Key Takeaways
- Escalate, an employee-support app that began piloting at seven McDonald’s restaurants late last year, makes it easier to get to work.
- Employees can request Uber vouchers or a Visa gift card for childcare costs up to three times a month.
- An Escalate co-founder estimates the program prevented about $35,000 a month in callout-related costs across seven McDonald’s locations.
By 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, Ebert Velasquez Ramos is at the drive-through window of a McDonald’s in Morningside, Maryland. He cheerfully takes an order for a sausage, egg and cheese McGriddle.
Velasquez Ramos graduated from high school this year and started working at McDonald’s about a month ago, his first job. So far, it’s going well. Managers appreciate the way he connects with customers, and he has made it to every shift on time.
That timeliness wasn’t something he took for granted. He doesn’t own a car, and the bus trip to work can be difficult. Sometimes a friend or family member can drive him. When that isn’t possible, he opens Escalate, an employee-support app that began piloting at seven McDonald’s restaurants in suburban Washington, D.C., late last year. The app can provide him with an Uber voucher, helping ensure he gets to work when he needs to.
“I don’t know if any other jobs really have that option,” he recently told NPR. “So I’m glad this one does.”
The solution that helps workers get to their shifts on time
Escalate received a grant from the state of Maryland last year to run a pilot program at a McDonald’s franchise network. Employees could tap into Escalate’s app to request immediate help with emergencies. For example, they could receive an Uber voucher to cover transportation costs or a grocery gift card if they needed food. They could also receive a Visa gift card for childcare costs.
“Having that app, and having our employees make it to work, has been crazy beneficial for us,” Imani Ford, who operates all seven franchises that are part of this pilot program with her mother, Mary Hopkins-Navies, told NPR.
Escalate grew out of a problem its founders, Sienna Daniel and Sean Segal, saw in their nonprofit work.
For years, the pair helped unemployed people build skills, complete bootcamp-style training and find a path into the workforce. However, getting someone hired was only part of the challenge. Once people started working, everyday emergencies often got in the way.
A car would break down. Childcare would fall through. A missed shift would lead to another, and eventually, someone could lose a job they had worked hard to get.
“Opportunities might be there, but if they aren’t stabilized and they don’t have what they need to be able to get to where they need to go, there’s a problem,” Daniel told NPR.
Daniel and Segal asserted that if businesses like McDonald’s gave workers the support they needed to show up, they would call out less, leading them to create Escalate.
Most requests come in within 90 minutes of a shift, and transportation is by far the biggest need: More than 80% of requests are for Uber vouchers, while just 5% to 10% involve childcare.
McDonald’s employees can use Escalate for up to three requests a month. If they need more support, the app connects them with a coach to work out a longer-term transportation plan.
Segal estimates the pilot prevented about $35,000 a month in callout-related costs across the seven McDonald’s locations.