惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 has closed its U.S. offices through Wednesday and told its corporate staff to work remotely as it prepares to announce a round of layoffs.

In a memo to workers posted on the website TheLayoff.com, the Chicago-based burger giant said it wanted to 害羞草研究所渆nsure the comfort and confidentiality of our people during the notification period害羞草研究所� and would hold all notification meetings virtually. It told international corporate staff to follow guidance in their particular regions.

The company said in the memo that the layoffs are intended to make 惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 more efficient.

害羞草研究所淲e have a clear opportunity ahead of us to get faster and more effective at solving problems for our customers and people and to globally scale our successful market innovations at speed,害羞草研究所� the company said.

惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 declined to comment on the memo or the layoffs on Monday. The memo was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Though the U.S. labor market remains strong, layoffs have been mounting, r, where many companies over-hired after a pandemic boom. IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Facebook parent Meta, Twitter and DoorDash have all announced layoffs in recent months.

There have been cuts .

Most of those job cuts are at corporate offices. There are still shortages of workers to fill service jobs, such as those at 惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 restaurants.

Policymakers at the Federal Reserve have forecast the unemployment rate may rise to 4.6% by the end of this year, a sizable increase historically associated with recessions.

惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 has more than 150,000 employees in corporate roles and in company-owned restaurants. About 70% of those employees are based outside the United States.

惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 shares rose just under 1% Monday. The was flat at $23.2 billion for the full year in 2022, but its net income fell 18%, partly due to the sale of its business in Russia.

惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 that layoffs would be coming as it tried to get more nimble and break down walls between its global markets. In a January memo to employees, 惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company was evaluating roles and staffing levels in various parts of the company.

害羞草研究所淲e have historically been very decentralized in some areas where we reinvent the wheel way too often,害羞草研究所� Kempczinski said during a January conference call with investors. 害羞草研究所淎nd I think the other thing I害羞草研究所檝e seen is we haven害羞草研究所檛 been as sharp around our global priorities, and so there害羞草研究所檚 been proliferation of priorities.害羞草研究所�

In one market, Kempczinski said he had recently discovered a list of 300 separate priorities.

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This story corrects a previous version that said 惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲害羞草研究所檚 has 150,000 corporate employees. It has 150,000 employees in corporate roles and in company-owned restaurants.

Dee-ann Durbin, The Associated Press

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