McDonald's makes statement on little-known rule all staff must follow

McDonald's has spoken out about a little known rule staff must follow that sets it apart from most other food business.

The fast food company has established itself as one of the biggest food companies in the world with over 44,000 restaurants in over 100 locations, and recent years have seen Maccies adjusting to more modern methods of supplying fast food.

Whether it be through food delivery services such as Deliveroo, or even the introduction of self-service kiosks to make that fast food arrive on your plate even faster (even if they might have a hidden psychology behind them), there's no doubt that the US company knows what it's doing.

And one way in which the company has solidified itself as one of the best and biggest is by the strict rules that it imposes in all of its restaurants.

Although it actually loses out to a Chinese ice-cream business when it comes to having the most locations across the world, you'll struggle to find many countries that aren't home to at least one Maccies, and staff in every single one need to follow a very particular, little-known rule.

This particular regulation actually saw the company leave the National Restaurant Association in the US earlier this year after a number of disputes.

McDonalds has some very specific rules for its staff (Getty Stock)

No, it's not something obvious like keeping your hands away from the oil fryer or talking smack about the creepy Ronald McDonald, it actually relates to the giving of tips.

Tipping in a McDonald's in the UK might seem a completely baffling concept, unless a staff member truly has gone above and beyond, but we know what folks over in the United States are like when it comes to adding another 15 or 20 percent on top of your food bill.

Many food service workers in the US rely completely on tips, but if you tried to pay a little extra at McDonald's you'd actually be putting employees in an awkward position.

The McDonald's website states: "Tips are not accepted as McDonald's restaurants have a team environment which is not about rewarding individuals. If a customer would like to make a donation then they can do so in the RMHC boxes."

The federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25 per hour, whereas the federal tipped minimum wage is only $2.13 per hour, which allows some restaurants to get away with paying their staff far less, in the hope that tips will make up their wages.

McDonalds has made it clear that it wants an end to the tipped wage model, which saw it leave the NRA in protest back in September.

“Part of what I think we need to do in this minimum wage conversation is, let’s start with everybody should be paying the same minimum wage, whether that’s tipped or non-tipped,” Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s CEO, told CNBC.

“We already know there’s about eight states that have no difference between tipped and non-tipped, and we know that in those states, poverty levels decrease.

"We know that turnover levels go down. We know that actually it doesn’t lead to any job loss.”

Tipping staff in McDonalds makes Ronald upset (Getty Stock)

In the UK, diners are encouraged to give the money they would have tipped staff with to charity.

RMHC is the Ronald McDonald House Charities organisation, something which was set up by the business as a way of giving 'families a warm and comfortable place to rest, eat and relax, just moments away from their child's hospital ward'.

So to tip staff instead of the charity is essentially asking them to take money away from families that may well need it more and you're best off showing your thanks by donating to the charity instead, or simply throwing your pennies down those fun spiral donation boxes which they used to have when we were kids.