My SM doesn't schedule themselves to be on the floor a lot, but as long as they're there and not in the middle of a meeting, they will always come and support us as we need. Every hour they can schedule themselves for admin instead of coverage is an hour they can schedule a barista.

Sm here. 10xxxxx for reference. I worked my way up the ranks. I've done/do the grunt work. I run trash, clean drains, clean bathrooms, clean big rollie trash cans, mop floors, etc. Working through the last decade plus, the sm role does require a lot more time off the floor, especially the last 2 years. I spend probably 28 hours on the floor as coverage and the rest doing various other admin things. I really NEED more like 28 hours admin for customer care/issues, partner connects, my own training modules, scheduling, etc. Psa, your sms are not ok. Check on them.

Honestly, (former 222) I had a SM who I would've preferred got the hell off the floor. He would start tasks that weren't necessary, mess with flow during peak etc. because he "needed to be on the floor".

My district is currently doing SMs as admin only. Sequestered from the team to prevent isolations 🙃 granted 5 stores in our district are closed til next week, so I understand bc isolation means no work. They can’t even WFH if isolated. However in my 9 years with the company I have had managers that are never on the floor and managers that will stop what they’re doing immediately and hop in the floor if a rush comes. Those latter be the 10/10 recommend

I’m currently in training to be an SM, so I can’t answer you with experience. I do know that during both of my interviews I was told that the SM position is supposed to be on the floor about 70% of the time. So that’s what’s expected from a company standpoint and I’m sure that there are some variables in there. It sounds to me like your SM doesn’t value being with the team and finding coachable moments. To me, that’s going to be one of my favorite parts of running a store.

Coming from an ASM she’s breaking the rules. They are supposed to have 20 hours on the floor a week.

Yes but I wish she wasn't. My SM does not know drink recipes, and will constantly hand out drinks made completely wrong or take half finished drinks from other baristas and try to hand them off without finishing them. It's so stressful when she randomly decides to put herself on the floor instead of admin.

My SM is on the floor every day except for Mondays when he does admin but he’s usually in the back then if we need him for something. When I was new I didn’t realize how uncommon that is and lucky I got with the SM I have.

The more successful sm for Starbucks I’ve worked under definitely had a good balance. My current sm on a normal week(when she’s not training manager after asm after manager) is typically on the floor about 15-20 hours, typically an open on Thursday Friday and Saturday. She also is very involved when she’s off the floor, making sure we’re all set. I’ve seen her do it all. There’s a reason why she’s a sm trainer.

That being said I’ve also been in the position where the manager wasn’t supportive in the slightest and never around or in the floor. Finding that balance is where it’s hard, they expect a lot out of the sms but ultimately the best ones will make you feel supported even when they can’t be on the floor

Honestly it might be a blessing in disguise, on the one hand at my first location the store manager literally was only ever on the floor for like 4 hours a week and I thought it was very strange and that they were kind of not doing their job. But then I started working at this one location and the manager always wanted to be on the floor and micromanaged the shit out of everything, but also micromanaged it so poorly that it made me want to go insane. Like this person literally would start a billion projects, walk through a million different workstations interrupting flow, having no regard for what people were working on, all while telling partners that everything they were doing was wrong even if we were doing what they had told us to do. "Why aren't you smiling? Why did that customer go more than 15 seconds without being greeted? Why are you focusing on bar and not having conversations with customers?" For example this SM was working at the cash register during a rush then like walked over to my coworker, who was following what was company policy at the time of starting an espresso drink and then walking over to star the next drink at the blender, and like lectured them about how what they were doing was wrong. This is during a time period in the morning when we were processing 90 orders per 30 mins. After working at that location I quit Starbucks, but I also had a new appreciation for managers who just don't try to involve themselves and things that they clearly don't understand anymore. Like if you're high enough up that you don't really know how the floor works, and you aren't really keeping up with company policy, then yeah please stay off the floor because you make it worse. Maybe also move up to like district manager or something? Cos another huge problem that these hands of managers have is scheduling. They will see use making 100 drinks every 30 minutes and be like "Sorry we just can't hire more people to be on the floor cos that would hurt the company's bottom line!" Anyway I'm sure there are great Starbucks managers out there but they are few and far between...

My SM is actually a Coffee Master, black apron and all. She's freaking amazing. She can bar like a mother and is phenomenal at handoff. She'll even leave a district or managerial call if the store is struggling and needs her help.

Just wanted to let y'all know that not all SMs are incompetent and horrible.

I usually see my SM on the floor maybe 2 times per week, given I work a random 4-5 days per week. Not sure if she's on more than that. I truly appreciate her help when she's on the floor, and she does an amazing job during morning peak. She can pick up any position effortlessly. She even does cleaning tasks while she's at it. I know she has a lot to do admin-wise, yet she'll still be doing her work in the cafe some days just to keep an eye on the floor and hop in if we're drowning or need help. The good SMs of Starbucks don't get the credit they deserve! Your SM on the other hand... yeah sorry bud they're not one of the good ones imo

No. She’s never on the floor. 99% of her shifts are admin. I think i’ve seen her on the floor 3 times. Not sure what she’s doing where she needs 40 hours of admin a week.

No. She’s never on the floor. 99% of her shifts are admin. I think i’ve seen her on the floor 3 times. Not sure what she’s doing where she needs 40 hours of admin a week.

