# if McDonald's is a bunch of franchises, how do they hold a "national hiring day"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158 "2011-04-04T15:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158/1 "2011-04-04T15:59:05Z")
from here [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42412605/ns/business-consumer\_news/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42412605/ns/business-consumer_news/) > [@](#): > > McDonald’s will hold its first national hiring day at its restaurants and via its website on April 19 to fill the openings at its restaurants across the U.S. > > The new hires would increase the size of the hamburger chain’s U.S. workforce by 7 percent to 700,000 in all, and range from restaurant workers to senior managers. > > McDonald’s said its franchisees would be spending an extra $518 million on wages and salaries on those new employees. shouldn’t the local restaurant owners be making decisions as to who to hire and when? Or have they increased their control over the franchisees to a point similar to one of a chain over local managers? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158/2 "2011-04-04T16:16:02Z")
It sounds like the McDonald’s corporation is coordinating hiring efforts “across the country” in an effort to help franchises find qualified people (and to drum up interest). I don’t see how this infringes upon the rights on the franchises to hire whomever they want, whenever they want. Think of it as “free” publicity for the franchises. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158/3 "2011-04-04T16:16:41Z")
McDonald’s does own and operate a number of restaurants itself, though the majority are franchises. Perhaps McD’s corporate offers this event as a service to franchises to reduce the cost of recruiting new hires by taking advantage of economy of scale. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158/4 "2011-04-04T16:18:53Z")
This is probably done like all their other nationwide promotions: with the caveat that “prices and participation may vary”. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158/5 "2011-04-04T16:27:09Z")
It’s probably because McDonalds is always needs workers. I am thinking this is nothing less that a good publicity stunt. > [@](#): > > McDonalds) We need a good image > > Ad Guy) Let’s do a national hiring day > > McDonalds) But we’re always hiring anyway > > Ad Guy) Let’s slap a label on it and get some positive publicity It’s like I’ve worked in hotels almost my whole life and I have never worked at one hotel were we didn’t need to hire housekeepers nor have I worked at any hotel where they had to advertise for them. We always had plenty of applications on file. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158/6 "2011-04-04T16:51:58Z")
Perhaps the franchisees are contractually obliged to take part as part of their franchise agreement. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-mcdonalds-is-a-bunch-of-franchises-how-do-they-hold-a-national-hiring-day/577158/7 "2011-04-04T17:28:26Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > It’s probably because McDonalds is always needs workers. I am thinking this is nothing less that a good publicity stunt. STOP! Are you saying there is high turnover in the fry frier career track? :eek: Indeed, a publicity stunt. Although stunt seems somehow harsh. Corporate is probably asking all franchisees to be available to hire walk-ins or over the internet applicants on a certain specific day in order to have a large number of people hired on one day. Besides, spin it how you want, adding a large number of workers to McD’s stores is not exactly the sign of economic recovery I am looking for anyways. Of the millions out of work because of the last 4 years, even full-time non-management work at McDonald’s is stop gap at best. But that is another topic.