Our Partner Promise: Bridge to a better future
At our best, we are building a bridge to a better future for our partners (employees) through thoughtful and intentional investments rooted in partner feedback and experiences. We are furthering our mission, promises and values by creating an elevated partner experience around the world.
We are committed to being a leading retail employer and to uplift, inspire and engage our team members by supporting their careers and lives — from industry-leading benefits to our expansive training and development programs to our commitment to inclusion, diversity and equity. Investing in our partners is what drives our success. Creating opportunities for partners to grow is important to the foundation of the Starbucks brand and builds long-term value for all our stakeholders. And our top priority is to ensure partners feel supported and empowered through robust safety trainings, clear policies and procedures and by creating safe and welcoming stores.
In FY23, Starbucks took meaningful action to expand our partner offerings. We continued to invest in world-class benefits, programs and initiatives that reflect partner feedback and best support their individual well-being and goals. To build a more consistent and high-quality work experience, we support internal growth, ensuring our partners have flexibility and training to develop their careers, supported by their managers. We want our partners to bring their authentic selves to their work, so we strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace that fosters a strong sense of belonging.
Put simply, we help partners access quality healthcare, attend college, contribute to their communities, plan for retirement, save for emergencies, support their families and more. Our promise is to offer a bridge to a better future that supports each partner’s individual journey — at Starbucks and beyond. Together, we are creating the future of Starbucks, building on a long, rich heritage that has endured for more than 50 years.
In this section:
Benefits & Compensation
For decades, Starbucks has offered U.S. retail hourly partners the best benefits and perks in the industry. For eligible part-time and full-time partners in company-operated U.S. stores, this includes comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage for partners and their families, industry-leading gender-affirming care, Family Expansion Reimbursement Assistance, free therapy sessions through Lyra Health, 100 percent upfront tuition coverage for those seeking first-time bachelor’s degrees, equity in the company through annual Bean Stock Awards and reimbursement of the biennial fee required for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to stay in the DACA program.
The comprehensive benefits package provided by Starbucks goes well beyond the industry average* and is set apart by its accessibility to a broad subset of its retail hourly workforce — including anyone working an average of 20+ hours a week.
We have made significant ongoing investments of more than $1 billion since FY22 to uplift the overall partner and store experience.
This investment includes bringing the average hourly pay at Starbucks in FY23 to nearly $17.50/hour nationally with a range of $15-23/hour, compared to a federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour and industry average hourly wage of $13.53/hour.** Factoring in the value of Starbucks benefits, that number can rise by up to $10 for a total compensation, with benefits, of approximately $27/hour, if our partners choose to participate in all of our benefits. Higher wages, expansion of hours and increased benefits have resulted in an increased hourly total cash compensation of nearly 50 percent since FY20, and a positive shift in hourly turnover rates, which are now below pre-pandemic levels. By the end of FY25, Starbucks in the U.S. expects to double hourly income as compared to FY20 through more hours and higher wages.
We also offer global Starbucks partners locally-relevant benefits that help address unique needs in different parts of the world.
In 2017, Starbucks China introduced a first-of-its-kind program to provide critical illness insurance for parents of eligible partners. In 2022, it launched “14th Month Pay,” a pioneering initiative giving retail partners an additional month’s salary as a bonus on top of the 13th month pay they are eligible for, to be paid out at the end of every financial year. Last year, in Japan, we increased wages and continue to offer unique healthcare benefits for partners. Key initiatives in the U.K. and Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) regions include free food on shift and an extra holiday.
Across our global markets, our licensed and joint venture partners also provide locally-relevant benefits, including in India, which became the first food and beverage company to establish a company-wide, five-day work week for all partners. The company also provides meaningful opportunities and comprehensive benefits for partners including providing a graduation support program to all full-time and part-time partners. The company offers many health and wellness programs including free mental and emotional counseling to partners and their family members, and an optional company-subsidized parental insurance program. In 2021, the Two-Wheeler Mobility Support Program was inaugurated in India to help partners purchase a two-wheeler vehicle for professional or personal use, enhancing their independence and commuting experience.
We offer several signature programs that support our partners’ growth, development and long-term success.
