The fast-food chain revealed it's shifting its strategy on "inclusion" in a memo sent to restaurant owners, operators, and employees around the globe, which was shared on its corporate site on Monday.
Specifically, the company will stop setting "aspirational representation goals," which were targets for increasing diversity in senior positions. McDonald's is also scrapping a program aimed at encouraging its suppliers to commit to their own diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and invest in training for their staff. Instead, the company plans to have discussions with suppliers about how inclusion ties into business performance.
Another update is that McDonald's will now call its diversity team the "Global Inclusion Team."
"This new name better reflects our commitment to inclusion and aligns more closely with the team's objectives," the company stated. Additionally, McDonald's mentioned it will pause "external surveys," but didn’t go into details.
This move comes as McDonald's joins a number of other major companies like Ford, Lowe's, and John Deere in rolling back their DEI initiatives following a Supreme Court decision that overturned affirmative action in college admissions.
Ford and other companies have opted out of participating in a Human Rights Campaign survey that assesses inclusivity for LGBTQ+ employees.
According to the memo, over 30% of McDonald's leaders were from underrepresented groups in 2024, and the company achieved gender pay equity across the board, as noted in its 2024 Purpose and Impact Report. On the supplier side, McDonald's met its goal of spending 25% on diverse-owned suppliers by 2025 last year.