McDonald’s ties executive bonuses to diversity, releases workforce data
3:47 pm Thursday, February 18th, 2021
By Hilary Russ
NEW YORK (Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp on Thursday said it will tie executive bonuses to new goals for diversifying the company and for the first time publicly release demographic details of its workforce.
Under the new rules, CEO Chris Kempczinski stands to lose 15% of his approximately $2.25 million annual bonus if he fails to meet goals to increase the portion of women and Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and other minorities in senior leadership roles.
More organizations are seeking to increase opportunities for Black workers, women and other disenfranchised and underpaid groups, after a nationwide reckoning with racism sparked by the May killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police.
As activists have called for more transparency, companies are increasingly reporting demographic data for their workforces and tying executive pay to diversification goals.
Coffee seller Starbucks Corp in October linked compensation to diversity goals but did not provide details of how those goals would be weighted in performance reviews.
McDonald’s said in July that it would launch initiatives to increase diversity, but it had not yet developed exact mechanisms to do that.
The burger chain said Wednesday that it aimed to boost women in leadership roles, senior director and above, from 37% to 45% globally by the end of 2025.
It also said it would increase the portion of historically underrepresented groups, in such leadership roles in the United States from 29%, where it now stands, to 35% in the next five years.
According to data released Wednesday, Black people comprise 10% of McDonald’s senior level management, higher than the 7% as reported by other restaurant chains that also disclosed such data to the federal government in 2018.
(Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
