McDonald’s shuttering U.S. corporate offices at the beginning of the week during staff cuts and reshuffling, according to a Wall Street Journal report. An internal email, sent last week, notified corporate employees to work from home Monday through Wednesday of this week so staffing decisions can be communicated virtually.
“We want to ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period,” per McDonald’s in the report.
Despite a report of solid sales numbers in January, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski stated, “we’re not satisfied. That’s the hallmark of McDonald’s.” The new staffing decisions are not just a harbinger of woe for the company. Besides cuts and re-staffing, McDonald’s will be expanding in some areas; all with an eye to streamlining decision-making and increasing efficiency across the board.
Some may recall that McDonald’s started this crusade for efficiency with the mass layoffs of 2018, aiming to cut $500 million dollars from the corporate overhead. Back then, the cause seemed to be the price wars McDonald’s was engaged in, as fast food restaurants like Taco Bell and Wendy’s presented stiff competition with discounted food bundles that mimicked (and, at times, dwarfed) the McDonald’s dollar menu and it’s variations.
Although, the cuts are far from a sign of a downturn in business, some franchisees and corporate employees are concerned that a slimming down of staff and resources may leave them burdened with providing new services, to pick up the slack of downsized or non-existent roles going forward. McDonald’s declined to comment on the exact number of employees “exiting the system”, as CEO Kempczinski worded the layoffs.
Other large companies, such as Disney, Twitter, Amazon, and NFL have engaged in restructuring and layoffs in the recent past. Netflix also joined the trend towards downsizing on original movies, opting to combine production sectors and release more high-quality movies in a lower quantity; reacting to a slowing of subscriber growth, and a need to keep up with the rapidly growing competitive market.
