Another signature NW company wants corporate workers in office, offers buyouts

Starbucks will require its corporate workforce to work in the office four days a week this fall and is offering buyouts to employees who want to leave the company.

The Seattle-based coffee giant will also force managers who work remotely to relocate to corporate offices in Seattle or Toronto. Employees who aren’t managers but have remote-work status will be allowed to keep it.

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol told employees in an internal memo made public Monday that the policy shift was intended to reestablish the company’s in-office culture.

“We understand not everyone will agree with this approach. We’ve listened and thought carefully,” he said. “But as a company built on human connection, and given the scale of the turnaround ahead, we believe this is the right path for Starbucks.”

Niccol also said that if anyone wants to leave the company, for any reason, Starbucks is “offering a one-time voluntary exit program with a cash payment for partners who make this choice.”

Starbucks instituted a three-day in-office work policy in January 2023. Employees were expected to come into the office Tuesday and Wednesday each week with teams deciding on a third day. Niccol, who isn’t based in Seattle, escalated enforcement of the policy earlier this year.

Per the terms of his offer letter last August, Niccol wasn’t forced to relocate to Seattle and would be provided with a remote office in Newport Beach, Calif. He was also given the use of a corporate jet for work travel.

Niccol does have an office and residence in Seattle that he mostly uses when he’s not visiting coffeehouses and other locations, according to Starbucks.

The move to four days a week is the latest from Niccol as he tries to turn Starbucks around from the inside out. He was hired away from Chipotle last year.

Niccol oversaw a wave of corporate layoffs earlier this year. The company let go of 1,100 corporate employees, more than 600 of whom were based at the Seattle headquarters in Sodo. About 3,000 employees are based at the Sodo office.

While announcing the layoffs, Niccol said the move was an effort to streamline the company’s corporate workforce and create “smaller, more nimble teams. Hundreds of open roles also disappeared.

Niccol is making his mark in Starbucks cafes as well. He has piloted new ordering systems to get drinks out faster, pumped money into TV and radio advertising, and brought back ceramic mugs. The company also removed the upcharge for alternative milks.

Starbucks is the latest Seattle-area employer to dial up in-office requirements. Top employers in the region like Microsoft and Zillow still have flexible approaches, but the state’s largest private employer, Amazon, ended remote work for most of its workers.

www.seattletimes.com