Employee Benefits

The following information highlights McDonald's benefits for Staff (e.g., home office, division or region office) employees located in the United

States. Highlights of McDonald's Corporation benefits for U.S. Restaurant Management and Crew employees can be found on the USA Careers site.McDonald's benefits program is designed to attract, retain and engage talented people who will deliver strong performance and help McDonald's achieve our business goals and objectives.

For McDonald's Corporation U.S. employees at corporate, division and region offices, our many benefits are organized into four categories:

Your Health and Protection

Protecting your and your family's health and financial future is important. That's why we offer the following plans:

Medical

McDonald’s offers three Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) medical plan options that use the First Health network of providers. The plans have different benefit levels and pay more for in-network covered costs than for out-of-network covered costs. All three of the plans feature a prescription drug program and an unlimited lifetime benefit maximum. In addition, the McDonald's medical plans cover preventive care, including annual physical exams for employees and covered family members (up to $400 per person per year), well-baby care, and child immunizations and inoculations. In some areas, HMOs are also available.

Vision Supplement

Employees enrolled in one of the four McDonald's medical plans may elect the vision supplement plan, which provides coverage for eyeglasses and contact lenses, plus a mail-order contact lens replacement program, and discounts on Lasik laser vision correction surgery.

Dental

Our dental plan allows employees to see the dentist of their choice and covers a wide range of dental services. Preventive services, including sealants for children, are covered at 90% with no deductible. Basic and major services are covered at 80%, after a deductible. The plan also covers 50% of eligible orthodontia expenses for adults and children after a one-time deductible.

Spending Accounts

The flexible spending accounts let employees set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for certain health care and day care expenses. Employees can set aside up to $5,600 in the Healthcare Spending Account for expenses not covered or only partially covered by their medical and dental plans. For day care expenses that allow employees or their spouses to work, they can set aside up to $5,000 in the Day Care Spending Account.

Short and long-term disability

Both short and long term disability coverage is provided at no cost to employees. Short term disability provides benefits if an employee cannot work for more than 10 consecutive days; how long benefits continue depends on the nature of the employee's disability and years of service. Long term disability coverage replaces 60% of the employee's monthly base salary while he or she is disabled.

Employee and dependent life insurance

McDonald's provides basic life insurance of two times the employee's base salary at no cost to the employee. In addition, employees can purchase additional life insurance coverage for themselves (either term or universal life). Basic dependent life insurance for their spouse or domestic partner and/or children is also provided at no cost to the employees. And, if an employee elects optional life insurance for himself/herself, he/she can purchase additional dependent life insurance coverage.

Accidental death and dismemberment insurance

AD&D covers employees if they die or are seriously injured in an accident. McDonald's provides AD&D coverage equal to two times the employee's base salary. If the employee elects additional life insurance coverage, he/she automatically has an equal amount of optional AD&D coverage at no extra cost.

Travel and business travel accident insurance

McDonald's provides travel accident coverage of two times an employee's base salary at no cost to employees. Travel accident insurance pays benefits in the event of an accident when traveling for either business or personal reasons. McDonald's also provides business travel accident insurance coverage for employees traveling on company business, also at no cost. Depending on the employee's position, this coverage is either $100,000 or $200,000 and is in addition to travel accident coverage.

Your Pay and Rewards

Our pay and rewards program follows a "pay for performance" philosophy: The better your results, the greater your pay opportunities.

Base Pay

Because employees' base pay is the most significant portion of their compensation, McDonald's maintains the competitiveness of our base pay through an annual review of both external market data and internal peer data. In our corporate, division and region offices, McDonald's has a broadbanding compensation system. Broadbanding allows for flexibility in terms of pay, movement and growth.

Incentive Pay

Incentive pay provides our employees with the opportunity to earn competitive total compensation when performance meets and exceeds goals. For our corporate, division and region offices, the Target Incentive Plan (TIP) links employee performance with the performance of the business they support. TIP pays a bonus on top of employees' base salaries based on business performance and their individual performance.

Long Term Incentives

Long term incentives are granted to eligible employees to both reward and retain key employees who have shown sustained performance and can impact long-term value creation at McDonald's.

Recognition Programs

Our recognition programs are designed to reward and recognize strong performers. For our corporate, division and region offices, these include the Presidents' Award (given to the top 1% of individual performers worldwide) and the Circle of Excellence Award (given to top teams worldwide to recognize their contributions for advancing our vision).

Company Car Program

Our company car program provides eligible employees with a company car for both business and personal use. If eligible, employees can choose from a variety of vehicles, depending on their level within the company. The program covers the cost of insurance, maintenance and repair.

