McDonald’s US CPO Tiffanie Boyd explains why the chain ties HR goals to performance

McDonald’s has set ambitious business goals for the next three years, with plans to open almost 10,000 additional restaurants globally by 2027 and drive an additional $25 billion in sales from its loyalty program, up from around $20 billion currently.

But for the fast-food chain’s corporate leaders, HR goals are just as important as business goals, US Chief People Officer Tiffanie Boyd told a group of conference attendees on Dec. 7, the day after McDonald’s announced this expansion. Boyd was speaking on a panel at an event hosted by the Center for Purpose and Performance, a research arm of coaching platform BetterUp.

People goals 🤝business goals. Since 2022, McDonald’s has set “officer people goals” for all its corporate leaders globally, including VPs, SVPs, and managing directors. These goals include succession planning, investing in future leaders through mentoring, coaching, and development, and creating an “environment of inclusion,” Boyd said.

If corporate leaders don’t meet those goals, they won’t get the highest performance rating, which can in turn affect their compensation. “They can drive really great results, but if they don’t do those fundamentals, they’re gonna feel it,” she added.

In order to help corporate leaders pull off these goals, it’s important to have infrastructure in place, Boyd told HR Brew in a follow-up conversation. Ideally, leaders are developing a succession plan, as well as creating development plans “for their highest potential talent, and the people that we want to retain,” she said. They’re expected to attend inclusion training, where they “learn some things themselves, and then take action on creating an inclusive environment,” she added.

McDonald’s tracks progress toward these goals in a number of different ways, including looking at feedback from company-wide engagement surveys as well as individual teams. Boyd said corporate leaders lean on her team for guidance as they work to set and execute HR goals: “We’re helping them determine what’s a good goal…what’s realistic, what’s not. We help evaluate at the end of the year…to what degree that they make progress against that.”

Tying executive pay to HR. Boyd was hired by McDonald’s in November 2020, a year after former CEO Steve Easterbrook was fired following revelations he had consensual relationships with employees. McDonald’s HR chief David Fairhurst also stepped down amid Easterbrook’s ousting. Since she joined the company, McDonald’s has made efforts to diversify its ranks, and tie executive performance to these goals.

In 2021, McDonald’s set a goal to increase the share of US senior management from underrepresented groups to 35%, up from 29%, by 2025. It also aims to have women make up 50% of employees in senior roles globally by 2030, up from 37% in 2021. As of 2022 women accounted for 43% of workers in corporate roles (senior director and above) globally, according to the chain.

When McDonald’s rolled out these goals, the company also announced it would tie executive compensation—specifically that for CEOs and EVPs—to these metrics. This initiative is still in place, though separate from the “officer people goals” Boyd discussed.