McDonald’s lays off hundreds, cuts pay for workers

According to internal emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago-based fast food giant informed restaurant owners that it would shutter field offices in the coming months.

McDonald’s will consolidate its operations into one national structure in the US that would oversee all of its 10 field offices, according to the Journal.

“While the McDonald’s Brand is in the strongest position it has been in years, we also recognise that our business has grown increasingly complex in recent years,” Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, said in the email obtained by the Journal.

Several of those who were laid off were executives who spent decades with the company.

Tim Andersen, who served as vice president of operations and development, posted a note on his LinkedIn account on Thursday that read: “I was informed last week I was starting my planned retirement three years early during a large reorganisation at McDonald’s.”

“Although I always wanted the decision to leave to be mine, I am so proud of the 42 years I spent with the brand and even more so the incredible people and teams I got to work with in so many different locations and positions,” Andersen wrote.

Another executive who held a director position at McDonald’s wrote a poem on LinkedIn to mark the end of his 20-plus-year tenure at the company.

“This is not goodbye – But a ‘see you later’ note – I’m cheering for you,” the poem read.

Earlier this week, McDonald’s said it would close its offices and instructed staffers to work from home, where they would be notified of changes as part of the restructuring.

The move was done “out of respect” and to “provide dignity, confidentiality, and comfort to our colleagues”, a source who was not authorised to speak to the media told Reuters.

“It used to be that folks would be called into a conference room with the windows papered over and then have to walk back to their desk to collect their personal belongings and leave with their head down,” the source said.

McDonald’s will have more employees going into new roles this week or receiving promotions than being laid off, the source added.

The chain known for its Golden Arches has more than 150,000 employees globally, with about 70 per cent based outside the United States, including in company-owned restaurants.

The lay-offs do not include the more than 2 million workers in franchised McDonald’s restaurants around the world, including Australia.

McDonald’s restructuring comes despite the fact that its most recent earnings report beat analyst estimates.

In the fourth quarter of last year, McDonald’s reported net income was $1.9 billion, or $2.59 per share, which is up from $1.64 billion, or $2.18 per share, year over year.

This article was originally published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission