McDonald’s has set a objective of growing representation of women and persons of coloration in its leadership ranks over the next 4 many years.

In a company site write-up titled, “Allyship As a result of Accountability,” the restaurant chain said the mission to “increase representation of traditionally underrepresented groups in leadership roles (senior director and earlier mentioned)” to 35{312eb768b2a7ccb699e02fa64aff7eccd2b9f51f6a579147b7ed58dbcded82a2} by 2025 as of 2020, McDonald’s identified these demographics accounted for 29{312eb768b2a7ccb699e02fa64aff7eccd2b9f51f6a579147b7ed58dbcded82a2} of leadership roles.

The corporation also said it would boost the representation of women in leadership roles globally to forty five{312eb768b2a7ccb699e02fa64aff7eccd2b9f51f6a579147b7ed58dbcded82a2} in 4 many years as of 2020, women created up 37{312eb768b2a7ccb699e02fa64aff7eccd2b9f51f6a579147b7ed58dbcded82a2} of McDonald’s worldwide leadership positions.

The corporation also stated it would start using “quantitative human capital administration-connected metrics” to evaluate the yearly incentive payment for its executive vice presidents. Below these metrics, executives will be judged on “their skill to winner our main values, increase representation in leadership roles for both of those women and traditionally underrepresented groups, and create a strong society of inclusion in the corporation.”

The company’s senior leadership will also collaborate with Main Diversity, Fairness and Inclusion Officer Reggie Miller and his workplace on initiatives to further more motivate diversity in the higher ranks, such as the use of an “Inclusion Index” for making a more inclusive workforce.

The new emphasis on diversity comes as McDonald’s is going through a public relations predicament with a lawsuit by Herbert Washington, a former Oakland A’s player and McDonald’s franchisee. He alleges the corporation limited him to very low-volume places in predominantly Black neighborhoods, then forced him to downsize soon after grading his places unfairly.

McDonald’s, in change, explained to CNBC that Washington’s franchises had been disrupted by “years of mismanagement” and produced large volumes of consumer complaints.

Washington’s lawsuit is the most recent criticism of racial bias aimed at McDonald’s. Previous September, 52 Black former McDonald’s franchisees sued the corporation for racial discrimination, boasting they had been denied the similar opportunities as white operators. In January 2020, two Black former executives sued McDonald’s over alleged racial discrimination in the workplace.

McDonald’s experienced a Black president and CEO when Don Thompson ran the corporation from 2012 till 2015. Thompson stepped down and is now CEO of Cleveland Avenue, a enterprise capital company focused on the foodstuff trade.

This story originally appeared on Benzinga.

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Diversity, franchisees, inclusion, McDonalds