Among the information McDonald’s is releasing for the first time is a full breakdown of U.S. employees by race, ethnicity and gender, a victory for transparency advocates and investors increasingly pressing companies to do more to address the country’s deeply rooted social inequality.
In addition to publicly releasing its worker demographics -- contained on a form known as EEO-1 that corporations are required to give to the U.S. government -- the fast-food giant laid out a plan to increase the number of people of color in its U.S. management ranks and to achieve gender parity worldwide, according to a
“We cannot be complacent in our pursuit to better ourselves and our communities. Few brands in the world have our size and reach,” McDonald’s Chief Executive Officer
As part of its new metrics, McDonald’s is targeting 35% of U.S. senior management to be from underrepresented groups by 2025, up from 29% currently. It also aims for 45% women in senior roles worldwide by the same year and 50% by 2030, compared with 37% now.
Like other big American companies, McDonald’s has a complicated history when it comes to diversity. It has won praise for championing Black business ownership, but some Black franchisees
The Chicago-based company has also
Women’s share among McDonald’s leadership and professional positions were in line with or slightly better than the industry, according to the company’s data.
McDonald’s has a slightly higher proportion of Black and Hispanic executives and senior managers than the food services and drinking places sector but lags the industry for those employee groups among first and mid-level managers, according to the company’s data. Black and Hispanic workers make up a larger share of professional employees compared with peers. The data is from 2018, the most recent year available because of reporting delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
McDonald’s
The fast-food retailer had 205,000 workers worldwide at the end of 2019, including corporate employees and workers in the restaurants it owns directly. The plans it announced Thursday have been in the works since the middle of last year, when the company pledged to step up efforts to fight systemic racism by addressing any hiring biases, increasing the diversity of its leadership and doing more to attract diverse franchisees. In November, it hired a new
Rising Pressure
Pressure has been mounting for the chain to release its workforce data. New York City Comptroller
In a response Thursday, New York State Comptroller
State Street Global Advisors -- one of McDonald’s largest shareholders -- upped the ante
A Bloomberg survey of 100 top U.S. companies published in October found that 25 were disclosing their EEO-1 data. More have come forth since, including Starbucks Corp., which also said it would tie executive pay in part to diversity targets. Starbucks is aiming for 30% of all corporate roles to be held by people of color by 2025, and at least 40% of retail and manufacturing jobs.
Under McDonald’s new plan, executives will be measured in four different categories related to the company’s values, goals for racial and gender diversity, and creating a culture of inclusion. Those metrics will determine 15% of incentive pay, with the rest coming from operating income growth and sales growth, according to the filing.
(Adds New York State Comptroller’s comments in 13th paragraph.)
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Cécile Daurat, Jonathan Roeder
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