Jobs, Inclusion & Empowerment
We’re helping build bright, safe and inclusive futures by nurturing skills, uplifting communities and respecting human rights, empowering the people and the communities we serve.
Our Impact Areas
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 in delivering 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
Our Commitment to Inclusion
- 44% of women leaders globally (Sr. Director and above).
- 17.1% diverse-owned media spend in the U.S., and over 25% spend with US Systemwide diverse-owned suppliers.
- 34% diverse Franchisees in the U.S.
Talent & Benefits
- Launched Future Forward, our International Leadership Development Program in Milan, Italy, to develop the next generation of leadership at McDonald’s.
- Introduced several new programs designed to support employee advancement, including our Empowering Development Leaders program.
- Honored with the Learning & Development (L&D) Team of the Year Award among OnCon’s Top 100 L&D Teams, recognizing our ambition and achievement in learning and development.
Human Rights
- Our Human Rights Policy, which sets out our commitment to respect human rights, was updated in 2024.
- We developed a Human Rights eLearning module for McDonald’s staff and McOpCo to ensure our refreshed expectations were clearly understood.
- Our Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF – 102 KB) was updated in 2024 to better communicate our expectations.
- We updated our Commitment on Forests and Natural Ecosystems (PDF – 127 KB) to reflect evolving guidance and best practices.
Safe & Respectful Workplaces
- 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 2024, 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 Impact Areas
Additional impact areas across our four pillars include:
- Community Impact & Philanthropy
- Ronald McDonald House Charities®
- Stakeholder Engagement & Public Policy
