McDonald’s is the latest in a series of US mega-corporations to roll back on some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices in light of shifting legal standards, as well as ongoing conservative backlash.
In a statement sent to McDonald’s owner/operators, company employees and suppliers worldwide, the company announced that it’s changing its approach to DEI, part of which will involve leaving certain targets and goals behind.
The move comes following a US Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action, while also following in the footsteps of industry DEI backtracking as a result of sustained conservative pressure.
“Last year, we completed a comprehensive Civil Rights Audit (CRA) that looked at all aspects of inclusion across our system. We also engaged with shareholders to understand their expectations and assessed the overall landscape of shareholder proposals.
“Following the Supreme Court ruling in STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, we also assessed the shifting legal landscape to anticipate how this ruling may impact corporations such as McDonald’s. And finally, we benchmarked our approach to other companies who are also re-evaluating their own programs,” the McDonald’s management said in the statement.
The fast food giant also announced that it is changing the name of its diversity team to the ‘Global Inclusion Team’ in a move similar to those taken by other organisations that have left DEI terminology behind.
Despite insisting that the company’s “commitment to inclusion is steadfast,” the statement reveals that following its review, it plans to “modify” certain DEI practices, including “aspirational representation goals”.
“We are retiring Supply Chain’s Mutual Commitment to DEI pledge in favor of a more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance,” the statement says.
McDonald’s decision comes after online campaigns and customer boycotts have pressured other companies, such as Walmart, Harley-Davidson and John Deere, among others, into dropping or downscaling DEI initiatives.
In October last year, Toyota told its US employees that it would no longer be participating in DEI-focused activities such as “festivals and parades” but would instead narrow community activities to align with “STEM education and workforce readiness”.
The move came after ‘anti-woke’ activist Robby Starbuck featured the Japanese car giant in a series on companies who he says have ‘gone woke’.
However a spokesperson for Toyota said that the influence of Starbuck’s campaign was ‘negligible’.
Similarly, last summer saw Jack Daniel’s whiskey maker Brown-Forman Corp. abandon DEI focus, the company announcing that it was no longer linking employee bonuses and pay to DEI performance, while also planning to withdraw from rankings of companies based on their LGBTQ-friendliness.
Fox News reported that employees were told that the change in policy was the result of a shifting business landscape.
The backtrack came just days after famous motorcycle brand Harley Davidson announced that it too was leaving DEI behind.
““We see it as every leader’s role to ensure we have an employee base that reflects our customers and the geographies in which we operate. It is critical to our business that we hire and retain the best talent and that all employees feel welcome. That said, we have not operated a DEI function since April 2024, and we do not have a DEI function today. We do not have hiring quotas and we no longer have supplier diversity spend goals,” Harley-Davidson said in a statement on that occasion.