A Starbucks barista fills orders at a South Philadelphia store.
Mark Makera | Reuters
starbucks To support the coffee chain’s turnaround efforts, the company announced Thursday that it will give baristas and shift supervisors quarterly bonuses of $300 if their stores meet certain goals.
The program will begin in July, and the first payments will be made in the fall to store employees who meet or exceed certain sales, operational and customer service metrics, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams and Chief Partner Officer Sarah Kelly wrote in a memo to employees Thursday.
But baristas at stores represented by Starbucks Workers United won’t receive quarterly bonuses until Starbucks and the union reach a collective bargaining agreement.
“This new program will subject the approximately 5% of our U.S. locations where our partners are unionized to collective bargaining as required by federal law,” Grams and Kelly said in the letter.
Negotiations between Starbucks and the union have been stalled for more than a year. In March, the company announced that it had proposed resuming face-to-face negotiations with Workers United. Talks between the two parties are expected to resume this month.
Under CEO Brian Nicol, Starbucks has been undergoing a restructuring focused on “returning to Starbucks.” Many of the strategies focus on improving the customer experience, from making cafes more welcoming to requiring baristas to write messages on cups.
But the turnaround plan also depends on the baristas and their willingness to execute Nicole’s vision. Starbucks is improving its staffing, adding assistant managers to most North American stores this year and working to improve the barista experience.
More changes are in store for baristas. The company announced Thursday that it is adding more ways for customers to tip baristas. Anyone who orders and pays through the mobile app can tip, as can customers who pay by scanning the app at the register.
Combined with the new bonuses, barista salaries could end up increasing by up to 8%, the company said.
Additionally, all Starbucks employees in the U.S. will be paid a weekly wage starting in August. Currently, most baristas are paid biweekly, depending on local labor laws.
So far, the “back to Starbucks” strategy is starting to pay off for the company. Last quarter, the chain reported its first increase in traffic in two years.
