Kids & Money: McDonald's workers aim to pass this financial test

Quarter pounders with cheese and quarter point credit-card interest-rate hikes.
Both cooking and financial skill-sets are being taught these days to more than 500,000 McDonald’s restaurant employees.

The Golden Arches is at the forefront of what it describes as the nation’s largest employer-provided financial education program. Since December, McDonald’s has teamed with credit-card issuer Visa Inc. to teach money-management skills to employees at its 14,000-plus restaurants nationwide.

Call it an employee benefit that promotes lifelong learning.

“McDonald’s realized teaching practical money skills is a quality of life issue for employees,” said Jason Alderman, who directs financial education for Visa.
It’s a productivity issue too — both for employees and the fast-food chain. If employees are not making wise choices about money, it affects their performance at work. Alderman said.

He makes a good point.

McDonald’s employs thousands of high school teens who are earning regular paychecks for the first time. Yet, many don’t know how to track their spending, balance their checkbook, or use credit cards wisely to keep debt manageable and live within their means.
That’s what prompted the restaurant chain to work with Visa, which previously had created online financial education products for schools through its Practical Money Skills for Life program.

Visa created a three-pronged program for McDonald’s. There’s an educational training video for employees to watch in their break room. Workers also are required to create a budgeting “journal” for a month to track their income and expenses. But the centerpiece of the program is a Web resource center — in both English and Spanish — that includes instructional exercises, games that test money smarts, and financial calculators on topics ranging from car loans to entertainment planning to credit cards.

Alderman emphasized that Visa is not out to market its credit card brand though he said there is some “light” promotion.

“This truly is about helping people manage their money,” he said.

McDonald’s offers incentives to make sure employees participate in all parts of the education program, said Alderman.

He likened the process to “getting people to eat their vegetables. It’s hard. But when your employer makes this a priority, you pay attention.”

Visa has stepped up its financial-education efforts this year and is also working with employees at the Domino’s pizza chain and the city of Chicago.

Will these workplace efforts sink in? I don’t see why not, though the payoff might come years from now. Frankly, I’m all for seeing this trend accelerate.

After all, developing financial smarts is not just a challenge for young fast-food workers or municipal employees. The majority of high school seniors across the country can’t pass a test on basic financial skills. What does that tell you?

Source: kansascity.com