Layoffs may be trendy right now, but not all businesses are cutting down on their operations. McDonald’s is planning on hiring 375,000 workers across the US in 2025. This marks the company’s largest hiring initiative in years and is also one of the biggest hiring drives we’ve seen in the industry overall recently. Summer seasonal demands provide a great incentive for some businesses to hire, similar to how Amazon hires big during the holiday season, but McDonald’s employment drive goes beyond just a temporary hiring spree.
The massive fast food hiring campaign will fill up the businesses’ 13,000 US restaurants and further staff the other 900 locations it plans to open up in the next two years. McDonald’s workforce expansion plans are impressive but unsurprising as the company is one of the largest employers in the country. America’s love for fast food is well-known, but McDonald’s popularity in the region is of particular note. Let’s understand McDonald’s job growth in 2025 from the perspective of HR.
McDonald’s to Hire 375,000 Workers in 2025—Largest Hiring Spree in Five Years
McDonald’s workforce expansion plans involve the hiring of 375,000 workers for its company-owned and franchise locations and is the largest push since at least 2020. The hiring spree will involve a range of in-store roles like shift managers, crew members, and other restaurant staffers.
It is well-known that a majority of McDonald’s US restaurants are franchised—approximately 95% according to online reports—so the franchisees will hire most of the workers in accordance with the company’s corporate guidelines. The company reported a disappointing first-quarter performance this year, and this hiring drive is likely a way to boost the company’s operational capacity.
McDonald’s hiring blitz may not create 375,000 new jobs but will instead fill up the restaurants to operate at full capacity, as the company is known for providing pit-stop jobs which are filled by workers who quickly move on to other roles. Still, McDonald’s job growth in 2025 will create sufficient new roles for workers who want to make the most of the benefits at the company.
Why is McDonald’s Hiring at Such a High Capacity?
The fast food job surge is unsurprising as there is a persistent shortage of labor in the food service and hospitality industry. Businesses that operate in this segment struggle with labor retention as workers either work part-time as they pursue other ambitions or work full-time but with their eyes set on other, better-paid opportunities. For the most part, hiring rates outpace quit rates, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, but this requires employers to keep hiring constantly.
The recent immigration policies have also been linked to a shortage of workers willing to work for less, which ties into the active hiring drive to fill open roles. It’s uncertain if manufacturing jobs are truly coming back to the US, but the fast-food sector is most certainly hiring.
The HR Perspective on McDonald’s Workforce Expansion
McDonald’s goal of hiring 375,000 workers is ambitious considering the slow pace and smaller scale of jobs being added to the US economy, however, it’s not an impossible target. The massive fast-food hiring campaign will open up opportunities for a slew of workers who are losing their jobs due to the many layoffs occurring in their respective industries, but hiring from this crowd could mean more temporary workers.
Retention has often seemed to be a low-priority goal for fast food chains but this isn’t a sustainable exclusion long term. McDonald’s careers website emphasizes full- and part-time opportunities across experience levels, which can appeal to students, retirees, or those seeking flexible work, but the company could use this opportunity to create the right environment to retain these workers for longer periods of time.
Competitive wages are a great place to start, but McDonald’s must differentiate itself from other fast-food chains and industries vying for similar talent. Fast food businesses often have one key advantage over others in guaranteeing flexibility in work, which is something more organizations need to double down on. Understanding the needs of domestic workers is very important for businesses in 2025.
If Retention is A Goal, Training Should Be Prioritized
A large influx of new hires provides an opportunity to standardize training programs across company-owned and franchised locations, ensuring consistent customer service and operational efficiency. McDonald’s has a history of robust training systems, which can be scaled to accommodate the 375,000 hires. Rapid onboarding does come with the risk of untrained workers, which makes it more important to standardize the training.
Most fast food chains have become comfortable with the hiring and replacing strategy as employees cycle through and out of the organization, but it’s ultimately a practice that incurs great costs and is hard to maintain long term. Businesses that aim to follow McDonald’s playbook, albeit on a smaller scale, will need to explore their own strategies for worker retention in 2025.
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