McDonald’s ties executive bonuses to diversity

McDonald's Corp. will tie 15% of executive bonuses to meeting diversity and inclusion targets and has pledged to put more women and minorities into senior management roles.

The fast-giant is also releasing for the first time a breakdown of U.S. employees by race, ethnicity and gender. The increased emphasis on diversity and inclusion comes as the company has been hit with accusations of racism. It is facing three lawsuits from current and former Black franchisees, who said they were steered toward inner-city locations that have lower sales and were then pushed out. In the past four years, at least 50 of McDonald’s restaurant workers have filed sexual harassment complaints with the EEOC or in state courts, reported CNBC.

“Since the day I stepped into the CEO role, I’ve said that actions are bigger than words,” said McDonald’s president and CEO Chris Kempczinski in a letter to employees on LinkedIn. “And because actions are even more powerful when they are underpinned by transparency, we’re sharing critical data on diversity, equity and inclusion at McDonald’s publicly, and regularly update this data over time.”

The fast-food giant has set a goal increase representation of historically underrepresented groups in leadership roles — senior director and above — in the U.S. from 29% to 35% by the end of 2025. McDonald’s expects to increase the same metric globally from 37% to 45% by the end of 2025, with a goal of reaching gender parity by the end of 2030. Fifteen percent of senior executives’ annual bonuses will be tied to reaching these goals.

"We're serious about holding ourselves and our leaders accountable," Kempczinski wrote in the letter.

In other actions, senior leadership team members are taking steps to create diverse candidate slates for all open roles by engaging with internal and external diversity groups. They are also moving to mentor and sponsor more women and minorities. More information about McDonald’s diversity, equity and inclusion actions and progress can be found here.