McDonald's reportedly preparing for layoffs, shuts US offices temporarily

Fast-food giant McDonald’s has temporarily closed all its US offices as it prepares to inform its corporate employees about an upcoming round of layoffs. 

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the company sent an email to US employees last week, asking them to work from home from Monday to Wednesday so that it could deliver the news of the layoffs virtually. It remains unclear how many employees will be affected by the job cuts.

In January, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski had warned employees that “difficult discussions and decisions” were on the horizon, as part of the company's updated business strategy, Accelerating the Arches 2.0. This included a reshuffling of positions to increase efficiency and innovation and to cut costs.

McDonald’s will also accelerate the pace of its restaurant openings as part of its updated plans. It may also test more new concepts aimed at customer convenience, such as the Order Ahead Lane at a recently-opened location in Forth Worth, Texas.

While the fast-food chain’s shares closed on a record high on Thursday, March 30, as reported by financial author and Seeking Alpha contributor David Zanoni, layoffs are expected to be announced by Wednesday. With job cuts rising as companies try to counter a global economic slowdown and soaring inflation, several tech giants, including Google, Amazon and Facebook, have already scaled down their operations recently.

At the end of 2021, McDonald’s had just over 40,000 restaurants globally, with more than 13,000 US locations, according to its most recent annual report. The company has not yet released a statement on the layoffs.