McDonald's eliminated equality and inclusion standards for employees

McDonald's, the largest fast food restaurant chain, has decided to abandon its inclusive policy and is canceling the targeted "diversity metrics" that used to be in place for employees. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on January 6.

The chain will no longer set new inclusion targets for its employees, but will continue to publicize diversity metrics within the ranks of its workforce. Moreover, the company said it continues to support inclusivity.

McDonald's pointed out that the introduction of targets in this area once helped to make progress. In particular, the network created a direct correlation between the salaries of managers and the growth of the number of racial minorities and women among the management staff. Against the backdrop of these policies, by 2025, 30% of the company's executive positions were held by women and other groups that had previously been underrepresented. In addition, a quarter of the total payout went to suppliers that achieved the required diversity metrics, Gazeta.Ru reported.

WSJ pointed out that McDonald's is the last of the major companies in the food industry to change its approaches to diversity policy.

Earlier, on December 24, American entrepreneur and billionaire Ilon Musk called to stop donating funds to the online encyclopedia "Wikipedia" because of its editorial policy based on inclusiveness. The online resource reported spending more than $50 million of its total budget between 2023 and 2024 to support diversity and equality policies. Musk demanded no more donations to Wikipedia until it returns the balance of editorial authority.