I Went to Starbucks, Baristas Aren’t Happy
A visit to Starbucks locations shows unhappy workers. Baristas don’t like the new policies instituted by CEO Brian Niccol.
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I’ve been going to Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX | SBUX Price Prediction) since the 1980s. I’ve been to locations in Europe, Japan, and nine states. 24/7 Wall St. used to run a column that evaluated the pace at which customers were served, how clear bathrooms were, and whether baristas were friendly.
Recently, I’ve visited several Starbucks locations in New York and Connecticut. Most baristas don’t like the new systems of serving customers and cutting menu items. Many think it is a sign that management believes they are not doing their jobs.
This Is Empowering Baristas?
The most recent decision by CEO Brian Niccol is to “upgrade” how they dress. Their green aprons are fine. Baristas think the restrictions are onerous and won’t make a difference to customers, or increase sales or efficiency. “The more defined color palette includes any solid black short and long-sleeved crewneck, collared, or button-up shirts and any shade of khaki, black, or blue denim bottoms,” the new rule says.
Baristas also don’t see the fact that Starbucks will give each of them new T-shirts as another piece of clothing they have to keep track of and wash. (Starbucks will give each barista up to two of these T-shirts at no cost.)
Not a single Starbucks barista I spoke with thinks that the decision means “we can deliver a more consistent coffeehouse experience that will also bring simpler and clearer guidance to our partners.” Or that the decision means they can spend their energy “crafting great beverages and fostering connections with customers.” The customers, they say, don’t care. What matters is that customers get what they ordered quickly.
Starbucks Workers United, representing 550 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores, objected to the plan. “The union said it opposes any changes to the dress code until bargaining concludes and a labor agreement is reached,” according to CBS. They would like to know what they will be paid more than their new dress code.
Niccol seems set on the idea that controlling baristas will improve customer relationships. In reality, all he has done is torque off some of his front-line workers.
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Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.
McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.
His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.
TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.
McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.
