Company Culture

Part of what made me fall in love with working at Starbucks was the “people first” mentality, but I find as time goes on, we only continue to stray further from this.

From a Partner perspective, we’re given inconsistent hours and schedules, potentially toxic work environments, and are hounded for not connecting with customers while our labour is being nickel and dimed to only increase the company’s profit margin, while passing little to none of that on to the Partners who are making it happen. It’s never a great feeling being told your Customer Experience Survey scores are low because of reasons beyond your control. If we’re being asked to continue making those connections, we should have enough Partners on the floor to support it.

As it says on my very first green apron: “We create inspired moments in each customer’s day”, I would really genuinely love to be able to say we do, but if we don’t even have the chance to take a breath, how are we supposed to be able to create that moment.

The company needs to decide what matters, the people or the profit, and stick to it. Managers of high volume stores receive bonuses for the performance of their store, something my previous manager wouldn’t stop talking about, but what about the Partners who work on the floor? Who make the moments? The ones who really know the customers? What do they receive? A below livable wage and a write-up for not connecting with customers.

If the company wants to take care of the Partners, they should begin talking to them about their problems, and I mean actually talking to them. The Partner Collaboration Sessions in 2022 were a good place to start, but they only occurred in some markets, leaving many voices unheard. I know there is no “cookie cutter” solution to the problems different partners from different places face, but there is only one place to start in order to address any problems: Listening.