Starbucks Canada Commits to New Investments to Uplift its Partners and the Store Experience

Starbucks Canada announced today (May 3, 2022) a wave of investments for its partners (employees) and stores in prioritized areas such as increased pay and benefits, modernized training, collaboration, and a return to the celebration of coffee for Canadian retail partners at company-operated stores.

Since Howard Schultz’s return to Starbucks as ceo,  Starbucks has been engaging its partners to transform the company. In Canada, senior vice president and general manager, Lori Digulla, and local leaders, have begun hosting immersive collaboration sessions across the country with retail partners spanning all levels and tenure to provide space for dialogue to capture perspectives, solutions, and big ideas to co-create the future of Starbucks.

During these immersive collaboration sessions, many partners spoke of the challenges on and off the job, and the unprecedented operational and physical impacts from COVID on the partner and store experience. They offered suggestions for improvements and innovations based on their direct experience, gave feedback on investments under consideration, and voiced hope for what the Green Apron can stand for in the future.  

In a letter to Starbucks Canada partners today, Digulla shared the immediate investments the company is prioritizing for retail partners right away - all co-created by retail and non-retail partners working together.

• Increased pay for all retail partners in every province and every role beginning this summer. This is the third hourly pay increase for retail hourly partners in just over 12 months in Canada.

• Continuing to build and offer relevant benefits, based on partner ideas and input, including increased Sick & Family Care Time from three to five paid shifts nationally beginning in July and maintaining lowered benefits eligibility from 240 to 195 hours for the balance of the fiscal year*.

• Enhanced training for retail hourly partners, starting this June, including nearly doubling the training time for new baristas and shift supervisors. This includes a newly redesigned Barista Basics program with more practice time, coffee education and de-escalation skills.

• The return of Starbucks premiere coffee education and development program, Coffee Master, complete with its black aprons, which will be available to all stores in North America June 2022.

• More opportunities for partners to connect, be heard and have a voice, through the launch of a new partner app in Canada to create one digital community for all Canadian partners, extending collaboration sessions to more partners over the next month.

Digulla also shared that this wave of investments is just the beginning. Based on feedback, in addition to the information and ideas gathered during the collaboration sessions, the company is prioritizing additional areas of focus to inform future investments and decisions such as digital tipping, technology and equipment upgrades, improvements to long-term savings plans and recognition programs.

“Our best days are ahead of us, and we have the opportunity to reimagine the best version of Starbucks for our partners now and for the future,” Digulla shared in her letter. “We will continue to come together openly, through trust and partnership, and by empowering our teams to dream big and do their best work to co-create the most meaningful partner experience and future. This is what it means to be a partner, and I’m grateful to be here in this moment, in service of you and our Mission.”

*ends September 30, 2022