Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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This labor thing is killing us. (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by i-Sybil
I have worked at the bux for the past 5 years, shift supervisor for 3 (237 here). Never in my five years have I seen the company cut labor as much as they’re doing currently. Partners who rely on this income are getting 15 hours, and are forced to get another job to sustain themselves. During our shift team meeting we were talking about labor and when it’s okay to add labor and let people stay late/come early, and when it’s not.
I will say we’ve been struggling, running busy times with 4 people. I had to make drinks by myself for 6 hours on Friday, and one half hour we did 38 transactions! By myself on bar!! It was absolutely draining. But I digress.
We had a shift meeting and we were told that apparently our district “overspent” on our non-coverage hours. I just cannot buy into the BS of “overspending” on non coverage hours for things we needed like meetings and clean play. Starbucks is a multibillion corporation.
During our shift meeting I pulled up an article which stated that our CEO made 40% more in 2021 than he did in 2020. And i verbally stated out loud how infuriating it is that we all have to suffer, and live paycheck to paycheck due to lack of “labor,” yet our CEO is drowning in money. My manager is anti-union, and they just sat there in silence, and didn’t know what to even say to me.
Ultimately I just came to vent and share frustration. I’d like to hear what any of your guys managers have told you about this labor crap.
I will say we’ve been struggling, running busy times with 4 people. I had to make drinks by myself for 6 hours on Friday, and one half hour we did 38 transactions! By myself on bar!! It was absolutely draining. But I digress.
We had a shift meeting and we were told that apparently our district “overspent” on our non-coverage hours. I just cannot buy into the BS of “overspending” on non coverage hours for things we needed like meetings and clean play. Starbucks is a multibillion corporation.
During our shift meeting I pulled up an article which stated that our CEO made 40% more in 2021 than he did in 2020. And i verbally stated out loud how infuriating it is that we all have to suffer, and live paycheck to paycheck due to lack of “labor,” yet our CEO is drowning in money. My manager is anti-union, and they just sat there in silence, and didn’t know what to even say to me.
Ultimately I just came to vent and share frustration. I’d like to hear what any of your guys managers have told you about this labor crap.
zedazeni 22 points 1y ago
Yeah, it’s a pain. My SM has been letting keeping me in the loop with what our DM is doing (I’m trying to be an ASM for context). The problem is that they’ve suddenly shifted from allowing SMs to schedule to “earned hours” from the previous weeks to sticking strictly to the “planned hours” which is an algorithmic number derived from a combination of total COSD, total sales, average ticket value, and channel mix (MOP, cafe, DTR, warming, HB, CB, brewed, Delivery). The busier the store with a greater channel mix will, in theory, get more labor hours than a store with the same sales/COSD but a more homogenous channel mix.
The problem is, the “planned hours” is often 20-40 LESS than what stores actually earn. Consistently. My store regularly earns 380-400 labor hours but each week the “planned hours” typically gives us around 340-360 hours. I know my store isn’t the only one as that I’ve heard other SMs during their district meetings with the DM say the exact same thing.
Seattle is doing a very bad job at attempting to make this look like anything other than a quick cash-grab by intentionally understaffing their stores.
The problem is, the “planned hours” is often 20-40 LESS than what stores actually earn. Consistently. My store regularly earns 380-400 labor hours but each week the “planned hours” typically gives us around 340-360 hours. I know my store isn’t the only one as that I’ve heard other SMs during their district meetings with the DM say the exact same thing.
Seattle is doing a very bad job at attempting to make this look like anything other than a quick cash-grab by intentionally understaffing their stores.
i-Sybil [OP] 16 points 1y ago
This shit is exhausting. I want a union 🥲
zedazeni 13 points 1y ago
I think that this is one area where a union would be especially useful for us. There’s no reason for Starbucks to so blatantly and intentionally understaff its stores like this (at least without giving us a legitimate reason).
