Over the past year, big tech companies have been reducing their workforce, and now this trend extends to the US food sector. According to a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday evening, fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp. is preparing to notify its corporate staff about layoffs early this week in an extensive organizational overhaul.
Last week, the Chicago-based fast-food chain sent an internal memo to its US employees, informing them that corporate offices would be temporarily shut down during the first half of this week. The email instructed staff to work remotely, allowing management teams to communicate layoff decisions virtually.
“During the week of April 3, we will communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing levels across the organization,” the memo to employees read.
McDonald’s also asked employees to cancel all in-person meetings with vendors and other partners at its corporate offices.
The announcement isn’t a surprise. McDonald’s in January said it would make a “difficult” decision about corporate staffing levels by April.
“Some jobs that are existing today are either going to get moved or those jobs may go away,” Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski told WSJ in an interview in early January.
According to the chain’s annual report, McDonald’s employs around 150k people globally in corporate roles and its owned restaurants, with three-quarters of them located outside of the US.
In late January, McDonald’s revealed a slowdown in lower-income customers ordering fewer items. The company has asked all franchisees to raise menu prices slowly, or it would create a price shock.
It’s anticipated that the number of layoffs could reach into the thousands, adding to the wave of job cuts primarily originating from large tech firms, including Amazon, Google’s Alphabet, Meta Platform, and Microsoft.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 04/03/2023 – 07:45
