McDonald’s Keeps ‘Core’ Inclusion Programs Despite DEI Backlash

McDonald’s Corp. said it’s sticking to its most important inclusion initiatives, even as the Trump administration and conservative activists attack diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

McDonald’s earlier this year retired “aspirational representation goals” for its workforce and a diversity pledge for its supply chain, while also adopting the “inclusion” terminology instead of DEI. But it has retained several other programs, including offering internal affinity groups that bring employees of similar backgrounds together and publicly reporting on representation.

“We changed some of the language that we’ve used it around it, but at the core none of our programming has changed,” said Jordann Nunn, who as chief field people officer for McDonald’s leads human resources for the company’s US restaurants.

“We have no intention of doing that,” Nunn said Thursday at a human resources conference by From Day One in Chicago.

Companies across corporate America have retreated from representation targets set in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, in part due to executive orders targeting what President Donald Trump has termed “illegal DEI” and the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions.

However, evidence has emerged that a number of the changes companies have made are mostly cosmetic, and that many have continued with programs such as recruiting candidates from a broad range of backgrounds.

Companies are also grappling with the Trump administration’s heightened focus on immigration. Nunn said that some McDonald’s restaurants had experienced raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

She said the company has focused on helping franchisees—who run about 95% of the chain’s more than 13,500 US locations and hire their own staff—understand their employees’ rights in the event ICE shows up. McDonald’s assembled a team of staff across HR, legal and government relations who meet weekly to monitor changes in immigration policies.

“We put on a ton of optional webinars,” Nunn said. “We had huge opt-in rates from our franchisees who were really clamoring to get this information to make sure that they could prepare their teams.”

McDonald’s is looking to add 375,000 workers across the US this summer. Sales have improved since April, credit-card data from Bloomberg Second Measure shows, after disappointing results in the first quarter.

“We’re anticipating business growth, especially as we go into the summer months,” Nunn said. The chain is also opening new stores and extending opening hours, she added.

McDonald’s US has been using an automated system that has cut down hiring time for restaurant staff by 60% to nine days. It’s planning to roll it out to international markets.

Photo: Signage is displayed outside a McDonald’s Corp. fast food restaurant at sunset in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg