McDonald’s franchisees offer better pay and perks to lure workers

McDonald’s franchise owners, who run roughly 95% of the chain’s business, are leaning on higher wages and a wider package of perks to fill shifts and cut turnover. For crew members, that means the real job offer can look very different from one store to the next, even under the same golden arches.

The pay push started showing up as the labor crunch hit in 2021. McDonald’s raised pay at company-owned U.S. restaurants in May of that year, targeting an average of $15 an hour at those locations. Franchisees answered with their own recruiting pitch, adding child-care and elder-care help, paid time off, tuition assistance and, in some markets, emergency childcare.

Most hiring decisions are made at the restaurant level, not in Chicago. A franchisee with stronger sales or better local staffing can offer more than the minimum and still keep the store running. A weaker operator may advertise the same base wage but fall short on the extras that make a job stick, from predictable schedules to referral or attendance bonuses.

McDonald’s agreed to a $3.75 million settlement with franchise workers in 2016 in a labor dispute. In 2022, the company beat a challenge to a settlement with the U.S. labor agency. In 2024, California fast-food workers got a wage hike while franchise owners warned about the cost.

McDonald’s corporate materials now include a Talent & Benefits page. At store level, workers still need to ask the blunt questions that decide whether a job is worth taking: What is the starting rate? When do benefits begin? Is the raise permanent or tied to a bonus? How fast can a solid crew member move into trainer or shift-manager work?