Glenn Johnson, a Floridian Burger
King employee who wrote a piece for Huffington Post in the early days of the Fight for $15
movement. In his article, he described his typical day at Burger King as, quote, "pure
hell." Johnson continued:
"If I don't take a day off, I probably get around 35 hours a week. [...] There are no
benefits. [...] You don't get paid for vacation, so I might as well just work it. I don't have
health insurance because I don't have enough money to get health insurance."
Johnson revealed in his article that he made just $7.39 an hour, and hadn't been given
a raise in his whole time at Burger King. He wrote:
"The stuff I have to go through and deal with every day, the attitudes and all, I figure
the money they're paying me [...] it's not worth it."
Criticizing the company directly, Johnson said:
"I would love to see the wages get raised. But man, they're so cheap. [...] If the CEO
of Burger King was sitting here right now, I'd tell him I need a raise. More money, more
hours. Simple as that."
Most of Dunkin's problems fall in line with what you often see elsewhere in the fast food
industry — wage theft, child labor violations, class action lawsuits... you know, the usual.
One example includes a federal lawsuit issued in 2016, alleging that one franchise had engaged
in systemic wage theft against employees. Then there were the fines issued against two
franchise owners in 2011 for breaking child labor laws, and the class action lawsuit in
2016 alleging franchise owners had committed wage and hour law violations. More recently,
in 2018, one operator was forced to pay a $60,000 fine for violating Massachusetts'
Earned Sick Time Law.
Now, you could make the case that these abuses took place at individual franchises, and that
blame should be squared solely on the franchise owners, rather than Dunkin' themselves. But
the sheer number of violations here is pretty remarkable, and you've got to wonder how Dunkin'
— a company with a responsibility to take care of its workers — has allowed so many
employees to slip through the cracks.
Arguably the most shocking controversy of all, however, also came in 2018, when a Baltimore
branch put up a sign asking customers to report employees who spoke any language other than
English... and even offered free food to those who did.
"It's horrible, and like I said it's kind of expected in this climate, horrible things
like that."
This one probably doesn't come as much surprise. After all, there's a very good reason why
the Golden Arches came dead first in a U.K. poll of the worst fast food chains to work
for. The company was scored particularly poorly on salaries, senior management, career opportunities,
and the work/life balance. McDonald's Glassdoor reviews don't paint a better picture, either.
One listed some of the company's negative aspects, including:
"Rotation hardly happens, long shifts, pay, send you home if there's high labour."
Things aren't much better stateside, either. In 2020, the company launched a website to
help its workers figure out how to budget on a McDonald's salary. Among the examples
given, shockingly, was the suggestion to get a "second job." And that was under the assumption
workers would pay $20 a month for healthcare, $0 for heating and $600 for rent. Worse still,
in 2019, McDonald's was criticized for, quote, "failing to protect workers from workplace
violence."
The National Employment Law Project suggested that the restaurant's long hours of operations
meant that thousands of workers were put at risk due to, quote, "the high levels of violence
associated with late-night retail."
Doesn't paint a happy picture, does it? Still, although this all sounds pretty bad, the truth
is that not all fast food jobs are a nightmare. Here are a few of the best fast food chains
to work for...
With a starting salary of close to $9 an hour in 2017, Five Guys aren't exactly blowing
the competition out of the water when it comes to wages. Still, this is obviously a whole
lot better than some chains, and there is scope for a better hourly wage; PayScale suggests
the company pays its workers an average of $11.41.
But the Virginia-based hamburger company does have a number of other things going for it
when it comes to how it treats its employees. The benefits are generous, for example, with
Five Guys also offering a tuition assistance program, which allows eligible employees to
receive funding for high school and college courses.
On top of that, Five Guys conducts regular audits of its stores, led by independent examiners,
which mark them on quality of service, safety, and cleanliness. A 1.5% portion of the gross
revenue of Five Guys' nationwide franchises goes into a pot, which is then redistributed
every week to workers who have scored well on the audit. Each crew collects a total of
$1,000 when an audit is completed successfully.
In 2015, Chipotle made headlines when they greatly expanded their employee benefits.
Beginning on July 1st of that year, the company offered full tuition reimbursement, paid sick
days, and paid vacation to all employees. These benefits had previously been available
for salaried workers, but were subsequently offered to hourly staff in the hopes of decreasing
turnover rates.
It's little wonder, then, that a year later Chipotle was named one of Kununu's best-reviewed
employers, averaging a rating of 4.41 out of 5. The newly-expanded benefits from the
previous year were cited as one reason for the chain's popularity with workers, and it
also received high marks for its "Office/Work Environment" and "Company Image."
Kununu also cited a popular post on Quora, which saw users describing Chipotle as, quote,
"a wonderful place to work at" and "pretty great, if only for the free Chipotle" — but
also "demanding and difficult." One user wrote:
"They offer health, dental, and vision via Blue Care network, discounted degree programs
via Guild education, college credit for your training, and [...] $5,000 dollars of college
tuition reimbursement per year if you're willing to make an 18 month commitment to it."
Starbucks is renowned for offering their employees... well, pretty much everything under the sun.
There are five main perks to working for the iconic coffee company. Firstly, employees
are entered into the "Bean Stock" program, which essentially gives them a grant of shares,
50 percent of which are made available after their first year, and 50 percent of which
can be accessed after their second.
Employees are also given benefits packages that are customized for each employee, and
can include bonuses, 401(k) plans, healthcare, dental plans, and even adoption assistance,
with part-time and full-time employees being eligible. On top of that, Starbucks pays employees'
college tuition if they enroll online at Arizona State University — and they're not even
obligated to stay with the company after they graduate.
And then there's the free stuff. Every week, employees are allowed to take home either
a pound of coffee beans, a box of K-Cup Pods, or a box of their favorite flavor of tea,
as well as enjoy a 30 percent discount on all food and drink. Throw in an average wage
of between $10 to $15, and Starbucks really aren't looking so bad.
That's right — In-N-Out Burger doesn't just have one of the best burgers in fast food,
but it's also the best fast food joint to work at. In a hugely impressive showing for
a casual dining company, In-N-Out came #4 on Glassdoor's 2018 list of the Best Places
to Work — not just among fast food chains, but full stop. So what makes it so appealing?
As a Glassdoor rep told MUNCHIES:
"In-N-Out associates receive salaries and perks that are well above the industry average.
They also have a strong on-the-job training, opportunities for advancement, people-focused
leaders, and a fun, friendly environment."
"Well, I always heard that they pay their employees, you know, top dollar — and they're
always happy."
This all apparently comes down to the work of CEO Lynsi Snyder, who told Glassdoor a
few years earlier that she had attempted to bring a, quote, "positive, fun atmosphere"
to the company, and keep the workforce satisfied and protected. And you've gotta give her credit,
too — because it looks like she's done just that.
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