McDonald’s Free Housing Lays Bare East Europe’s Labor Crunch
- Hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs threaten investment
- Shortage of workers ‘keeps executives up at night,’ PwC says
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Better-known for low-paid jobs than generous incentive packages, McDonald’s Corp. is facing a labor shortage so dire in Hungary that it’s offering free rooms to out-of-town burger flippers.
The accommodation -- a rare benefit in the more than 100 countries where the fast-food giant sells Big Macs and Happy Meals -- is just one perk employers in eastern Europe are dangling to fill open jobs. Others getting sweeteners include cashiers at Lidl Ltd. in Prague and software developers in Bucharest.