AndrewSaidThis 13 points 1y ago
Our manager left for a couple weeks after she found out our hours were getting cut so the baristas/shifts wouldn't lose anything that we had scheduled. She's an awesome manager, but fuck corporate.
accountedthrowaway5 8 points 1y ago
i haven’t really gotten a clear idea of “labor” is by my managers, and the other partners of the store are in the same boat. people like me who would work 30+ hours a week are working 12 hours or even less. i was going to go in for a shift one day and my manager called me that same day and said that i was being taken off the schedule for that day “due to labor shortages”. we really didn’t get a clear cut response as to what that meant.
it’s absolutely frustrating and i agree 100% with you that we need a union. how can a corporation as global and successful as Starbucks rip off their employees like this? I wouldn’t be complaining as much if, say, my 30 hours a week went down to 20-25 hours, but to go from 30 to 12 hours a week????? over “labor”??? while the ceo is out here getting a 40% raise and doesn’t have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck or depending on tips?? while the baristas are the ones being yelled at by customers because of the nationwide shortages that are none of the baristas faults. partners who have been working at this company for years still don’t earn enough to live comfortably. but yeah, cut our hours due to “labor”, but keep mobiles, deliveries, cafes, and drive through opened for an understaffed store and overwhelm your SSVs and barista to the point of no return.
also sorry for venting under your post but. it’s so frustrating.
it’s absolutely frustrating and i agree 100% with you that we need a union. how can a corporation as global and successful as Starbucks rip off their employees like this? I wouldn’t be complaining as much if, say, my 30 hours a week went down to 20-25 hours, but to go from 30 to 12 hours a week????? over “labor”??? while the ceo is out here getting a 40% raise and doesn’t have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck or depending on tips?? while the baristas are the ones being yelled at by customers because of the nationwide shortages that are none of the baristas faults. partners who have been working at this company for years still don’t earn enough to live comfortably. but yeah, cut our hours due to “labor”, but keep mobiles, deliveries, cafes, and drive through opened for an understaffed store and overwhelm your SSVs and barista to the point of no return.
also sorry for venting under your post but. it’s so frustrating.
zedazeni 7 points 1y ago
Here’s how “Labor” is calculated:
SMs have a “Weekly Labor Recap” where they are told what their “planned labor” is. Planned labor is an algorithmic number derived from a combination of total COSD, total sales, average ticket value, and channel mix (MOP, cafe, DTR, warming, HB, CB, brewed, Delivery). The busier the store with a greater channel mix will, in theory, get more labor hours than a store with the same sales/COSD but a more homogenous channel mix.
They are then shown what their “scheduled labor”was (what they scheduled to), their “actual labor” (what was actually punched in by all partners), and “earned labor” (what the store actually earned based on that week’s totals from the same criteria used to make “planned labor”).
The Weekly Labor Recap comes out on Monday and is for the previous week, but SMs know what their “planned hours” are for the week that they need to schedule (that info is in their schedule-building app).
What’s going on is that Seattle told DMs that SMs need to switch from to scheduling based on their “earned hours” from the previous weeks to sticking strictly to the “planned hours.”
The problem is, the “planned hours” is often 20-40 LESS than what stores actually earn. Consistently. My store regularly earns 380-400 labor hours but each week the “planned hours” typically gives us around 340-360 hours. I know my store isn’t the only one as that I’ve heard other SMs during their district meetings with the DM say the exact same thing.
SMs have a “Weekly Labor Recap” where they are told what their “planned labor” is. Planned labor is an algorithmic number derived from a combination of total COSD, total sales, average ticket value, and channel mix (MOP, cafe, DTR, warming, HB, CB, brewed, Delivery). The busier the store with a greater channel mix will, in theory, get more labor hours than a store with the same sales/COSD but a more homogenous channel mix.
They are then shown what their “scheduled labor”was (what they scheduled to), their “actual labor” (what was actually punched in by all partners), and “earned labor” (what the store actually earned based on that week’s totals from the same criteria used to make “planned labor”).
The Weekly Labor Recap comes out on Monday and is for the previous week, but SMs know what their “planned hours” are for the week that they need to schedule (that info is in their schedule-building app).
What’s going on is that Seattle told DMs that SMs need to switch from to scheduling based on their “earned hours” from the previous weeks to sticking strictly to the “planned hours.”
The problem is, the “planned hours” is often 20-40 LESS than what stores actually earn. Consistently. My store regularly earns 380-400 labor hours but each week the “planned hours” typically gives us around 340-360 hours. I know my store isn’t the only one as that I’ve heard other SMs during their district meetings with the DM say the exact same thing.
briannuzzi 4 points 1y ago
omg I just want to say thank you so much for this because I’ve always wondered how labor is calculated, how we earn labor and lose labor, etc. and whenever someone at work would try to explain it to me my mind would blank and I’d get confused! but this was really easy to understand. not only do the labor shortages make so much more sense now, but just generally how it all works does too lol
zedazeni 1 points 1y ago
I’m happy to help!
i-Sybil [OP] 7 points 1y ago
I think the worst part is feeling so powerless over the situation.
