How to Reduce Turnover in Your McDonald's Restaurant: An Insider's Look

ARTICLE | July 24, 2025

Authored by Aprio, LLP

At a glance:

• The main takeaway: Turnover is a top concern for every business, but it can be particularly challenging for restaurants and franchises, especially in our post-pandemic world.
• Impact on your business: Aprio Tax Partner Lindsey Pierce sits down with a McDonald’s franchise director to find out how they have successfully reduced turnover in their businesses and fostered engaged, happy teams.
• Next steps: Contact an expert advisor for strategies and solutions to mitigate turnover in your own business.

Licenses, equipment, ingredients, and permits…like most restaurant and franchise owners, you’re likely managing a laundry list of costs while striving to boost profits and increase your bottom line. But while most of these expenses are standard for the restaurant and franchise sector, there is one cost that continually presents challenges for owners on the path to growth: turnover.

Although turnover isn’t entirely avoidable, you can mitigate it by creating the right culture and maintaining open lines of communication with your employees. And of course, nothing is quite as effective as learning from the example of peers who have been there before.

Recently, I sat down with Traci Parsons, Director of Training for Superior QSR, a McDonald’s organization owned by operator Rick Hoff. I kicked off our conversation with a few pressing questions: how do you manage turnover? What works for your team and what doesn’t? And importantly, what can other owner/operators do to retain their best people?

Traci’s main takeaway? Managing turnover isn’t rocket science, but it does take intention, follow-through, and heart. Keep reading for more ways you can elevate your employees’ experience and prevent turnover in your McDonald’s restaurant.

Invest in on-the-job training and continuous support

For many restaurants and franchises, one of the biggest challenges turnover poses is perpetually unfillable skills gaps. After all, it’s hard enough for owners to find experienced candidates who can come into the role on day one with the skills needed to do the job; it’s even more difficult to start from square one when those skilled workers leave.

In her McDonald’s restaurants, Traci has found that continuous on-the-job training and skills development have been key retention drivers. Well-trained employees can help train new employees, effectively replacing themselves from entry-level positions as they move up to other roles. Not only do continuous training and development solve skills-gap issues, but they also demonstrate to your employees just how committed you are to their growth and advancement.

Aside from skills development and training, Traci also stresses that strong onboarding, clear expectations, and ongoing reciprocal feedback play a major role in reducing turnover. “Feedback is a gift,” she says. “We ask our team what they need to be successful, and we truly listen to their responses.”

Traci’s open-door policy allows employees to build a strong relationship with their managers and feel comfortable with sharing their concerns directly. Whether it’s through surveys or conversations on the floor, it’s important to make sure your employees know their voices are heard.

Celebrate your people, loudly and often

One of the most powerful retention tools in your arsenal? Recognition.

From lapel pins to $50 gift cards to employee-of-the-month parking spots, Traci takes every opportunity to celebrate wins in the McDonald’s franchises she manages. “It could be a small thing, but it makes a big impact and allows us to show our employees how much we value them and their hard work,” she says.

When it comes to developing your own rewards and recognition program, remember that it’s not just about performance metrics. Create space and opportunities to celebrate your employees for their attitude, leadership, or initiative, and recognize their pride in their work.

Provide a path forward

For many employees, McDonald’s is their first job — but their journey with the organization doesn’t have to stop there.

“We talk about our career stories all the time,” says Traci, who started at McDonald’s as a 15-year-old birthday party hostess. “We all started in McDonald’s restaurants and want our team to see that the sky truly is the limit here.” In every training session, Traci shares her own story to show employees that leadership roles are within reach in the business.

As you think about fostering retention in your own restaurant or franchise, place a strong emphasis on creating defined employee career paths and room for advancement. Take the necessary steps to communicate with your employees routinely about the opportunities and resources available to them within your business. Combined with on-the-job training, mentorship and support, your employees won’t just hear about opportunity — they’ll see it in action.

Don’t overlook operational basics

In addition to career advancement opportunities, it’s important to recognize that retention also comes down to operations. When Superior QSR acquired their current McDonald’s restaurants, they immediately conducted surveys and equipment assessments. Their findings proved to be worth the extra operational legwork: they discovered broken machines, worn-out tools, and general disrepair in their restaurants.

“Would you want to work in a restaurant where the air conditioning doesn’t work, or the grills don’t work?” Traci asks. “Fixing those things shows people you care. It’s part of creating a positive, productive workplace.”

Offer more competitive pay and benefits

Restaurant work is hard and historically many employees in the industry have not been paid commensurate with their efforts. But that trend has shifted significantly in today’s economy; restaurants and franchises are now paying record-high wages, and many are expanding to offer more perks to their employees.

When it comes to their McDonald’s restaurants, Superior QSR has opted to put extra dollars toward enhancing their employees’ benefits packages, which they cite as a key contributor to their high retention numbers. By offering more competitive health insurance, retirement benefits, or even retention bonuses to more tenured employees, you can provide a more well-rounded employee experience and increase your chances of improving retention overall.

Reward your team for their hard work

Aside from pay incentives and benefits enhancements, more restaurant and franchise owners are taking steps to proactively reduce burnout by encouraging employees to take more time off.

“It’s so important to honor time-off requests and be as flexible as possible, even during periods of high traffic,” says Traci. To help streamline time-off and flex requests, Traci encourages other restaurant and franchise owners to consider implementing a collaborative scheduling model.

With this approach, employees can work together to maintain coverage when someone needs to trade shifts or take time off. Collaborative scheduling allows employees to feel more empowered with the ability to set their own schedules, and it allows management to offload some of the scheduling responsibilities as well.

Create a culture worth staying for

While recognition and training are critical, culture is what ultimately keeps teams together. When Superior QSR bought their current McDonald’s locations, they faced the unique challenge of earning buy-in from legacy employees. But by maintaining transparency, reinvesting in restaurant operations and providing genuine care and support to their team members, Superior QSR has successfully built businesses where people want to stay and grow.

And while turnover is inevitable in any industry, this team views it through a realistic lens. “Not all turnover is bad,” Traci says. “Sometimes it’s necessary for someone to grow, or for the business to grow. But when one of our team members accepts a new opportunity, we want them to leave knowing we cared about them.”

Key Takeaways for Reducing Turnover in Your McDonald’s Restaurant

• Train well and early: Remember that skill gaps are often to blame for employees’ struggles, not a lack of will.
• Listen generously: Consider introducing surveys, skip-level conversations, and an open-door policy to gather as much feedback as possible from your team.
• Celebrate and reward often: Small gestures like gift cards can go a long way toward making your employees feel valued and cared for.
• Share your McDonald’s story: Show your team what retention looks like within the organization and the opportunities they can seize with a clear path forward.
• Fix what’s broken: Reinvest in your operational equipment and environment to make your restaurant a comfortable and enjoyable place to work.
• Build a culture with heart: Keep things fun, stay connected, and lead your team with authenticity.

Take the next step

Please connect with your advisor if you have any questions about this article.