Meet Josh…

Why did you start at McDonald’s?

I had just finished school and I was going to college and my college was part time and I just wanted something to fill the gaps, earn a bit of money and get my car. And then it kind of snowballed into what it has become.

What inspires you about working with McDonald’s?

I am inspired by kind of bettering myself, going to work every day and trying to be better than the day before. That’s what keeps me going – always improving, always learning, meeting people and you get their experiences as well and that’s where I pull everything from.

What’s the best thing about working with McDonald’s?

I most like the people. Easily the people. I love everyday going into work and working with my mates, I love my friends at work. Everyone says ‘you need to be a bit different because you are their manager’ but I don’t think you do, I think I can go in as their manager and still be their mate and it is all perfect.

What skills do you use at McDonald’s?

I just always treat people with respect, no matter their age. I am always a bit more reserved with the more mature staff members because they obviously have a lot more life experience than me and they can still teach me so much. Even though I’m potentially higher up the hierarchy than them I never try and see it like that. I think we are all equal in work and I’ve just got a slightly different role to them.

I always think little things are really important. I walk in every morning and say hello to every single person because I think that kind of starts the day off nice and sets a good atmosphere. But also little things like don’t make it all about work. Ask people how their weekend was. There is no need for it to be really formal, I like a relaxed atmosphere and I think that gets the best out of everyone.

What’s the social life like at McDonald’s?

I have worked in three stores and I have taken best mates out of all of them. I have been on holidays with people from my store, festivals with people from my store. We get along and it’s kind of the culture we have created in every store I have worked at. It’s a family. We are always really open and honest. If something is going wrong but we leave it there and we don’t hold grudges. We get involved, we go out together and at the end of the day if we have got something to say we say it and move on.

My previous restaurant is the one I spent the most time at and I still spend a lot of time with the people getting food, going on nights out – all sorts of stuff. It’s nice to keep up to date with them and what they are doing.

What are you most proud of at McDonald’s?

Definitely speaking at the conference last November. It was a fantastic experience, learning so many new skills, speaking to so many people. But at a restaurant level – there are no better days than those where you are all a team and it just goes off flawlessly and you’re breaking records and customers are loving it – it’s just perfect.

Do you feel like you can be yourself at McDonald’s?

It is really important to be yourself because all our individuality comes into our work and what makes the company so good is that you’ve got all these different people with different experiences and you’re bringing them together and it works.

You have so many different people and ideas, you bounce them off each other and it gives the customer a unique quality experience. It is always about being open. They can tell me whatever they want to tell me and I really don’t mind, I work with it. I don’t mind them being themselves or cracking jokes – it’s all good, it just adds that excitement to a shift when everyone is themselves. And to encourage it you just have to be yourself.