This Fast Food Restaurant Is Hiring Senior Citizens Instead of Teenagers
Move over, teenagers — senior citizens are snatching up jobs in the fast food industry, and employers like McDonald’s are “lovin’ it.”
The fast-food industry used to practically guarantee a job to any teen who applied, but according to Business Insider, times are changing.
Managers from fast-food chains like Bob Evans and McDonald’s are shifting their hiring trends away from teenagers and choosing to hire senior citizens instead, Bloomberg reported.
The fact that many senior citizens are simply working longer, either by choice or necessity, combined with a strong economy and a labor shortage makes senior citizens an ideal choice for employers.
Forget teenagers: Fast food joints across the US are hiring senior citizens, and it’s thanks to 2 major demographic trends https://t.co/kGgMYevnG9
— Business Insider (@businessinsider) November 5, 2018
With a strong work ethic, a basic understanding of professional employee habits like being on time and friendliness, seniors are proving to be more valuable hires than teens.
“Hire those senior citizens,” Angela Hayes told KOAA-TV. “They know their stuff.”
Hayes is a district manager of Pita Pit in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She said she’d hire a senior over a teenager more often than not.
“There’s nothing wrong with kids, but it just seems that nowadays — the whole millennial thing, there’s very few of them that have good work ethics,” Hayes said.
Hayes cited three major reasons why she’d rather hire a senior: they are on time, they are friendly, and they can accomplish the incredible feat of working an entire shift without being on their cell phone.
Hiring a senior can also be a better financial decision for a company since most seniors aren’t really looking to work full time or move into an executive role.
Rather, most just want to supplement their income a bit and enjoy the opportunity to socialize with customers and colleagues.
Employee Cove Boyd chose to go back to work as a way to avoid isolation and depression. She said she doesn’t necessarily rely on the income, but knows that many seniors do need that little extra boost each month.
“People my age that are my friends are working because they have to supplement their income and they’re also fearful of no Social Security being there,” she said.
Bloomberg cited the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics which concluded that the number of working Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 is projected to increase by 4.5 percent by 2024. Meanwhile, the number of working Americans aged 16 to 24 is expected to decrease by 1.4 percent in the same timeframe.
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