It is no secret that working in a customer-facing job can be stressful, especially when the hours can become ridiculous. It's not that different with Starbucks employees.
Employees are often miserable when their work schedule doesn't really fit well. Which is why Starbucks has improved its scheduling practices. Starbucks, now, has a team that deals with scheduling issues.
One employee tells her experience. Ilana Greenberg, a barista at the Starbucks drive-through on Elliott Avenue West in Seattle, says that at her store the manager is good about getting schedules out to employees two weeks in advance. But sometimes, she says, "The manager will come up to a partner [employee] and say, 'Can you work this shift?' and it's clear from phrasing and tone of voice that you don't really have the option of saying no." Starbucks acknowledges that sometimes, practice doesn't always meet company policy. "We're not perfect," said spokeswoman Riley. "We know there's still work to be done."
Back in 2014, the company had to take a lot of heat after a New York Times article revealed that Starbucks employees were miserable. However, Seattle Times reports that the coffee company has already changed its ways with new policies and software integration.
To ensure that the company and the employees are both at an advantage, Starbucks says it gives employees advance notices when it comes to their work schedules and makes sure they have ample rest between shifts. The company also requires their store managers in the United States to notify employees of their schedules two weeks before the actual date. The new software they have in place does not enable managers to schedule employees on shifts with less than eight hours of rest in between.
In addition, the company says it has always utilized part-time employees to fill on-call schedules. The company hopes to fix all the scheduling buzz. Spokeswoman Jaime Riley says that less than 3% of employees concerns from Starbucks' contact center are mostly about scheduling.
