Recently, Starbucks announced its largest division would focus on inclusion and diversity efforts among leadership roles in manufacturing operations. This refocusing is in line with their effort to keep up with the significant societal changes.
Starbucks has ambitious goals to increase the diversity of its workforce. The company has set a goal to have at least half its senior leadership positions filled by people of color. In addition, it plans to have 20% of its U.S. employees be black, Hispanic, or Native American. Starbucks also aims to have women make up half of all its retail workers and 40% of store managers in the U.S.
Challenges Faced by the Company
The challenge is that the company isn’t making enough headway in diversifying its workforce. The new numbers show that Starbucks is moving in the wrong direction for top corporate jobs — there are fewer non-white people in executive roles than last year. And the number of women in senior leadership positions fell from the previous year’s report[si1] .
The company has faced challenges in reaching its goals due to the U.S. government’s closure for 35 days in January and February, affecting hiring and training for retail stores.
According to NPR, Starbucks did not specify what “other people of color” are or how they defined the group when it set the goals. However, Starbucks announced that it was progressing toward its diversity and inclusion goals. For example, the company said that by October 2021, roughly a third of its corporate roles and 40% of its retail and manufacturing jobs would be held by Black, Latinx, Asian American, and Pacific Islander employees.
Goals of the Company
According to a company announcement, Starbucks has set a goal that its employees should reflect the demographics of its customer base. In addition, the Seattle-based coffee giant said it hired the former head of diversity at Apple and Google, Howard Behar, as a senior adviser on diversity and inclusion.
Behar’s job is to implement training for all employees to make the workforce more diverse. The announcement said he’ll also help Starbucks “build a pipeline” of various future leaders. The company has also created a new position: Vice President of inclusion and diversity, which another executive from IBM Watson Group is filling.
The announcement came in response to criticism that Starbucks did not adequately respond to arrests at two stores last month in Philadelphia. Two black men were arrested for trespassing after asking to use a bathroom without buying anything in one incident. The other incident involved a black man who was denied access to the toilet when he didn’t buy anything.
What’s the Action Plan?
The company said it would have to increase its current hiring rate by 25% to meet the goals. In addition, it plans to double the number of undergraduate and graduate students of color it hires through its Starbucks College Achievement Plan. The plan provides full-tuition reimbursement for juniors and seniors enrolled in an online degree program at Arizona State University and partnerships with historically black colleges and universities.
The program also offers financial support to employees who pursue an online degree or certificate to advance their work at Starbucks. Find the best internet deals here to accommodate your online certifications seamlessly.
Starbucks Corp. is refocusing on diversity in its workforce as the coffee giant tries to move beyond a crisis sparked by the arrest of two black men at one of its stores in Philadelphia and promote inclusion across the company.
As part of the changes, Starbucks said it would close all its 8,000 company-owned stores in the U.S. for an afternoon next month to train nearly 175,000 employees. The training would be on how to prevent discrimination in its stores. The training addresses implicit bias, which refers to negative stereotypes or beliefs about others based on their race, gender, age, and other characteristics.
Final Words
The company is working hard to stick to its goals, including working with suppliers from minority backgrounds. Additionally, making space for more inclusion by welcoming minorities on the ground floor of selling and supplying Starbucks. We wish Starbucks the very best and hope it can succeed in future endeavors.
[si1]Please mention sources of such information either in the article or provide QA with the sources through in-doc comments.
