Starbucks Corporate Employees To Return To Office At Least 3 Days A Week

Starbucks corporate employees are asked to return to the office a minimum of three days a week by the end of January to rebuild and revive the energy of its headquarters and regional offices, CEO Howard Schultz said.

In a memo to employees, Schultz wrote that starting January 30, employees within commuting distance need to report to the Seattle headquarters on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and a third day decided on by their leaders and teams.

According to him, the coffee giant’s badging data showed employees were not meeting their minimum promise of one day a week, though the current requirement is to work from the office between one to two days a week.

In regional offices also, workers staying in travel distance will be required to reach their respective office a minimum of three days a week, though the dates are not specified. He insisted that one of those days should be a common day identified by local leadership.

As per the memo, the new policy is meant to rebuild the connection to each other and synchronize teams and efforts.

He said the store partners are asking the support partners “to do the transformative work that I believe can only be done effectively when we are physically together—the kind of thinking, daring collaboration, courageous conversations that cannot be done on Teams calls, or in just pre-scheduled meetings, or just as transactions.”

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the company’s corporate workforce has been working remotely.

Schultz, who returned as interim chief executive of the company in April, has announced a $450 million plan to reinvent Starbucks and fix its self-induced mistakes.

Among other corporates, Disney CEO Bob Iger, who also returned as the media and entertainment giant’s head recently, urged hybrid employees that they must return to corporate offices four days a week starting March 1.

Elon Musk, who heads Twitter following his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform, in November ended remote work, telling employees that those not physically present at the office 40 hours a week might as well file their resignation letters. Twitter previously had allowed employees to work from anywhere, but Musk has been strict about workers returning to the office.

Apple, in September, had mandated employees to return to work three days a week.

Meanwhile, General Motors Co. in last September delayed its plan to require employees to return to office many days a week until this year due to employee backlash.

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