McDonald’s said in January it would review corporate staffing levels.
Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
McDonald’s
is expected to lay off a number of corporate employees in the coming days, in a big week for the U.S. jobs market.
Fast-food chain McDonald’s (ticker: MCD) is temporarily closing its U.S. offices, telling corporate employees in an internal email to work from home from Monday through Wednesday so it can communicate layoff decisions remotely, The Wall Street Journal reported. The memo also asked workers to cancel in-person meetings at its headquarters.
“During the week of April 3, we will communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing levels across the organization,” the company said in the message to staff, which was seen by the Journal.
In January, the burger chain said it would review corporate staffing levels and warned of “difficult decisions and discussions ahead” in a message to global employees. It expected those decisions to be finalized by April 3.
McDonald’s didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
The layoffs are expected to impact corporate employees as opposed to those working in the company’s restaurants, adding to concerns over a white-collar recession.
General Motors (GM) said last month it is cutting salaried and executive staff positions, after previously saying it wasn’t planning layoffs. In February,
FedEx
announced plans to cut 10% of its executive team as it looks to streamline its operations.
Boeing
(BA) is also looking to cut around 2,000 jobs in its finance and human resources departments.
In contrast, workers on the services side of the retail sector have been somewhat protected from the growing trend of job cuts in recent months as retailers and restaurants have faced labor shortages coming out of the pandemic.
Investors will be looking for further signs of the U.S. labor market cooling when the U.S. jobs report for March is released Friday. The economy added another 311,000 jobs in February, sharply lower than January’s revised 504,000 but above expectations of a 215,000 increase.
Separately,
UBS
(UBS) is preparing to lay off between 20% and 30% of its workforce following its planned takeover of Swiss bank rival
Credit Suisse
(CS), local newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday.
Write to Callum Keown at [email protected]
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