ive never heard of a rule saying no groupchats. what you do off the clock is ur time. i think your SM is full of it personally. my SM actually set up a group message for us shifts to keep in contact and pass news along to eachother, we even have sub groups of partners we're in charge of passing along info too. remember outside of work is your time and your business work cant control what u do especially if your hourly

A business might be able to fire you for posts in social media that reflect negatively on them.
However, talking shit about your coworkers and boss in a private format, like a discord server or invite-only group chat should be none of her fucking business.
I would suggest that she's a crappy manager and setting herself up for failure.

That said, I'll also tell you that talking shit, gossiping or otherwise going behind anyone's back in a work setting will always and forever end badly for you. It's a wise rule of thumb to never engage in or even allow yourself to be present for gossip. Additionally, if you really want to come out not smelling like shit, never acknowledge you posess any information about anyone unless it was disclosed directly to you.

I can’t say for sure but I worked at Starbucks for years and this was never something I was told was a policy. It doesn’t sound accurate at all. I wouldn’t allow my boss to control what I do with my personal device that I pay for, when I’m off of the clock.

Starbucks policy actually prohibits relationships, not just romantic, between partners that work at the same store when there is a conflict of interest, either real or perceived. So while you’re right, your manager can’t tell you what to do outside of work, your manager **is** allowed to say that you can’t work at their store if you continue to pursue these relationships with your coworkers.

This seems like it might not be true... you can find orb for sure though by emailing Ethics & Compliance: EthicsAndCompliance@starbucks.com

Whenever I have an issue with something my SM tells us to do, I find out what the ACTUAL Starbucks policy/standard is, and I let him know.

My store has a couple group chats. We have a store one with everyone and another one with a few of us

my manager has a group chat with us and he mostly sends us memes and stuff lol but no there's no such policy

The NLRA gives you the right to discuss working conditions with your coworkers. It doesn’t matter if you are unionized or not. You have the right.

She can’t legally tell you what you can do on your free time. And If she gives any hint that it’s because she doesn’t want you “shit talking” she’s chilling your rights under the NLRA.

Just make the groupchat and make everyone aware that it is to stay private.

SM can't stop you, and as far as I can tell there's no policy against it, but starbucks jobs are "at will" so they could fire you for violating it (though you'd still be eligible for unemployment if that was the reason).

Hi!

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So you are definitely allowed to have a group chat, my store did for finding coverage, etc.

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However, we used to have 3-4 employees who would send not-so-appropriate comments (particularly about SBUX as a whole or the SM), so I see why your SM wouldn't want a group chat, since that is definitely something that can happen, and, quite honestly, is really disrespectful.

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In other words, you definitely can, but it needs to be strictly professional. Also, if your SM isn't too keen on it, understand it is just from a professional standpoint, and that they probably are just thinking that you shouldn't be worrying about work if you're not at work, plus a group chat, especially without the SM involved in it, could cause to a bunch of schedule problems, and if the SM isn't made aware, further problems could arise. There were a few partners at my store too who would cover shifts through a group chat, never notify my SM, and then it would be chaos because an experienced bar partner would have a green bean cover for them, no one knew, and we were short a bar person.