Starbucks is dangling a new carrot in front of its baristas: up to $1,200 a year in bonuses, plus paychecks that hit every week instead of twice a month. The company said Thursday the quarterly $300 bonuses for baristas and shift supervisors will hinge on each store hitting unspecified sales and customer-service targets, with the program kicking off in July, CBS News reports.
- In a news release, the company said that "in response to partner feedback from those who do not already receive weekly pay, Starbucks will move to weekly pay for all US partners, providing faster access to earnings."
The moves are part of CEO Brian Niccol's "Back to Starbucks" effort to revive growth after sluggish results, a plan that also includes menu tweaks and a revised dress code. Same-store sales recently ticked up 4%, which analysts have linked to that strategy. Starbucks is also reworking how tipping works in its app and when customers pay by scanning it in-store, saying the changes should make it simpler to leave a tip and could lift baristas' gratuities by 5% to 8%.
- The Wall Street Journal reports that the changes are being made at a "delicate times" between Starbucks and some of its baristas. Contract negotiations between the company and the Starbucks Workers United union, which represents workers in around 600 of its 10,000 US locations, are set to resume this month. Starbucks, which hasn't held direct talks with the union for more than a year, said that at locations with a union, the new program "will be subject to collective bargaining as required by federal law."
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