AARP Enters Into an Alliance with the Golden Arches

People are living longer. Companies are having a more difficult time finding good help. Yet many of those who are part of the “good help” crowd say they have a hard time finding jobs. And for older citizens, relying on Social Security for income isn’t the most secure way live month-to-month and year-to-year.

To that end, McDonald’s and the massive retiree advocacy group AARP announced they have entered into a partnership to help the company and its thousands of franchisees get connected to what could be up to 250,000 potential employees.

The program will deploy several tactics, including job listings on AARP’s job board as well as pilot programs in five states that will match potential employees with McDonald’s outlets in search of reliable employees.

At the surface, this is a match that makes sense. The U.S. Department of Labor has concluded that AARP’s target demographic, the 55-and-older crowd, is the most rapidly growing segment of the American workforce. And as anyone who remembers being a teenager can verify, those who are high-school or college-aged often have the hardest time getting up in the morning. That reality does not jive well with the evolving strategy of McDonald’s and its competitors, which views breakfast as a growing business opportunity.

The result is another open door for older American workers, who as we’ve said before, are America’s most undervalued asset. Many American companies step over themselves in tailoring their work culture to attract millennials, but this has often come at the expense of the over-50 crowd, who often find themselves pushed out of companies and find future employment prospects limited.

Quite frankly, for a fair number of seniors, no matter what their level of education or work experience may be, working the morning shift at the Golden Arches is hardly the worst option in the world. If you are retired, working at breakfast makes sense—you could be done by noon, and incidentally, you won’t come home smelling like burgers. Of course, if you’re a night owl, there is always the late-night shift—which again, many younger workers do not necessarily find attractive.

While many of us decry about the proliferation of fast food outlets, here’s another point to consider: Most employees shouldn’t have to drive, walk or take public transport too far to these workplaces. The catch, however, is navigating through all those complicated Medicare and Social Security rules when it comes to earning additional income—no matter how loudly AARP and McDonald’s want to tout this program, this is one caveat they need to address as well.

Image credit: Andreas160578/Pixabay