Message from Brian: Reestablishing an in-office culture
Starbucks chairman and chief executive officer, Brian Niccol, shared the following message with Starbucks partners (employees):
Partners,
As we continue to execute our Back to Starbucks plan and work to turn around the business, I want to share important updates on behalf of our executive leadership team – specifically regarding in-office expectations and work locations for our support partners and people managers.
Working in our offices
- We will shift from required three days in office to minimum of four days in office:
- Common days will be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; this applies to our Seattle and Toronto Support Centers as well as North America regional offices.
- To give partners time to adjust, this expectation will begin with the new fiscal year. We’ll share more details before October, including our plans to ensure everyone has an assigned dedicated desk.
Remote work
- We want leaders and people managers to be physically present with their teams. In February we asked all vp+ leaders working remotely to begin relocating to Seattle or Toronto. We are now extending this requirement to all Support Center people leaders who will be expected to be based in Seattle or Toronto within 12 months.
- We are not asking individual contributors to relocate but as we shared earlier this year, hiring for future roles and lateral moves will require partners to be Seattle or Toronto based.
- Where roles need to be in a specific geography, we will maintain “in-market roles” based on ELT approvals.
At Starbucks, coffee and human connection are at our core. We believe in the power of connection not just in our coffeehouses, but in how we work together as support partners.
We are reestablishing our in-office culture because we do our best work when we’re together. We share ideas more effectively, creatively solve hard problems, and move much faster. Being in person also helps us build and strengthen our culture. As we work to turn the business around, all these things matter more than ever.
We know your work may take you outside the office, including visiting stores, meeting suppliers, or other business travel. You should continue to go where you need to go to be successful. We also know you sometimes need to step out or leave early to attend an event at your kid’s school, see the doctor, or handle other personal matters. That’s expected and completely okay. But the default for support partners should be working in person, in a Starbucks office, alongside your team and cross-functional partners.
We understand not everyone will agree with this approach. We’ve listened and thought carefully. But as a company built on human connection, and given the scale of the turnaround ahead, we believe this is the right path for Starbucks.
We’re driving significant change across the company while staying true to our core values. We know we’re asking a lot of every partner as we work to turn the business around. And we understand that the updated in-office culture may not work for everyone.
If you decide you want to leave Starbucks for any reason, we respect that. To support those who decide to “opt out,” we’re offering a one-time voluntary exit program with a cash payment for partners who make this choice. Sara Kelly will share more details soon.
My hope is that you are feeling the progress that we are making, that you hear from our coffeehouse partners about the momentum and energy they see, and that you are excited about the future. We have much more to do, but we are making real progress thanks to your hard work.
On behalf of the executive leadership team, thank you for everything you are doing.
Brian