Jobs, Inclusion & Empowerment

A global company the size of McDonald’s can have the opportunity to make a positive difference in the world. Every time someone walks through the doors of a McDonald’s restaurant, rolls into a drive-thru, sees McDonald’s commercials or experiences our brand, we have a chance to build a community and foster inclusion. We want McDonald’s restaurants to reflect the communities they serve so that the Golden Arches can be viewed as a beacon of belonging, and we can draw people in as customers.

We believe providing a best-in-class employee experience – where people are given opportunities to learn and develop – is a business imperative. By looking after the people who work for the Company, we feel we can better equip and support them to deliver enhanced customer experiences.

We are committed to prioritizing safety in all the Company’s corporate offices and Company-owned and operated restaurants, as well as supporting our Franchisees to do the same in the restaurants they own and operate. We work to foster respectful workplaces, where people can be themselves without fear of harassment, discrimination, retaliation or violence, and help our Franchisees do the same in their workplaces.

Regardless of cultural, social or economic context, we conduct our activities in a way that respects the dignity of each person. To maintain relevant policies and practices, we work to identify and understand the human rights issues that are most important to our business. 

Find out how we create community impact where we live and operate across the world. This includes our direct support for families through the Ronald McDonald House Charities^®. We regularly engage with stakeholders across our value chain.

Recent Highlights

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Our most recent equal pay analysis results indicate that the Company substantially attained equal pay, and in 2024, intends to close the small pay gaps identified in in line with our commitment.
  
  
• 540 U.S. suppliers signed the Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (MCDEI) as of the end of 2023.
  
  
• In 2023, our U.S. systemwide spend with diverse-owned suppliers was 26.2%, resulting in McDonald’s reaching its 25% diverse-owned supplier aspirational spend goal.¹
  
  
• We increased representation of women globally in leadership roles (Senior Director and above) to 44% as of the end of 2023. ²
  
  
• We increased our percentage of leaders (Senior Director and above) from Underrepresented Groups (URGs) ³ in the U.S. to 33% as of the end of 2023.

Talent & Benefits

• Throughout 2023, the Company drove continuous improvement of our Performance Motivation process and resources for Company employees to help evolve our culture and increase efficiency as we continue building high-performing, engaged teams.
  
  
• Continued expectations in 2023 for senior leaders at the Company to help drive accountability and engage in inclusive behaviors that support talent development and help retain our future leaders.
  
  
• Created a Career Planning and Development Philosophy, as well as the Career Navigator guide, to support Corporate Staff in advancing their career journeys.

Safe & Respectful Workplaces

The purpose of McDonald’s Global Brand Standards is to promote safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces that help protect the physical and psychological safety of all people. They apply across all McDonald’s restaurants (whether Company-owned and operated or franchised) – more than 41,000 locations as of year-end 2023 – and expect each restaurant to focus on four key areas:

• Protecting employee health and safety.
  
  
• Preventing workplace violence (e.g., having policies in place and communicating those to employees, conducting workplace violence prevention training and having reporting mechanisms in place for employees to report concerns).
  
  
• Preventing harassment, discrimination and retaliation (e.g., having policies in place and communicating those to employees, conducting training and having reporting mechanisms in place for employees to report concerns).
  
  
• Listening through restaurant employee feedback (e.g., conducting employee surveys and creating restaurant-level corresponding action plans).

Related News

• McDonald’s Celebrates the Powerful Fact that 1 in 8 Americans Have Worked Under the Golden Arches
• 10 Pieces of Business Advice From McDonald’s Black Franchisees

Reporting Across Our Purpose & Impact

For a comprehensive view of our progress and actions in 2023, please see our Goal Performance & Reporting page.

This section of our website – Our Purpose & Impact – acts as the primary platform for our foundational approach, strategies and policies over each of our priority environmental and social issues, alongside recent progress highlights. In addition to our overall approach to issues, our goals and performance work in tandem to advance transformation across our four Impact Areas, helping us drive meaningful impact.

Related Issues

Additional issues across our four pillars include:

• Community Impact & Philanthropy
  
  
• Ronald McDonald House Charities®
  
  
• Stakeholder Engagement & Public Policy

Footnotes

¹ % Spend Through U.S. System With Diverse-Owned Suppliers

U.S. systemwide spend is inclusive of spending by McDonald’s and its U.S. Franchisees. “Other” includes the following categories: Veteran-owned, Native American-owned, Disabled-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, and other unidentified categories, including unidentified Minority (MBE)-owned.

2022, 2023

This figure includes supplier spending by all restaurants, whether operated by McDonald’s or by Franchisees. Further, this figure is inclusive of U.S. Company-owned restaurant spend, Supply Chain, Restaurant Development, Marketing, Legal, Global Technology, Workplace Solutions, Global Impact, Finance, Global People and other corporate functions. This figure also includes purchases made by Franchisees for advertising, restaurant development, technology, food, distribution, packaging, equipment and uniforms. This scope excludes non-controllables (Taxes, Utilities, Rent, Aircraft Fuel, Airport Fees, Facility Leases, Donations, Bank Fees and Subscriptions).

Our diverse-owned diversity spend figures in the U.S. include both self-certified and formal industry-recognized certification and Tier 1 and Tier 2 spend. Tier 1 suppliers are those from whom McDonald’s buys directly. Tier 2 suppliers are those with whom our suppliers do business.

Additionally, the gender diversity figure excludes women from Underrepresented Groups, who are reflected in the racial/ethnic demographic data.

Diverse-owned suppliers refers to businesses that are 51% owned, managed and controlled by women and/or Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous, Veteran, LGBTQ+ and disabled persons or people having a combination of these identities or attributes.   

Due to rounding, some totals may not correspond with the sum of the separate figures.

² Representation of Women – Corporate Staff: Global; Senior Director and Above, and All Corporate Staff

2022, 2023

Data includes aggregate numbers from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, the U.K. and the U.S. Corporate employees who support our Development Licensees are also included. Data was obtained through various means, including informal identification and voluntary self-disclosure. 

³ In the U.S., the term “Underrepresented Groups” generally means people who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian or Pacific Islander, or otherwise as people of color, people of Hispanic or Latino/a/x descent, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQ+, people from religious minorities, or people having a combination of these identities or attributes. For purposes of McDonald’s reporting, including with respect to Human Capital Metrics and Equal Pay, “Underrepresented Groups” is defined as people who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian or Pacific Islander, people of Hispanic or Latino/a/x descent, or people having a combination of these identities or attributes.

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