While a shifting economy always carries with a looming fear of layoffs, some of the most eye-catching one have so far been in tech — Google (GOOGL), Salesforce (CRM) and Microsoft (MSFT) all laid off thousands of people while Amazon (AMZN)'s recent series of cuts has been the largest since the company was founded in 1998.
On the entertainment end, returning Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger also sent out a company-wide email announcing plans to cut "7,000 jobs as part of a strategic alignment of the company."
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The phenomenon some social scientists dubbed "copycat layoffs" is now seeping into what is normally the much more stable fast food industry — McDonald's (MCD) is the biggest name to be clamping down on job cuts, according to a leaked email first obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
Here's What's Going On At McDonald's Corporate
The email, which was sent out to corporate workers in the U.S. and some international ones, said that the Golden Arches would be temporarily closing its head offices in Chicago as it announces a series of job cuts.
"During the week of April 3, we will communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing levels across the organization," McDonald's said in the internal email.
Corporate workers have been instructed to work from home for three days during that week as the leaders deliver the news to those slated for layoffs virtually. The fast food giant employs over 150,000 corporate workers across the world but has not yet commented on how many of them will be affected by the cuts.
Locking corporate offices to protect company products and data during a large-scale layoff is a fairly regular occurrence for large corporations. Twitter was the latest big name to do it when, last November, Elon Musk started slashing jobs after taking over the company.
"We want to ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period," McDonald's said in the email. The closure was also time around a period when many employees travel and take time off for Easter and Passover.
In This Economy, Even The Fast Food Industry Is Tightening Its Belt
McDonald's had first announced that it would be cutting some jobs as part of a wider "corporate restructuring" in a January 2023 earnings call. At the time, chief executive Chris Kempczinski told investors that "some jobs that are existing today are either going to get moved or [...] may go away."
Traditionally, fast food is much more resilient than other industries during economic downturns — as the cheapest prepared option, it sees a new wave of customers who may have otherwise dined somewhere else. But coupled with the rising cost of food, many chains have seen more profit fluctuation than usual in 2022.
In the last quarter of 2022, traffic at quick-service restaurants fell by 4.2% year-over-year. McDonald's, which has raised its prices by approximately 7% last year, has largely been beating this trend — dine-in traffic rose 31.1% from a year ago while the number of customers coming in for take-out is also up 22.1%.
While the layoffs only affect corporate workers rather than staff that keep the stores running, the widespread nature of the layoffs indicate that the company has entered a new stage of cost-cutting.
"We will evaluate roles and staffing levels in parts of the organization and there will be difficult discussions and decisions ahead," Kempszinski said last January.
