REIMAGINE THE STRESS EXPERIENCED BY CUSTOMERS AND STAFF AT A BUSY MCDONALD’S Interview’s Transcript Ted (User) - What type of job do you have? - Ted: Mechanical Engineer - Which city do you live in? Ted: Mississauga - What are your thoughts on the McDonalds ordering system? Ted: I don’t like the trend that restaurants are taking by removing employees from the business (apps and touch-screen ordering), designers need to consider the social effect of their product. - What makes you decide you want to go to McDonalds? Ted: When I want a coffee - What’s the longest recent wait you’ve had at McDonalds? Ted: Today, about 10 minutes - What do you not like about the waiting experience? Ted: Seeing stress and commotion happening behind the counter Betty (Expert) - How long have you worked here? - Betty: Three years - What’s your typical job role? Betty: Lobby person - How many people work on your shift and how long it is? Betty: Not enough, 8-10 hours - What happens when the line gets big? Betty: The store gets more people in it, we've got to keep the alligators at bay - How do you adapt to very busy hours? Betty: We don’t do much, more people fill the store - What time of the day it’s usually busiest? Betty: 11-12, 12-1(different shift), 6-9 Darren (Expert) - How long you have worked in this field? - Darren: 3 years - What’s your typical job role? Darren: Uber Delivery person - How many do you work? Darren: Fulltime (8 hours) - What happens when the line gets big? Darren: You can wait, or you can cancel - How do you adapt to very busy hours? Darren: Can’t really do anything, just wait for the order - What time of the day it’s usually busiest? Darren: 11-6 Jane (User) - Do you live in Hamilton? - Jane: Yes - What type of job do you have? Jane: I do a retail - When do you decide to come to McDonald’s? Jane: Often, when I feel like eating a happy meal - What’s the longest time you had waited recently? Jane: I waited for 30 minutes after ordering just an ice-coffee at the self-checkout station. - What do you not like about the waiting experience? Jane: I feel irritated to wait just for the drinks. At times it gets too crowded, and people go up to counter angrily asking where their food is Mike (User) - Do you live in Hamilton? - Mike: Yes - What type of job do you have? Mike: I work in a warehouse. - When do you decide to come to McDonald’s? Mike: I don’t visit often, once a week maybe - What’s the longest time you had waited recently? Mike: Waited about 10 minutes for a pomegranate smoothie. - What do you not like about the waiting experience? Mike: I don’t really care too much about it Andrea (Expert) - How long have you worked at McDonald’s? - Andrea: 4 months - What kind of job role do you have? Andrea: It’s not fixed, the job role keeps rotating - How many people work on your shift? Andrea: Not enough, usually 5 to 8 people - What happens when it gets busy? Andrea: It gets really chaotic - What do you do to adapt to the large number of customers? Andrea: The location is too understaffed, so we are not able to adapt to the large number of customers and it becomes a mess - What time of the day is usually busiest? Andrea: Busiest hours are around 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Empathy Maps Say: - - “Engineers forget the social aspect of design” “I don’t like seeing stress behind the counter” “If you keep your employees happy your end product will be good” “I’m in a hurry” - - Think Believes that human aspect of processes can get lost through optimization Believes technologies should aid people, not replace them Employees also get a lot out of human interaction NEEDS - Interact with others while going about daily business - Needs to feel that him and others are friendly with each other Feel Positively about day-to-day experiences like waiting, unless there is disruption going on Negatively about people who are uncaring for others Empathetic to those around him and our group Curious and excited about survey, enjoyed concept of this course INSIGHTS - Immediately noticeable that he’s an engineer but dislikes certain uses of technology or the direction that technology might take, he fears for the livelihood of people displaced by technology - He’s an engineer but chooses to use more low-tech methods - He says he’s in a hurry, but prioritizes talking to us for the engagement Name: Ted Do - Very patient while waiting Cheerful to employees and us Curious about us waving him on in line, starts conversation with us, talking about university and engineering - - Say: - Think “We’ve gotta keep the alligators at bay” “Not enough”, in response to question about how many people are on the shift - - Both customers and management are challenges for her, she feels she can’t get a break Doesn’t think treatment is equitable NEEDS - Needs to feel stability in employment and personal life - Needs to enact change from peers and customers Name: Betty Do - Very tired behaviour at the end of a shift Frustrated at times Still willing to answer questions Just got off a difficult phone call - - Feel Frustrated at lack of response to ongoing issues Feels like she’s cornered on issues, like she doesn’t have options Personal life and employment are both difficult, causing stress, and anxiety INSIGHTS - Talking with us about what’s going on at the location is a kind of catharsis for her, nobody else pays attention to her issues - She doesn’t mention anything specific about management, ambiguous where she places blame Say: - “They keep delaying the order” “I usually avoid this McDonald’s” “You wait, or you cancel” - - Think He wants to optimize the