McDonald’s is closing corporate offices this week as the company prepares to deliver layoff decisions as part of a broader restructuring plan.
Employees of nearly a dozen offices across the country have been asked to work remotely through Wednesday while layoff announcements go out, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. In an email to workers last week, McDonald’s requested that employees cancel all in-person meetings at company headquarters.
“During the week of April 3, we will communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing levels across the organization,” the Chicago-based company said in the message, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A spokesperson for McDonald’s confirmed the decision to The Washington Post but declined to share any additional information, including how many people will be laid off.
McDonald’s joins a growing cadre of companies that have slashed positions in recent months. Cuts have been deepest among tech giants such as Amazon, Meta, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google, all of which hired heavily during the pandemic. But recently layoff announcements have been trickling in from companies outside tech, including J. Crew, 3M, Dow, and Disney.
The burger giant counts 150,000 employees among its corporate workforce and its non-franchised restaurants. More than half of these employees work outside the United States.
The layoffs come as McDonald’s embarks on a restructuring plan, “Accelerating the Arches 2.0,” in which the company aims to open more restaurants in response to increased demand. The company already has more than 38,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries, according to its website.
McDonald’s has benefited from recent inflationary pressures, with the company reporting in January that customers are heading to restaurants more often as they look for inexpensive meals. The burger giant has notched two consecutive quarters of heightened domestic traffic, even as other restaurants and retailers have experienced slowdowns amid widespread inflation.
“Overall, the consumer, whether it’s in Europe or the U.S., is actually holding up better than what we would have probably expected a year ago or six months ago,” McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski said in January on a company earnings call.
Higher menu prices and strong menu innovation by McDonald’s have helped boost its traffic and customer transactions, according to Neil Saunders, managing director of analytics company GlobalData. But the company is still facing a great deal of cost pressure that’s causing it to streamline its operations.
With these layoffs, McDonald’s is “essentially getting ahead of potential pressures” on its business, Saunders said.
McDonald’s shares rose 0.5% in morning trading Monday off the news about impending layoffs.
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