Everyday, some million people walk into a shop named Starbucks. They can smell the roasted coffee and hear the milk steaming and grab their favourite morning drink. For most of us, they seem a happy, successful place to birth a happy, successful business. And behind the closed doors of their big corporate offices, something is going badly wrong. The biggest coffee chain in the world has a huge storm churning against it.
And it’s going to leave a lot of everyday workers in the cold.
To the chopping block
A few days ago, the top brass at Starbucks made the announcement of the century. They are cutting a huge number of jobs throughout the U.S.
We aren’t talking about the people baristas making your latte at the counter, at least not this time. No, this time the axe is falling on managers, office assistants and even big shot vice presidents.
More than 250 people working at the company’s headquarters in Seattle or working remotely were told that their jobs are dead and gone.
But if you think the bad news stops there, you’re wrong.
The ‘Back to Starbucks’ Plan
These job cuts are part of a giant plan called ‘Back to Starbucks’. The new top boss, a man named Brian Niccol, took over the company with one goal: save money. He wants to make Starbucks simple again, like it used to be. But to make things simple for the company, he is making life very complicated for hundreds of families.
So how far will this new boss go to save a dollar?
The answer is surprisingly scary. Starbucks isn’t just cutting jobs; they are locking up their regional offices. Major offices in big cities such as Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and California are coming in for the axe.
They say they want to focus on just a few places like New York and Nashville to run things more efficiently.
But here’s the twist that’s scary gaming everyone.
A Long, Long Wait
These layoffs aren’t happening all at once. They are scheduled to begin on July 17 and stretch out all the way to February next year. Imagine, every day, you go to work, look at the calendar and wonder if today is the day you get fired. No sooner do you call in for the day off, you realize you have to wait for the axe to make a sound again.
Which is ridiculous. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this.
If you look at the numbers, this is part of a much bigger, bleeding wound. In Washington state alone, Starbucks has cut more than 2,300 jobs since early last year. They’ve even closed some of their biggest, coziest coffee shops. It seems nobody is safe anymore, regardless of who they are or how big or important their job seems to be.
What’s Next?
When a giant like Starbucks starts freaking out and slashing costs, the whole world takes notes. Because it’s a reminder that even multimillion-dollar companies feel the squeeze, and they’re putting us poor, little mortals to worry about our own livelihoods.
And the new CEO calls the plan a cure-all – a return to the glory days. But as hundreds of workers pack up their desks and head home, we’re forced to ask a difficult question.
Is a corporate turnaround worth the human cost? Time will tell if this plan will save (or destroy) the soul of Starbucks.