time he’s working for Uber Eats, if he’s waiting that means he’s not delivering orders Understands that if he’s waiting, he may as well relax NEEDS - Need to keep moving forward with orders, his job - Needs to decide if order is worth waiting for, difficult if time is inconsistent Name: Darren Do Feel - A bit skeptical of questions Relaxed in general, used to this kind of waiting Standing at edge of waiting area, browsing phone - - - Important to be selfsufficient, able to roll with the punches Pride in the work he does, wants to do as good a job as he can Bored, but calm INSIGHTS - He is doing the best he can for himself or possibly his family, every dollar counts to him - Experiences waiting as a kind of break time, doesn’t want to do too much waiting but doesn’t mind if it happens POV’s, HMW’s and Ideas related to them Betty, frustrated and overwhelmed employee needs better customer and staff organization because during high volume hours people are overwhelming the store and getting frustrated, and creating a mess - - - How might we encourage customers to keep the facility clean themselves? o Signage o Include wet wipes with meal, with instruction to clean table or selves o Instruct employees to encourage customers to clean their mess o Add .50 deposit for clean table o Booking system How might we reduce the workload of individual staff? o Hire more staff o Better scheduling o Better staff role prioritization o Restrict dine-in area during busy times o Encourage self-service, drink dispensers o Make kiosk system better, straws, drink cups, cutlery o Better tools, optimize assembly line o Staff training, cohesion How might we provide support to betty for her personal life? o Make the job less stressful, less rushed o Mental health services o Focus groups for food service o Support groups o Improved benefits o Improve ambiance of restaurant o Childcare – maybe government Darren, busy full-time Uber Eats driver, needs better co-ordination of orders because it’s ambiguous to him whether it’s worth taking an order from the location, it’s a risk he takes during his shift and reduces consistency - - How might we improve the consistency of order estimated time of completion? o AI to calculate wait time based on incoming customer count, staff count o Add time buffer during busy times o Common items are prepared further in advance o Prepare order before calling Uber Eats driver to restaurant o Stiffer penalties from Uber Eats on McDonalds for delays, compensates driver How might we reduce the time Uber Eats drivers spend not driving to their drop-off location? o Improve food preparation time o Bring delivery to driver in their car/ use drive thru o Separate Uber Eats waiting area o Increase staff o Extra notification to driver when food is fully prepared o Better allocation of order based on restaurant location to driver o Grouping outgoing orders to similar areas - How might we incentivize Darren to go to a restaurant known for inconsistency? o Additional base delivery rate to driver o Give driver a drink/coffee o Seating area for delivery drivers o Give Darren something productive to do while waiting Ted, mechanical engineer who wants co-operation in the world, needs a consistently positive customer service experience at McDonald’s but it frequently is dampened by stress behind or across the counter between employees or interacting with difficult customers - - - How might we reduce the stress of employees? o Increase staff o Easier to use tools o Improve organization of staff and customers o Mental health services o Ambiance of kitchen o Balance incoming orders with kitchen capacity o Customer service and accessibility training o Alternate methods of communication for cashiers o Reduce how much staff must rush o Increase staff involvement with customers o Gamify the job How might we provide difficult customers with a way to resolve their issue? o Add a security guard o Customer service person on the floor o Standardized procedure for incorrect orders, other issues o Better tracking of items leaving kitchen, what goes into each bag, bar codes o Better customer service training o Add assistant store manager How might we assure customers that their order is being prepared? o Itemize orders on order queue screen, check items that are complete o Give customers buzzer for when order is complete o Advise customer of wait time before order is placed o App can show progress o Reduce business of employee transferring orders from kitchen to customer o Make waiting area more of a line instead of a crowd, or send customers to tables to wait Final Ideas that are used in prototyping stage: - Mental health services for employees, add support groups - Improve ambiance of restaurant including kitchen, currently very drab, improve organization of waiting area Prototypes This prototype aimed to add greenery to the restaurant through a green wall and other plants Current Scenario: Improved Scenario: An app to track mental health of employees Current Scenario Proposed Case Feedback • Employees might not check in on a daily basis • These solutions don’t really address the root cause (understaffed, don’t have capacity for all customers coming in during rush hour) • Aesthetic of the restaurant does not contribute much to stress reduction • The employee reflection could be confusing and might not be understood right away • The multiple counters idea can be a good option to reduce the commotion in the restaurant, it can attract more customers by reducing the wait time for their orders and doubts • Improving the waiting area by adding space seating is a good idea
