The British arm of McDonald’s is clinging to its corporate diversity policies, breaking with its US parent in apparent defiance of Donald Trump. The Telegraph has more.
The company will push forward with a swathe of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the UK, despite its Chicago-headquartered parent company watering down US DEI policies before Mr Trump took office last month.
McDonald’s US business said in January that it would abandon targets to get minorities into senior roles, rename its diversity team its “global inclusion team” and ditch DEI requirements for suppliers in America.
The company claimed the decision was influenced by a recent Supreme Court ruling on so-called affirmative action policies on American university campuses, and the changing policies of other companies.
The prospect that its UK business could follow suit triggered calls from the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), which represents workers in the food industry, for McDonald’s to “reject attempts to mirror the regressive actions of its US counterpart” in dismantling DEI initiatives.
McDonald’s DEI pledges in the UK include ensuring that 40% of senior leadership roles are held by people from under-represented groups by 2030 and a commitment with its suppliers to advance “social inclusion”. These will remain in place.
It follows a similar US-UK split at the auditor Deloitte. Richard Houston, Deloitte’s UK boss, 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”.
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