Employee blog connects frontline workers

McDonald’s reaches crew members where they spend their free time.

Reaching employees who sit in front of a computer all day is a challenge in itself — but engaging frontline employees who don’t is an obstacle many companies fail to overcome.

Communicators at McDonald’s knew its restaurant workers didn’t read the rarely distributed internal newsletter, so they opted to reach them though a channel they use already: the Internet.

The fast food chain’s employees don’t have regular computer access at work — they man the cash register or the drive-thru, or cook and assemble customer orders. But most are young — ages 18 to 25 — and use a computer at home.

McDonald’s solution set up a blog site for workers at 15,400 locations around the United States and Canada called StationM. The site features an employee-written blog, employee profiles, photos and corporate news.

“It’s important [that we reach these employees] because they’re the direct link between us and the customer; they’re who the customer interacts with,” says George Hradecky, manager of U.S. internal communications.