Singapore - An average McDonald's restaurant manager spends over 2,000 hours over four years in training, which is the equivalent to spending four years obtaining a degree. And the organisation's commitment in training employees is the reason why McDonald's was recently conferred the 2008 Service Excellence Award by SPRING Singapore. 

According to Kenneth Chan, managing director of McDonald's Restaurants, the service excellence culture is embedded in the organisation's DNA. Hence, the company invests 4% in service training, or a total of $2.5 million for all its training and service initiatives. 

Chan says that in addition to its classroom and on-the-job training programmes, employees are also given the opportunity to pursue a diploma in "Hamburgerology" from McDonald's Hamburger University.

McDonald's also offers its managerial staff, as well as crew who embody management potential a chance at acquiring a qualification in Hospitality from Australia's University of Ballarat. The course fees, which is subsidised by the Workforce Development Agency, is paid for by McDonald's. These L&D initiatives embody the organisation's aim "to be the best service training centre for full-time and part-time employees to impart skills that will benefit them in the long term", says Chan.

But to ensure that employees maintain the level of customer service, the organisation conducts "Mystery Shops" checks twice a week to track customer satisfaction in the areas of food quality, service delivery and order accuracy. "In addition, internal service and operations audits are conducted by middle management at all restaurants on a regular basis," adds Chan.

As the company commits to higher standards of customer service, such as embarking on a new "Made For You” kitchen operations system which allows customers to customise their menu order without compromising on service time, Chan says continuous training and career development ensure a sutained service culture. "As they grow in their jobs, they gain experience and opportunities for leadership and management," he adds.