Dive Brief:
- Starbucks will require corporate employees to come into the office four days a week starting in October, the beginning of the brand’s next fiscal year, the chain said in a Monday letter from CEO Brian Niccol.
- The chain extended its in-person requirement from vice presidents to now encompass all support center people leaders. They must be based in the Seattle or Toronto offices within the next 12 months.
- In March, Starbucks laid off 6.9% of its non-cafe workforce and required many leaders to return to in-person work.
Dive Insight:
This latest policy change comes more than two years after Starbucks began shifting corporate employees back to in-office roles, a decision that at the time pushed some corporate employees to petition the coffee giant to abandon RTO policies and sign an election agreement with Starbucks Workers United.
Starbucks will continue to maintain some in-market corporate roles and will not require “individual contributors to relocate,” according to the letter. However, future hiring for corporate roles — and lateral moves within the company — will require workers to be based in the Seattle or Toronto areas.
Niccol framed the latest increase in RTO requirements as a way to reestablish “our in-office culture because we do our best work when we’re together.”
However, Niccol said that employee’s “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.”
Workers can leave early or step out for pressing appointments and other personal matters, he added.
Starbucks will offer a one-time cash payment for workers who decide to leave the company rather than return to office. Niccol said the company would share more details on the voluntary departure package with employees soon.
When Niccol was hired last year, the company did not require him to move to Seattle. Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Niccol would have to relocate from Southern California as part of this latest RTO mandate.