No. She’s never on the floor. 99% of her shifts are admin. I think i’ve seen her on the floor 3 times. Not sure what she’s doing where she needs 40 hours of admin a week.

No. Almost all her shifts are admin. I’ve seen her on the floor like twice.

My SM often helps us cover bar and things like that but we deeply appreciate her because it’s often when another barista can’t work or we are really busy. She’s one of the best baristas I’ve ever met in addition to being a fantastic manager and I feel bad when she has to be on the floor instead of doing all the other stuff I know she has on her plate.

My sm is on the floor in the mornings she usually just runs the window but she actively is working at least until around late afternoon.

My first SM would literally sleep at the desk and it was in view of customers; I got left alone so many times when it would be just him and I in the afternoons before closers would come in (my first store was a cafe so it was manageable) my second SM was ok about being on the floor but there were def days we needed her and she just stayed back there. My current store manager is awesome tho; she’ll be on the floor even on her admin days if we need help.

I won’t say they don’t have a lot of ‘paperwork’ as SMS cause they def do but I believe it really comes down to the person who’s in charge

I love when they ask you to send people home to cut hours when you're already short staffed and then go waltzing right back to the laptop lol

Like excuse me mam please come help we have a rush and everyone is doing two roles and failing rn

My SM was never there. She would be gone inexplicably for days at a time and really only seemed to be in like once a week

my sm typically does come on the floor but recently my dm isn’t allowing her because he’s scared that she’ll get covid if she’s in close contact with us. super upsetting that they’re worried about her safety but not the partners that are actually doing all the work

i hate that they can just do whatever they want with their scheduled hours. one time we had a 3 partner play during PEAK in the busiest store in the state and they were scheduled but didn’t show up. didn’t even call or anything

SM’s usually do Admin work, have meetings and many other things they manage! I know my manger she loves to be on the floor but our DM personally asked her to do admin work 40 hours a week and then whatever time she has left she is on the floor with us! She really misses being on the floor as much, but she also still has to manage our store and also right now one of our stores in my city dosent have a SM so mine has to kinda oversee that location plus the other SM in our city so she is capped on time

Licensed SM here, so my experience may be different than a corporate SM. Mondays are my admin day (make the schedule, CDC order, change order, multiple teams meetings, paperwork, etc but I schedule an extra person to make up for me being off the floor my entire shift so my baristas aren’t struggling) unless I’m putting a truck away or doing an order, deep cleaning/organizing, filling out the daily log book, I’m shoulder to shoulder with baristas and SSVs. I think it’s important for SMs to be seen on the floor to not only support their staff, but for customers to see and get to know us as well. Now of course there are some weeks that I have more on my plate, but I always let my team be aware ahead of time that I’m gonna be off the floor but if they need help then to let me know. Reading emails and storelink updates and scheduling repairs gets boring so I don’t mind taking orders or making drinks. Many baristas that I hire with previous Sbux experience say that their SM are never on the floor, so I always assumed that the expectations of a SM are different than a licensed location.

SMs are supposed to work a minimum of 20hrs on the floor per week so they can make sure everything's running smoothly. Personally my SM works a lot more than that because we're severely understaffed, but I do know that they have a lot of admin work too. With working 30ish hours on the floor this week I believe she's at 60+ hours for the week. Some SMs are literally killing themselves to keep their teams afloat. I'm sorry yours won't at least help out.

my former sm would be on the floor with us a lot. mainly bc we were understaffed. after peak was done, she’d do her manager duties. my current sm only hops on the floor when she thinks we’re about to drown or when we are drowning. she’s managed to hire more people for it not to happen often though. both my former sm and current sm trust our ssvs enough to keep an eye on the floor, but they would occasionally check in with us just in case.

My SM has always been coverage for peak almost everyday during the week. Rarely would she not work on the floor. She’s worked when we’ve had callouts with no coverage. I’ve seen so many of y’all have crappy managers and I’m so sorry 😭😭 my manager is actually awesome

I'm a current shift (25\*\*\*\*\*) and I've had SM's that it really depended on their energy if I wanted them on the floor or not. Is it nice sometimes to have them on the floor, sure because I get to know what they want me to focus on in terms of coaching and store focus but I've had a couple where I just knew them being on the floor wouldn't help anything at all. I haven't felt at my current store that my SM's presence isn't felt in the store but I'm also a closer and usually if they spend time on the floor its during peak or if necessary. They're also a 14 year partner so.... I don't feel like they haven't earned all of the "admin" time they use.

Our SM is on bar or CS for at least 3-5 hours every day they're there. They're also happy to pick up the slack and fill in wherever if we're slammed. They started as a barista here 8+ years ago and it really show, super grateful to feel like they know the struggle from the ground up.

never seen my manager on the floor lol. in fact i’ve seen her maybe 10 times total

I worked with a lot of sms and most of them were on the floor 30+ hours a week. Now on the other hand there were other SMs I've interacted with from other stores who I have never once seen on the floor and we're all pretty sure wouldn't know how to make a basic latte at gunpoint. I honestly don't know how that works because I have done scheduling in the past and I know how little labor is actually given and how much ops time there is. At a certain volume of store, I'm sure there's enough ops that has to be done that the manager does have to be off the floor for the entirety of their working basically, but these have always been medium volume stores that I see this at.

Lol no

i’ve only worked with mine once but i’ve seen him on the floor a few times but not many