Howard Schultz
David Ryder Reuters
Starbucks Company employees will return to the office at least three days a week at the end of the month.
Starting January 30, employees on the commuting distance will be required to report to the coffee giant’s headquarters in Seattle on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and third days decided by the team. The memo does not define what qualifies as travel distance.
Workers near the regional office must also come three days a week, even if certain days are not assigned.
The coffee giant’s workforce has been working remotely since the start of the pandemic. In September, Starbucks asked the workers to work from the office one to two days a week. But CEO Howard Schultz wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday that badging data showed employees were not following the directive.
The new policy is intended to “rebuild our connections and synchronize our teams and efforts,” said a memo from Schultz, who left the company this spring. He also compared the constant remote work of corporate workers to baristas, who have never had that option.
Schultz stepped in as interim chief executive in April after former CEO Kevin Johnson retired. In his third stint at the company, he announced a $450 million plan to reinvent Starbucks and fix what he called “self-inflicted mistakes.”
Starbucks isn’t the only company that recently introduced a stricter return-to-office policy. CEO Bob Iger, who has returned for his second leadership Disneytell the employees that they have to go back to the office.
Elon Musk set higher expectations for office attendance at Twitter after he acquired the social media company. and Apple employees ordered to return to work three days a week back in September.