accountedthrowaway5 5 points 1y ago
honestly, feeling powerless and just frustrated tbh
graylikesoap 7 points 1y ago
i’ve been told that we “deserve our hours cut anyway,” since we “look like we are exhausted and overworked”. i understand wanting an open nice environment to come into but you simply cannot have TWO PEOPLE working in the ENTIRE STORE and expect us to be able to maintain composure. im sorry but it’s bullshit. i can’t afford anything but my bills at this point and i need another job because i can’t afford groceries. i am aware that hours were cut for everyone, everywhere, but our SM made sure that we thought it was because our customer connection score was low. ok, with all due respect, it will stay low if:
-we have 2-4 people working on shift and cannot handle a busy lobby and drive
-we have little to nothing left (we hardly even have milk)
-and you keep cutting hours the day or two before they’re assigned
that’s that i’m glad someone else is as frustrated as me.
-we have 2-4 people working on shift and cannot handle a busy lobby and drive
-we have little to nothing left (we hardly even have milk)
-and you keep cutting hours the day or two before they’re assigned
that’s that i’m glad someone else is as frustrated as me.
Necessary_Low939 6 points 1y ago
Raise pay —> cut hrs 🙃
True I know many went to look for a second jobs. Sad. Luckily Starbucks is my second job
True I know many went to look for a second jobs. Sad. Luckily Starbucks is my second job
Affectionate_Fart 5 points 1y ago
Same. But I also use sbux for ASU.
Necessary_Low939 1 points 1y ago
Hopefully u work enough to keep being enrolled. Starbucks has been the shadiest this year. Was it because of the pandemic? Like not earning a million won’t kill u ceo, stop messing up the people that make u the money.
Affectionate_Fart 1 points 1y ago
I’m a shift, an arguably a good one. I’ve been at 25-35 since I’ve been hired. It helps to market at other stores (where I get paid for parking and tips on top.) but I was actually scheduled for 42 hours one week in March and I said “oooh hell no….someone take this shift.”
Necessary_Low939 1 points 1y ago
Damn that’s a lot of hrs. I don’t even have 5! 😂😂 I would like at least 2 days but I only work 1
champshere 4 points 1y ago
I wonder if this is a union busting strategy. Especially when my store in particular is doing over 30 percent more business (year over year) I also noticed they don’t really brag about how much business our stores are doing now. I have heard about that (earned labor) thing and it sounds really dumb.
xylophonezygote 3 points 1y ago
We were also told that we overspent.
i-Sybil [OP] 2 points 1y ago
How are all these stores just mysteriously overspending? We had absolutely no warning
Shin_mmi 3 points 1y ago
My district is doing the same thing. It's extremely draining and stores across my state (South Carolina) are feeling it.
Berrypenguin 2 points 1y ago
jesus.. being understaffed so much while as a green bean (I recently quit), just wasn't it..
the amount of people that had their hours cut in my store and then it was just a ssv and I working multiple shifts and the amount of times I was yelled at for messing up by them, even though I was still new.. just is not it. I hope people can unionize even more
the amount of people that had their hours cut in my store and then it was just a ssv and I working multiple shifts and the amount of times I was yelled at for messing up by them, even though I was still new.. just is not it. I hope people can unionize even more
[deleted] 2 points 1y ago
[deleted]
Unicorn_Warrior1248 2 points 1y ago
I was talking to my ASM the other day about all this. First it’s crazy to me that eve y district over spent labor hours? Okay Starbucks? But also, my ASM and I sat down and I helped her with scheduling and it was good! Then she got a call saying it wasn’t going to work because….too much non-converage which was literally used for CP and tips. Last week she show me some emails and our DM told her that because other stores in our district spent waaaaaaaaaay over their hours, my store is going to feel like we’re under staffed because our labor is going towards other stores..?
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[removed]
West_Ad8523 1 points 1y ago
Unless you’re in Oregon this is a company wide thing. I’m in my last week, and most of my hours got cut. Not because I’m leaving, but because our labor got cut too, and our manager knew others needed to keep all their hours or they were going to have to find other jobs… it’s awful right now and I’m glad I’m getting out.
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[removed]
SBWorkersUnited 1 points 1y ago
Going to link this thread for partners to help us keep track of this across the country.
https://www.reddit.com/r/starbucksbaristas/comments/t8te87/calling\_all\_partners/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
https://www.reddit.com/r/starbucksbaristas/comments/t8te87/calling\_all\_partners/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
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