Message to Starbucks support partners: Returning to each other and to the office (January 2023)
stories.starbucks.com

... Partners,

Since I returned last April, I've had conversations with many of you about our principles and aspirations for our company.

Three ideas"in some form or another"come up again and again to describe Starbucks:

Connection through coffee

Nurturing belonging, joy, love

Starbucks can be a feeling, a safe haven, a true Third Place

These are powerful descriptions of why we work here. For Starbucks to be linked to any of them as an idea, as a place of work or as a community of partners is an awesome responsibility.

And all of us, no matter what your role is in the company, are stewards of these ideas.

IN SERVICE OF ONE ANOTHER AS GREEN APRON PARTNERS

I want to share a change in our policy about hybrid work consistent with our past, but boldly about our future. Before I do, let me share context.

The pandemic was a full-out attack on the ideas that make Starbucks, Starbucks. It disrupted human connection. It made the world harder for so many. And it threatened our ability to be a safe haven and a Third Place.

At the SSC and across our regional offices, we had the privilege and the ability to pivot to virtual work. Most of us stopped coming into the office"at first, because of safety, and to protect ourselves and our loved ones. As days stretched into weeks, many of us claimed new freedoms, pioneered new ways of working, achieved new productivity.

But many partners didn't have that privilege. They had to keep coming into their workplace"our stores, our plants, our distribution centers"day after day. They faced the hardship. They faced the challenges in their communities"deeply, passionately and often with great heroics.

Today, when we talk with our store partners, we hear how much they need us. As the nation comes out of the pandemic, they want to thrive, not just survive. We need to support them better. We need to simplify their jobs. We need to dive even deeper into each store and every store to support partners the way they need us to, now.

I believe they are asking support partners to be better integrated, showing up as one team, working to be not just a little better but profoundly better. They are asking us 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.

Partners, it's time for us to come back to the office"to do this Mission-critical work face-to-face, and in person. It's time we rebuild and revive the energy of the SSC and our regional offices as thriving, active hubs. ...