Investing in Your Future

Taking care of your current and future financial needs can be challenging. That's why we offer the following savings and money management programs:

Profit Sharing and Savings Plan

Our Profit Sharing and Savings Plan lets employees save from 1% to 50% of their pay on a tax-deferred basis in the 401(k) feature of the plan. McDonald's matches eligible employees' contributions with $3 for each $1 of the first 1% of pay they contribute, and $1 for each $1 on the next 4% they contribute. Eligible employees may also receive a discretionary profit sharing match of 0% to 4% based on the first 1% of pay they contribute. Employees are always 100% vested in their contributions and the company matches.

Mc$ave

Mc$ave is a special money market fund for McDonald's employees. Money put into Mc$ave is invested in the Prime Reserve Fund managed by T. Rowe Price.

MCDirect Shares

MCDirect Shares is a direct stock purchase plan that lets employees further build ownership and reinvest dividends in the company.

Credit Union

All McDonald's employees can take advantage of a full range of services available through the Corporate America Family Credit Union.

Financial Planning Services

This program gives employees access to professional financial planning services through Ameriprise Financial or Merrill Lynch.

Helping Balance Your Work and Life

Balancing work with your life outside of it can be challenging. McDonald's believes that it's important to strike the right balance. That's why we offer many programs designed to help our employees maintain or regain the right balance.

Vacation, Holidays

McDonald's offers paid vacation for corporate, region and division office employees as well as Restaurant Management employees. The amount of vacation time employees have available depends on how long they have worked at McDonald's. In addition, McDonald's offers nine paid holidays (less for part-time workers) for eligible employees.

Anniversary Splash

Eligible employees get an extra week of paid time off in the year when they reach an anniversary “on the fives” – their five, fifteen, twenty-five or thirty-five year anniversary.

Sabbatical Program

Eligible employees can take an eight-week sabbatical for every 10 years of full-time continuous service with the company.

Short Fridays

From mid-May through mid-September, McDonald's corporate, division and region offices' work hours begin a half hour early in order to end early (1:00) on Fridays.

Leave of Absence

Because employees may be faced with difficult situations that require them to take time from work, McDonald's provides a leave of absence program with specific policies regarding types of leave such as family and medical leave, adoption leave and funeral leave.

Alternative Work Approach

To help corporate, division and regional office employees better balance their work and personal life, they may be able to arrange an Alternative Work Approach. There are two full-time options (flex time and compressed work week) and two part-time options (part-time schedule and job sharing).

Adoption Assistance

Our adoption assistance program helps employees afford the costs associated with adopting a child under age 18. Employees are reimbursed for 80% of eligible expenses, up to $2,500 per child.

Child Care

McDonald's has agreements with three national child care providers - Childtime Learning Center, Knowledge Learning Corporation and La Petite Academy - for a 10% discount on tuition for employees. (They do not offer discounted rates for children under age 2.)

Educational Assistance

Our educational assistance program helps support eligible employees in their efforts to further their education. Employees can get reimbursed for 90% of eligible expenses, up to a maximum of $5,250 a year ($2,000 a year for part-time employees), for grades "C" and above.

Matching Gift Program

Our matching gifts program is designed to encourage employee support of not-for-profit organizations. With this program, McDonald's matches employee gifts to qualified educational, civic, cultural, health and youth organizations with one dollar for every dollar the employee contributes, up to $5,000 a year.

Employee Resource Connection

This program gives eligible employees access to a broad array of services that help them manage many facets of their life outside the office, including: Concierge services, for help in finding resources for almost anything employees may be interested in; financial services, for help with subjects such as setting a budget, getting out of debt, and any other financial information; legal services, for legal information and, if necessary, referrals to qualified attorneys; and counseling services for professional, confidential assistance for managing problems and personal concerns.

International Fitness Club Network

Employees can receive discounts on new membership or other rewards for existing membership at participating clubs nationwide, plus discounts on home fitness equipment, and online health and fitness information.

Auto and Home Insurance Program

McDonald's employees can purchase auto and home insurance through the MetLife Auto and Home Insurance Program. The MetLife Auto and Home Insurance Program offers a McDonald's group rate plus other advantages.

BeyondWork

BeyondWork is a free Internet discount program for recreational products and services. McDonald's employees in the U.S. can go online 24 hours a day, seven days a week to BeyondWork's site and find valuable resources and savings on popular products and services.

All in all, our benefits programs provide our McDonald's Corporation employees with a valuable and compelling package. We believe you'll find there's a lot to gain from being part of the McDonald's team.

The information contained on this site is highlights of McDonald's Corporation benefits and policies for U.S. staff employees only. The official Plan documents govern in case of any discrepancy between the Plan and the descriptions on this site.