Yum! Brands Savors Top Hiring Experience With Kronos® Workforce Talent Acquisition
Download Printable Version
Yum! Brands — including KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, and A&W — is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system units, with more than 38,000 locations in 110 countries. Based in Louisville, Ky., this fastest-growing global restaurant chain opened 1,495 new locations outside the U.S. in the past year alone. More than 4 million hourly and salaried job seekers apply to Yum! or one of the company's brands each year.
Yum! was looking to replace its paper-based manual hiring process with something that would allow hiring managers to quickly identify interview-ready candidates and help cut the time and cost to hire. Knowing that savvy job seekers are finding positions online, Yum! wanted to automate its manual hiring process with an online solution so applicants could apply 24/7 — across all brands and all franchises.
Yum! turned to Kronos®. "It made sense. Kronos is the proven leader for high volume-hiring. The Kronos Workforce Talent Acquisition solution is simple to use and requires little training. And it had all the features we were looking for," says Sarah Beauerle, HMS manager for Yum! Brands. Since launching its new hiring management system — internally called the Hiring Zone — Yum! attracts top-quality candidates and hires faster and better, all online. The result? A better hiring experience, reduced hiring costs, increased hiring compliance, and improved time to productivity.
Hiring efficiencies save time, boost productivity
The most overlooked thing in a paper-based face-to-face hiring process is the time managers must commit to reviewing applications, administering assessments, interviewing applicants, preparing offers, and completing new-hire documentation. With the Kronos solution, job seekers are automatically prescreened for minimum job qualifications and job-specific qualifications. Applicants assessed as being the right fit for a position are deemed interview-ready, and hiring managers interview only the most-qualified candidates before deciding whom to hire.
"The results have been more than satisfying. We calculate that the system saves our managers 20 minutes per application — a 35 percent time savings," says Beauerle.
Larger, better applicant pool
Now that applicants can apply online, Yum! receives applications around the clock, doubling applicant numbers. Online applicants tend to be more computer-savvy, adapt better to the restaurant computer systems and cash registers, and are more comfortable working in an environment that is increasingly more computer- and technology-based.
These benefits are evident in all markets. After an initial rollout in the U.S., Yum! launched the Kronos hiring solution in the U.K. at KFC. "An online hiring process that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week is critical for our geographically dispersed, multibranded business," notes John Kurnick, vice president, global talent management. "Workforce Talent Acquisition will provide a consistent hiring experience throughout our company."
Applicant pooling improves hiring process
Yum! brands are able to share applicants through applicant pooling. After applicants apply at one location, they stay exclusive to that location for three days. If they aren't matched to a position, they go into a hiring pool at other locations within a 20-mile radius. This improves time to hire, especially when opening a new restaurant, says Victor Celona, regional general manager (RGM) of Taco Bell. "With paper applications, people would miss some questions and we'd have to call them back in to complete the applications," he says. "With Hiring Zone, this never happens. It saves RGMs time."
Consistent branding attracts talent
Each of the five Yum! brands has its own career site and Yum! corporate has its own site for requisition-driven salaried jobs. Job seekers can search out jobs and learn more about the Yum! culture, in English and Spanish. Ensuring that the brand image stays with potential employees throughout the application process is an important way to attract, win, and retain high-quality talent. "With the new system I really can compete for talent. Now I'm getting better-qualified applications from a broad horizon," adds Pizza Hut regional general manager James Burke.
©2009, Kronos Incorporated. Kronos and the Kronos logo are registered trademarks, and Workforce Talent Acquisition is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other product and company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be the trademarks of their respective owners. All specifications are subject to change. All rights reserved.