McDonald’s corporation had teased this news to some extent in January – “corporate restructuring” and all –

…In late January, McDonald’s revealed a slowdown in lower-income customers ordering fewer items. The company has asked all franchisees to raise menu prices slowly, or it would create a price shock.

…McDonald’s in January said it would make a “difficult” decision about corporate staffing levels by April.

“Some jobs that are existing today are either going to get moved or those jobs may go away,” Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski told WSJ in an interview in early January.

– but it still had to come as a shock when the email went out late last week and word broke yesterday.

McDonald’s temporarily shuts US offices, prepares layoff notices: report https://t.co/hd0SyjimyX pic.twitter.com/OcTVk4cTD9

— New York Post (@nypost) April 2, 2023

It wasn’t going to be such a great start to the week for anyone.

Burger chain McDonald’s Corp is temporarily closing its US offices this week as it prepares to inform corporate employees about its layoffs as part of a broader company restructuring, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

In an internal email last week to U.S. employees and some international staff, McDonald’s asked them to work from home from Monday through Wednesday so it can deliver staffing decisions virtually, the report said.

What McD’s corporate HQ looks like it’s doing is taking a page out of the tech industry’s “You’re fired” playbook. They’re keeping everyone home – in effect locking everyone out – and sending emails letting you know if you’ve got a job or no (Calling you if you can’t get to your email.).

…Workers who wouldn’t have access to a computer during the week should provide personal contact information to their manager, the company said.

“We want to ensure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period,” the company said.

All business and vendor meetings are supposed to have been canceled – literally, everything has come to a screeching halt for at least three days to get the purge out of the way as bloodlessly for them as possible. “Comfort and confidentiality” is code for “no ugly office meltdowns.” They’re not saying how many folks are being shown the door, either. This has to be excruciating.

…Mr. Kempczinski, who was the company’s U.S. president at the time, didn’t disclose the scope of the head-count reduction, but said it included regional chain offices. McDonald’s said it employed 205,000 people globally in corporate roles and its owned restaurants in 2019, down from 235,000 in 2017.

In a company message from January, McDonald’s said that the sprawling company operated in too many silos, leading to redundancies and slowing its innovation. The chain said it aimed to consolidate its work on some projects, and stop or move away from others.

Their stock has been on a rampage, but tight economics usually works well for them.

I guess it’s even more efficacious when they tighten their own belts as well.

But when it’s tough, it’s tough all over.

NO STAPLERS FOR YOU!

We’re at the “cutting back on employee staplers” phase of the business cycle. https://t.co/s10laQm4YL

— Tim Wood (@TimOnPoint) April 3, 2023

Suck it up, kids.

Now they wait to see who has an office to come back to on Thursday.

I’m sure nobody’s lovin’ it. ♫♪ bah dah dah dahdah ♪♫