Cheaper to buy $35,000 robotic arm than worker at $15 an hour.
By Dileep Thekkethil
McDonald’s employees beware: you could be replaced by a robot soon.
According to Ed Rensi, the former CEO of the international food chain, the company is planning to buy high skilled robots that are capable of doing all the jobs that an employee does in the restaurant. According to him, this is much cheaper than employing people on minimum wage, as it needs just one-time investment.
Ed warned his former employees that the food chain will have to resort to cutting jobs as it is ‘common sense’ to replace humans with robots in the workplace.
The worrying report on how robots will take over the jobs of humans was done by Lynda Gratton, the professor of management practice at London Business School, and futurologist David A. Smith.
Prof Gratton said: “Studies have suggested that a third of jobs in Europe will be replaced by technology over the next two decades.”
Rensi said: “I was at the National Restaurant Show yesterday and if you look at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry.”
Talking to FOX channel Ed said: “It’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 (£24,000) robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 (£10.20) an hour bagging French fries.”
He warned, “it’s nonsense and it’s very destructive and it’s inflationary and it’s going to cause a job loss across this country like you’re not going to believe. It’s not just going to be in the fast food business. Franchising is the best business model in the United States.”
“It’s dependent on people that have low job skills that have to grow. Well if you can’t get people a reasonable wage, you’re going to get machines to do the work. It’s just common sense. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. And the more you push this it’s going to happen faster,” he added.
Prof Gratton added: “As middle-skilled roles disappear, workers may find that the ‘rung’ above them no longer exists, and that the career ladder may begin to look more like a career web. The ultimate implication is that workers cannot now expect to gain seniority by moving ‘up’, but rather moving sideways by gaining additional complex skills.”
Wendy’s, the rival of MacDonald’s, had earlier said that it is planning to install self-service kiosks at all its restaurants. The reason for moving to kiosk-based service was attributed to the rising labor charge.
What added to the labor issue was the decision of California and New York states to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Other states are also lobbying for a similar raise in wages.