Two restaurant workers smiling at each other.

People Positive

We are a people business, and we believe in being people positive. We’ve always been proud of giving people a start in their careers and supporting them to get ahead.

We now want to make an even bigger positive impact in our communities, by opening doors to jobs, dismantling barriers and ensuring our team from restaurants to boardroom is inclusive and as diverse as our communities.

Opening doors to jobs

Our commitment and goals                

We will help our communities gain new skills and open doors through training, work experience and equal employment opportunities.

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By 2024, support youth services through every restaurant.

Icon of a certificate above the date 2025.

By 2025 have supported 3,000 apprentices

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By 2030 help one million people gain new skills and open doors to jobs

Our communities need the skills and talents of every one of us – whatever our background. We understand that not everyone has the same start in life, so we’ve set a goal of helping one million people into training, jobs or new opportunities by 2030. To us, that’s not just a number. That’s one million lives that we can help to change for the better.

Helping 1 million people into training, jobs or new opportunities.

As we work towards our goal, we will provide support with ‘Get Job Ready’ resources – helping individuals develop employability skills. We’ll also launch a restaurant work experience programme. 

Giving young people confidence and skills

In our local communities we aim to support youth services through every restaurant,making a difference to young people by giving them confidence and skills that they can take forward in life and work. Our careers work in schools also opens up possibilities for pupils.

Through our presence in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland, we have always sought to help people access opportunities and make the most of their potential. We’ve done that by providing flexible working, £43million worth of training and helping young people get on through apprenticeships, and dedicated careers advice in partnership with Youth Employment UK. Our new Plan for Change means we will do even more.

A young restaurant worker is smiling whilst on shift.

Expanding our apprenticeship programme

Our  apprenticeships programme has already given over 19,500 people a flying start to their careers since 2006. We’re now increasing our ambitions to ensure that, as with all our employment opportunities, our apprentices will be representative of the communities in which we serve.

This year, we’ve celebrated  National Apprenticeship Week 2022 to raise awareness of the breadth of our apprenticeships, recognising and applauding success stories across the country. To encourage applicants, we created and shared Apprenticeship Toolkits full of resource materials for mentors, managers, and employees across our restaurant network including the launch of six new corporate apprenticeshipsspanning accounts and finance, digital marketing, project management, business analytics, data science and accounting and taxation. To find out more about McDonald’s Apprenticeship Programme, visit our website here.

Our focus on great people extends to our supply chain as well. We work with over 23,000 British and Irish farmers, helping them through our Farm Forward programme to build sustainable businesses, for themselves and for the planet. It’s not just about people who are already farmers either. By 2030, we will kick-start over 100 careers in food and farming for young people from diverse backgrounds through our McDonald’s Young Talent programme.         

The people behind our plan

Picture of McDonald's shift manager Sean.
 “The McDonald’s Apprenticeship programme was an amazing opportunity given to me. After leaving school and going full time in work, I didn’t think gaining a qualification would be an easy task. However, with the help of my trainer and McDonald’s mentor, I was able to balance my workload, work full time and gain two qualifications.”

             Sean, Shift Manager, Glasgow

            

Inclusive and diverse

Our commitment and goals

From our senior leaders to our restaurant teams, we will reflect the diverse communities we are part of and stand up for individuality and equality.

Icon of three people above the date 2024.

By 2024 we will work with our supplier partners and franchisees to advance social inclusion through a Mutual DE&I Commitment   

Icon of people next to a restaurant above the date 2025.

By 2025 40% of participants in our new corporate placement and internship programme for our restaurant employees will be from underrepresented groups

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By 2030 reach and maintain gender balance within our senior leadership roles and ensure 40% of all senior leadership roles are held by people from underrepresented groups   

                 

We’re really proud of the McDonald’s family which welcomes everyone. We stand up against prejudice, exclusion and social and economic inequality. We champion individuality and fair treatment in access, opportunity and advancement for all. From our restaurants to our senior leaders, we are committed to reflect the diverse communities we serve, across our business. We will use our unique position to support people to succeed and grow with us – whatever their background. 

Picture of a smiling business manager.

90% of our Business Managers began in our restaurants      

A third of our senior leaders and 90% of our Business Managers began their careers in junior roles within our restaurants. So they know just where a McDonald’s start can take you.

By 2030, our goal is that 40% of all corporate leadership roles are held by those who are from underrepresented groups – whether racial or ethnic, sexual diversity and gender identity, socio-economically disadvantaged, or physical and mental disability.

To help us achieve this goal, we recently launched our 2022 Corporate Placement Programme to give hourly paid restaurant employees the opportunity to join McDonald’s corporate offices for a year long work placement, with the aim of providing them with opportunities to learn valuable and transferable skills to many types of jobs and sectors. The Programme, which consists of two cohorts a year, aims to reach potential candidates from across the UK&I regardless of prior level of education and background with the aim to open doors to a variety of roles through an equitable and values based application process. 

We are also asking our suppliers to join us on this mission, by signing a mutual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitment. By using our influence beyond our own business, we are helping to break down barriers to opportunity.

Picture of woman and a man working together.

Ensuring gender balance

From restaurants to head office, we have a zero percent gender pay gap in our business, with women making up 48% of our roles and 43% of our senior roles our goal is that by 2030 we will reach and maintain gender balance within our senior leadership roles by ensuring gender parity at all levels of our talent pipeline.

Picture of restaurant worker smiling at children.

Creating career opportunities

We are opening doors to restaurant employees to work in our corporate business through a placement and internship programme and we continue to invest millions on training and development to help all our people shine.

The people behind our plan

Picture of assistant manager Afsana.

  

"I really love the variety of people you meet. I’ve learned a lot of skills on the job, but I do find communication is the most essential skill. As an Assistant Manager, it’s so important to understand what’s going on in the restaurant or how people feel.”

Afsana, Assistant Manager, London

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Our long-term goals in full

See the details behind our Plan.

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