McDonald’s India® (West & South) ranked No. 1 Best Workplace in Retail in India 2016

mc~ The Great Place To Work® Institute survey recognises HRPL once again among the top 10 best workplace in retail ~

Celebrating its twentieth anniversary in India, Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited (HRPL), a Master Franchisee for West & South India operations of McDonald’s® Restaurants and a subsidiary of the BSE listed Westlife Development Limited (BSE: 505533), was announced as the No. 1 Preferred Employer among the Retail companies in India in 2016 at the Retail Leadership Summit in Mumbai. The ranking has been awarded on the parameters of confidential employee feedback and an audit of management processes by Great Place to Work® Institute and Retailers Association of India (RAI). This study was conducted across several retail organizations in the country to assess the work place culture and employee satisfaction to identify India’s Best Retail Companies to work for in 2016. This is the second consecutive year that HRPL has been featured among the top 10 companies in retail sector and winning the top honor this year.

On winning the coveted award, Ms. Seema Arora Nambiar, Vice President, People Resources & Business Excellence at McDonald’s® India- West & South said, “It is indeed a great accomplishment to have emerged as a leader amidst tough competition. This award is a clear testament to our Employee Value Proposition of Fun, Flexibility & Future. We are constantly committed to create a growth oriented and a vibrant workplace for our employees. To be recognized yet again as best company to work for in retail sector in India reflects the trust our 7,500 employees place on us and the pride they take in their work while serving over 185 million customers annually. Winning this award is an acknowledgment of our culture of mutual respect and camaraderie that we celebrate every day at work while creating an enjoyable workplace. This achievement has further motivated us to continue to sustain a great workplace where our employees can learn and add value to their work in a cohesive and positive environment.”

 McDonald's IndiaR (West & South) ranked No. 1 Best Workplace in Retail in India 2016

“McDonald is unique in understanding of its talent market and ensuring training and exposure to its employees. The opportunities they provide not only equip people with job related competencies, but also enable them to change their lives for the better,” said Mr. Prasenjit Bhattacharya – CEO, Great Place to Work® Institute, India during the award ceremony.

Ms. Basuri Dutta, Practice Head – Great Place to Work® Institute, India noted, “A company that catapults careers, making store managers out of high-school grads through their education assistance programmes, a company that invests in quality training and inculcates teamwork, both of which are skills for life – that is a glimpse of what Hardcastle Restaurants is – India’s Best Retail Company to Work For. It is indeed No.1 because each one of their employees is saying ‘I’m loving it’.”

 

According to study conducted by Great Place to Work®, there are two lenses to identify the ‘best’ basis employee feedback: Trust and Culture Index. Trust Index involves: respect, fairness, pride and comrade whereas the Culture Index includes hiring, celebrating, speaking, listening, thinking, caring, developing and sharing. Interestingly, the percentage of women in senior management (21.27%) among ‘Best Companies in Retail’ is equivalent to the percentage of women (21.47%) in the overall employee base as compared to other industries. Over 75% of the respondents from offline retailers had an overall higher positive perception on TL&D, appreciation and camaraderie as compared to 71% respondents from online retailers. The study also highlights – special & unique benefits, empowerment & responsibility, appreciation and fun at work as key drivers of employee perception unique to retail industry whereas key employee retention drivers unique to retail include involvement in communication, fun at work, striking work life balance and management accessibility while citing common as pride at workplace, opportunities for career growth, egalitarian treatment and demonstrated caring. The employees listed top-down communication, pride in job, create a friendly workplace and create a sense of family & community as top attributes that make an organisation a GPTW. Most employees working in retail sector seek education assistance programmes from the company.

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About Great Place to Work®

Great Place to Work® is the leading authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Its insight and expertise is based on more 25 years of work with thousands of companies and research drawn from over 12 million employee surveys world-wide. In India alone it studies and assesses more than 700 organizations across industry sectors.

Great Place to Work® produces more than 50 great workplace lists around the world including the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list in the United States as well as ‘India’s Best Retail Companies to Work For’ in partnership with RAI, here in India. Its ongoing research validates that great workplaces are more successful businesses and provides the framework and expertise to help companies transform their workplaces.

 

About Restaurant Association of India:

Retailers Association of India (RAI) is the unified voice of Indian retailers. RAI is a not-for-profit organization (registered under section 25 of Companies Act, 1956), works with all the stakeholders for creating the right environment for the growth of the modern retail industry in India. RAI is the body that encourages, develops, facilitates and supports retailers to become modern and adopt best practices that will delight customers. RAI has a three charter aim of Retail Development, Facilitation and Propagation.

 

About Hardcastle Restaurants:

Westlife Development Limited (BSE: 505533), focuses on putting up and operating Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) in India through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. (HRPL) which is a McDonald’s franchisee with rights to own and operate McDonald’s restaurants in India’s west and south markets since 1996.

HRPL serves approximately 185 million customers, annually, at its 223 (as of December 31, 2015) McDonald’s restaurants across 29 cities in the states of Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and parts of Madhya Pradesh, and provides direct employment to over 7,500 employees. McDonald’s operates through various formats and brand extensions including standalone restaurants, drive-thru’s, 24/7, McDelivery, dessert Kiosks. The menu features Burgers, Finger Foods, Wraps, Hot and Cold Beverages besides a wide range of desserts. Several of the McDonald’s Restaurant feature in-house McCafé.

The pillars of the McDonald’s system – Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value – are evident at each of the restaurants where HRPL operates.