McDonald’s has closed its U.S. offices Monday through Wednesday and instructed its corporate employees to work remotely as it prepares to announce a round of layoffs.
“During the week of April 3, we will communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing levels across the organization,” the company said in an email to employees, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which first reported the news over the weekend. “We want to ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period.”
The Chicago-based fast-food giant employs more than 150,000 people in corporate roles, with more than 70% located internationally, according to WSJ. Most of the layoffs will reportedly impact the corporate level. Service-level jobs are still hiring and even facing shortages at some McDonald’s restaurants.
McDonald’s has not specified the number of employees that will be affected by these layoffs. However, this news doesn’t come as a complete shock.
In a January memo, McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski “warned about upcoming job cuts,” stating, “We will evaluate roles and staffing levels in parts of the organization, and there will be difficult discussions and decisions ahead…We will look to our strategy and our values to guide how we reach those decisions and support every impacted member of the company.”
The memo also referenced that key decisions would be communicated by April 3, and Kempczinski was true to his word.
Kempczinski also had a conference call with investors at the start of the year, telling them, “We have historically been very decentralized in some areas where we reinvent the wheel way too often…And I think the other thing I’ve seen is we haven’t been as sharp around our global priorities, and so there’s been a proliferation of priorities.”
The announcement comes after McDonald’s reported a 10.9% rise in global sales last year in 2022, a 5.9% growth in sales in the U.S. market, with total margins for the restaurant rising 5%. But, according to BBC, “the company said its profits overseas have been hurt by the strength of the dollar.”
Following the massive tech layoffs, there may be a domino effect, with other sectors entering the fray and announcing planned job cuts.
