McDonald's hires 3,600 students under DOLE's summer job program

MANILA, Philippines - McDonald’s Philippines yesterday announced that it would be hiring 3,666 students and out-of-school youth to be part of its service crew this summer under the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Kenneth Yang, McDonald’s Philippines president and chief executive officer, said the employment of students and out-of-school youth as members of the hamburger restaurant chain’s service crew is in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility.

“McDonald’s Philippines has always been a strong advocate of the importance of education as a tool to build a good foundation for a brighter future,” he said.

McDonald’s Philippines yesterday signed a memorandum of agreement with DOLE formalizing its commitment to hire students under the SPES program as part of their restaurants’ service crew during the summer school break.

“With SPES, we are able to do just that, and on an even larger scale — we reach out to the students in need, and more importantly, the out of school youth who wish to pursue their education, but cannot. And by providing employment in McDonald’s through SPES, we are able to give them that chance,” Yang added.

“Under McDonald’s Philippines, the SPES beneficiaries will be employed as crew members and will undergo the same training, and hopefully, the same learning that our regular crew members experience,” explained McDonald’s Philippines vice president for human resources Chona Torre.

 Last November, McDonald’s Philippines conducted a pilot run of the student employment program with 116 SPES beneficiaries having to work as service crews in 44 McDonald’s restaurants.

Torre said the success of the pilot program pushed the company to take on more students and out of school youth this year to give more beneficiaries the opportunity to pursue their education through SPES.