For example, through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP), partners can earn their bachelor’s degree online from Arizona State University (ASU) — with 100 percent tuition coverage. In FY23, our largest Starbucks SCAP class graduated from ASU, and since the launch of the program, more than 10,000 partners have graduated with their bachelor’s degree through SCAP. More than 23,400 partners participated in the program during FY23.
The bridge to a better future includes our partners’ financial health.
Starbucks employees are called “partners” for a reason — we offer every eligible partner the opportunity to share in our financial success through equity stock, company match for retirement funds and access to financial wellness programs to help manage student loan debt and save for short-term needs and long-term planning. Our competitive Future Roast 401(k) retirement plan includes a generous company match, and we offer partners discounted company stock (S.I.P.) as well as participation in our equity reward program, Bean Stock. In addition, we help partners save for the unexpected with help from My Starbucks Savings, with cash incentives for eligible partners at key savings milestones.
The reason we are an industry leader in benefits and compensation is because these investments are informed by the feedback and ideas we receive from our partners.
In our constantly evolving economic and social landscape, we prioritize direct engagement with our partners and routinely create the space for open and honest two-way conversations. We have established a cross-functional Support Partner Experience team, made up of partners across business units. This team focuses on key areas of opportunity that partners have identified and deploy regular engagement surveys. The team also hosts design brainstorms on specific topics shared in collaboration and learning sessions. The partner surveys leverage a census approach, with all U.S. and Canada company- operated partners invited to participate and paid time for retail partners, including hourly partners, to complete the survey. The feedback from these surveys is used to inform the overall partner experience and create opportunities for partners to grow.
*According to the results of a recent Benefit Index analysis conducted by Aon, Starbucks continues to deliver more valuable benefits for retail hourly partners than any of the more than 50 other U.S. companies included in the study, inclusive of Fortune 200 and Fortune 500 companies.
**Fast Food and Counter Workers mean hourly wage, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2022.
Talent Attraction, Development & Training
Our training and educational resources are designed to demonstrate Starbucks as one of the very best employers in the global retail industry. We are proud to attract, hire, develop and retain partners who are passionate about furthering our mission, vision and values.
To ensure that our partners can thrive at work, we provide extensive training programs including on-the-job training hours that support partners from the moment they join our team.
For example, the Barista First 30 program is a 41.5-hour training program that partners complete in the first 30 days of employment. This training covers all the foundations of being a Starbucks partner, from mission and culture to the skills needed to serve customers in our stores. Continuous learning opportunities include 90- and 180-day check-ins that empower partners to succeed.
Another big, recent investment is the return of our Coffee Master program for retail partners in North America.
In the last year, more than 10,000 partners have earned the coveted Black Aprons, which signifies their deep passion and knowledge for coffee, and their completion of the Starbucks Coffee Academy course. Coffee Masters in North America who meet all eligibility requirements can apply for an Origin Experience trip in Costa Rica. Other Origin Experience opportunities include Rwanda and Indonesia. During these trips, partners can fully immerse in the story of coffee “at the first ten feet” on the farms.
We focus on providing our partners with the training, experiences, resources and autonomy that they need to succeed, and we are proud that in FY23, 69% of U.S. retail leadership positions were filled by partners advancing in their careers within Starbucks.
Inclusion, Diversity & Equity
We pride ourselves in living our mission and values with a clear approach: real inclusion and belonging requires intent and is not defined only by metrics.
We’re on a journey to create environments globally where everyone is welcome and feels a sense of belonging. Our culture has been built on the efforts of a long line of partners who dared to make Starbucks a different kind of company. Through their commitment to their communities and one another, partners have demonstrated anything is possible when we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection. We continue to make improvements and changes that are necessary to ensure Starbucks remains a diverse, inclusive, equitable and accessible company.
We are proud of the positive strides we’ve made but know we cannot lose momentum and must move faster to accelerate the changes necessary for Starbucks to remain a company where everyone belongs.
Editor’s Note: This is a story from our archives. With the expiration of our 2025 aspiration and as our Fiscal Year 2025 begins we’ve set a new goal. Read more here