McDonald's gives €60,000 to DCU intercultural scheme

McDonald's has donated €60,000 to a Dublin City University programme on internationalisation, interculturalism and social development.

The fast food company will sponsor a doctoral student researching working and managing in an intercultural workplace.

Glanbia has also pledged an undisclosed sum to the university to fund research programmes into the multicultural workplace and the effects on society of a workforce that is 9 per cent international.

Both employers are helping to fill the gap in research about how workers are adjusting to the new intercultural workplace, where communication problems and cultural differences are daily challenges. They are amongst the employers who have taken a long-term, socially responsible view that investing in employees is preferable to seeing them as replaceable and exploitable.

Fifty per cent of McDonald's 3,300 employees in the State are from overseas and the company's Irish workforce represents more than 40 different nationalities.

McDonald's employee surveys are printed in nine languages and restaurant crew have increasingly complained of being treated with "disrespect", says Michelle Ryan, McDonald's human resources manager.

Racism is a term that McDonald's does not use, preferring to see the diversity of their employees as a strength.

"We want to gain insight into the trends emerging in the field of diversity and inclusion to create a workplace with leading-edge practices in this area.

"By understanding the issues, addressing them in the workplace and sharing our learning we believe this will help lead to positive societal inclusion," says Ms Ryan.

Glanbia also has many nationalities working at its meat packing plant in Edenderry, Co Offaly, where 40 per cent of employees are from EU accession states.

"We believe that it is ethical to treat all our employees equally, whether they are born in Ireland or have come from abroad," says Peter O'Donohoe, director of human resources.

Overseas employees at Glanbia get the same rates of pay, pension rights and promotional opportunities as Irish-born workers, as well as access to free English classes.