McDonald’s UK Refuses to Copy US Team’s DEI Rollback

Four years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonald’s is rolling back on its diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) measures across the US.

McDonald’s US has seen a vast amount of rollbacks since US President Donald Trump has come back into office and pledged to tackle “woke companies”.

Unlike its counterpart across the pond, McDonald’s is clinging onto DEI measures in the UK

McDonald’s DEI in the UK

Whilst the fast food giant’s US division has scrapped targets for minority representation in senior roles, rebranded its diversity department and abandoned DEI requirements for suppliers, the British business says its own pledges remain intact. 

The DEI requirements in the UK ensure that 40% of senior leadership roles are held by under-represented groups by 2030 and strengthen “social inclusion” across its supply chains.

The prospect that McDonald's UK business could follow suit triggered calls from the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), which represents workers in the food industry.

The BFAWU called for McDonald’s to “reject attempts to mirror the regressive actions of its US counterpart” in dismantling DEI initiatives.

The McDonald’s split mirrors Deloitte UK and its US counterpart taking different stances on DEI initiatives.

Richard Houston, Senior Partner and Chief Executive at Deloitte North and South Europe and Deloitte UK, told staff in a letter last month it would remain “committed to diversity goals” and “will continue to report annually on our progress on inclusion”.

In the US, the consulting giant announced an end to its DEI programmes and annual report alongside instructing staff working on contracts for the government to remove pronouns from their emails.

US McDonald’s DEI rollbacks

McDonald’s US business claimed in January that it would abandon targets to get minorities into senior roles, rename its diversity team and ditch DEI requirements for suppliers in America.

The rollback follows Trump’s speech describing DEI initiatives as “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” as well as “nonsense”.

“We are evolving how we refer to our diversity team, which will now be the Global Inclusion Team,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said in a message to McDonald’s franchisees, employees and suppliers. 

“This name change is more fitting for McDonald’s in light of our inclusion value and better aligns with this team’s work.”

Further DEI rollbacks in the US

The likes of Walmart, John Deere and Harley-Davidson have all rolled back DEI policies in recent months.

Apple, Google, Target, Amazon, Accenture and Costco have also recently taken the same path as McDonald’s to remove and ‘reassess’ DEI measures. 

Meta also made a similar announcement recently, saying in an internal memo that it would end DEI initiatives centered around hiring and suppliers.

What could DEI rollbacks mean?

Advocates of DEI in the workplace argue that diverse hiring and greater representation of women and minorities improves business performance.

A spokesman for the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights, said: “Rolling back on DEI initiatives is a mistake and what’s going on in the US is a warning shot across the bow of our economy.

“Hard-won gains are easily lost and the UK simply mustn’t import the toxic notion that DEI is red tape or something to be tackled.”

The Fawcett Society added that “any retreat from DEI would undermine hard-won gains in the workplace.”

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