US burger chain McDonald’s is temporarily closing off its offices earlier this week in the US and preparing to lay off its employees, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) newspaper has reported.
The move is part of a broader company restructuring plan for the burger giant amidst concerns about a slowing economy.
In an internal memo to its employees in the US and international staff last week, the US fast food chain has asked its employees to work from home from Monday to Wednesday so that it can inform them virtually about the company’s lay off plans, the WSJ reported on Sunday.
It has also asked employees to cancel all in-person meetings with vendors and other outside parties 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 viewed by the WSJ.
It has asked staff who don’t have access to a computer during the week to provide personal contact information to their manager.
“We want to ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period,” the company said.
More than 150,000 people are employed globally with McDonald’s, with 70 per cent of them located outside of the US, the company said in February.
However, it has not commented how many employees are being laid off over the course of this week.
In January, McDonald’s had indicated that it may take “difficult” decisions about changes to its corporate staffing levels by April, as part of a broader strategic plan for the burger chain.
At that time, Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said that the company wants to move forward with its retrenchment policy as they were expected to save money, but didn’t have a set dollar amount or the number of jobs he was looking to cut.
“Some jobs that are existing today are either going to get moved or those jobs may go away,” Kempczinski was quoted as saying.
(With inputs from agencies)
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