Why I’m committed to inclusion

Max Carmona | McDonald’s Senior Director of Global Design & Development | Chicago, Illinois, USA

At McDonald's, we live by our values. I'm one of the leaders of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy for three different departments, so Inclusion is always top-of-mind for me.

The departments I work with are global, with employees located all over the world. The past few months have been challenging for us as we navigate life during a pandemic and confront social inequality. Now more than ever, we wanted to ensure our people felt heard, dignified, supported and respected.

To date, I've helped facilitate three listening sessions with employees across the U.S., Europe and Asia. We plan to hold two more sessions later this year. Though not always comfortable, many members of our McFamily have opened up about their experiences with racism, inequality, colorism and discrimination in their lives. It's apparent that these issues exist around the globe - but more importantly, people all over the world want things to change.

While we are still formulating our holistic diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, our listening sessions have showed us we need to offer more education around unconscious bias, allyship and change management. We're also formalizing a sponsorship process to help create a more diverse talent pipeline at McDonald’s. Although we are early in the process, our department’s leadership is very engaged, and we are taking on the responsibility to lead and affect change. 

I'm so glad we're taking the time for these sessions. The honesty, emotion and openness to learn I’ve seen from employees has been truly inspiring, and it deepens my conviction that we are doing the right thing in having these conversations. This makes me proud to be part of McDonald’s, and sparks me to be better and do more.