Stressed-Out Starbucks Baristas Rip ‘Skeleton’ Crew Staffing As New CEO Takes Helm – CoffeeTalk

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Starbucks’ new CEO, Brian Niccol, is facing stress from stressed-out baristas who are being thrown into “skeleton” crews as they scramble to meet a barrage of coffee orders. Only about a third of Starbucks baristas said their stores are consistently staffed well, and staffing problems are the chain’s worst issue, according to an internal survey of the chain’s 10,000 US locations viewed by Bloomberg. In addition to understaffing, less than half of employees polled at the Seattle-based coffee giant said their store has reliable machines for grinding and brewing java, creating further logjams.

During Niccol’s second day on the job, employees asked him about the equipment glitches. The company has been refining the model it uses to staff locations, with Starbucks having already boosted staffing in 3,500 stores this past year. The company has upgraded appliances, created a new barista role at locations to prevent bottlenecks during busy service times, and added portable blenders to make Starbucks’ popular cold foam topping. However, store managers are frequently unable to handle administrative tasks because they have to hop on drink duty to cut down long lines.

Managers, who are salaried employees, have been making requests to the company about staffing levels since at least early 2023, according to messages posted to an internal message board. The survey viewed by Bloomberg was sent to the company’s more than 200,000 employees working at US company-operated stores. About 80% of these employees responded. Starbucks said the survey showed “consistent improvement” since the share of workers who said stores were adequately staffed rose since the last poll.

However, the share of retail staff who would recommend Starbucks as a great place to work fell 3% to 64%. Just a quarter of employees at Starbucks Reserve and Roastery locations – upscale versions of the chain located in cities with expanded dining menus and specially-made drinks – said the stores are adequately staffed. Only half of these employees said they would recommend Starbucks as a great place to work.

Read More @ NY Post

Source: Coffee Talk

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