McDonald's to lay off hundreds as Chicago-based burger giant restructures company, source says
'There are more people that have been moved into new roles or promoted than have been laid off,' the source said Friday
NEW YORK (WLS) -- Hundreds of people are being laid off from McDonald's as the Chicago-based burger giant restructures the company, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC7 Friday.
Earlier this week, the company announced it was temporarily closing its U.S. offices and told its corporate staff to work remotely.
The video featured is from a previous report.
In a memo to workers posted on the website TheLayoff.com, the burger giant said it wanted to "ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period" and would hold all notification meetings virtually. It told international corporate staff to follow guidance in their particular regions.
The company said in the memo that the layoffs are intended to make McDonald's more efficient.
McDonald's declined to comment on the memo or the layoffs on Monday after the memo was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Most of those job cuts are at corporate offices. There are still shortages of workers to fill service jobs, such as those at McDonald's restaurants.
"There are more people that have been moved into new roles or promoted than have been laid off," the source said Friday.
McDonald's has more than 150,000 employees in corporate roles and in company-owned restaurants. About 70% of those employees are based outside the United States.
McDonald's warned employees in January that layoffs would be coming as it tried to get more nimble and break down walls between its global markets. In a January memo to employees, McDonald's President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company was evaluating roles and staffing levels in various parts of the company.
"We have historically been very decentralized in some areas where we reinvent the wheel way too often," Kempczinski said during a January conference call with investors. "And I think the other thing I've seen is we haven't been as sharp around our global priorities, and so there's been proliferation of priorities."
In one market, Kempczinski said he had recently discovered a list of 300 separate priorities.
The Associated Press contributed to this post.
