Message from Brian: Making Starbucks the Best Job in Retail
Partners,
Our success starts and ends with our green apron partners. That’s why making Starbucks the unrivaled best job in retail is core to our Back to Starbucks plan.
I’m excited to announce an enhanced benefit for our retail teams. Starting March 2025, we are more than doubling paid parental leave for our U.S. store partners who work an average of 20 hours a week or more. Birth parents will receive up to 18 weeks of fully paid leave, and non-birth parents will receive up to 12 weeks of leave at full pay.
No other retailer offers a better parental leave benefit for new parents. Our benefit was already the best in retail, but after hearing from some partners who shared the leave as new parents wasn’t adequate, we reviewed the program and have decided we’re making a change.
Whether it is about career, college or family, we offer competitive pay and a collection of benefits that are best in class. As a partner, you can:
- Grow your career with us. Last month, we established a goal to fill 90% of retail leadership roles internally, creating a way for our hourly partners to build a career at Starbucks.
- Get a college degree, on us. This week, our newest class of Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP) scholars will graduate from Arizona State University. Through this program, Starbucks covers 100% of tuition for an online degree — which would otherwise cost an average of $75,000. To-date, 15,000 partners have graduated from our program, and another 25,000 are on their way.
- Grow your savings. This month, more than 230,000 partners got a Bean Stock grant giving them an ownership stake in Starbucks. Since the program began, more than 1.5 million partners have received $2.4 billion in company stock.
- Get the healthcare coverage you and your family need. We offer industry-leading health and wellbeing benefits, including for part-time work.
These are just some of the benefits we offer. We want every partner to know that Starbucks is the best place to work and grow their career.
I appreciate everyone who reached out with feedback and ideas on our parental leave policy. And congratulations to everyone graduating this week from SCAP. We are incredibly proud of you and what you have accomplished.
On we go,
Brian Niccol
chairman and chief executive officer
