When I left my previous employer for an opportunity with Starbucks I was SO EXCITED! I thought I had finally found a company that cared about their partners as much as I cared about the companies I'd worked for in the past. It was supposed to be an opportunity to finally grow within my position and career with an employer as loyal to me as I was to them (I'm a very, very loyal employee). When I first started having trouble I was surprised and spent every minute of everyday trying to figure out what it was that I was doing wrong. I attempted reaching out to my training manager as well as my district manager for help/guidance and every attempt was met with hostility and questions as to why I wasn't "getting it".
I live in Wisconsin, in the city. The location I worked at may have only had sidewalks to shovel but this particular location had a very large amount of sidewalk they were responsible for taking care of. Considering how Starbucks Corporation handled every maintenance issue within the store (up to and including burnt out lightbulbs and changing air filters, which I (the store manager) had been responsible for at most previous employers) I assumed they had someone coming to take care of the sidewalks during/after snow storms. Upon arriving to work at 5a the day after a significant snow storm (probably the largest of that season) I saw the sidewalks had not been cleared at all. I was surprised by this, called around to other stores as well as calling facilities to figure
ProsFull Benefits, competitive pay, free coffee
Constoxic work environment, managers/district managers who do not reflect companies ideas on employee relations
I loved working with coffee, making drinks, even doing the basic store cleaning and stocking. The company itself has a way of making you feel included- like in a family. You get the chance to transfer after a few months, making it great for job security, yet when I tried to transfer when I moved, I was told I had to wait 6 months plus as a shift. Later, when I tried to quit, I was told that I could step down and transfer immediately. I felt bullied into staying at that particular store, and I will explain why.
I WILL STRESS, this is a single store issue that was in the hands of a poor store manager. The manual labor, when scheduled correctly, is a cinch and you really come to LOVE to make drinks, and you will ADORE your regulars. I had regulars bring us food often, and I even had a couple who went to Peru and brought me earrings. You do have the ability, on the small day-to-day interactive level, to make a difference in someones life. You can cheer up most customers, develop lasting friendships, have great in-store bonds with coworkers and you may live for the new drinks in all of their deliciousness.
Now, this is nothing on the company's administrative end, which is great, but our DM's were really tough on our store and my manager (one of our DMs in training actually refused to shake my hand when I met her, just as a clue as to the type of personality this is). My manager felt pressured into coming in on her days off for almost 12 hours to do extra work off the clock a
ProsCoffee, teas and juices are delicious, the free single lunch had some great options, ways to move up
ConsChances at bad management, stressful, fast-paced
When I was pregnant, I had a high-risk pregnancy. My manager and fellow partners were extremely supportive. I don't have a very close relationship with my family and was not planning on having a baby shower. One night after close, as we were about to leave, all of the store partners including our manager showed up with pizza, cake, balloons & presents to throw me a surprise baby shower. One of them even made a baby bib out of a green apron for my son. This is what the partner experience should be.
In the years since I returned to work for the company in 2005 I have witnessed managers who treat partners with disrespect and disdain and are not held accountable in any meaningful way. The partner experience can be greatly improved by holding managers accountable to more than the bottom line and corporate metrics. Currently, managers are not held accountable for the way they treat partners. I have heard managers refer to us as the fast food of coffee, I have heard managers tell partners that they are all expendable, I have worked with managers who could not schedule competently, who did not know beverage recipes, and I have been told by a manager that he didn't work closing shifts because he had too much work to do, as if closing wasn't hard work. More recently I have witnessed managers nit-pick partners to the edge of harassment and write up partners for infractions, completely disregarding any more constructive means of correcting behavior such as a written partner p
A fun entry-level job with plenty opportunity to grow and learn; does require some hard work
I would like to start by saying this is my first actual paying job. I went into this not knowing what to expect but came out with high standards for what I want my next job to be.
The training period is technically only 3 weeks, but it really is an ongoing process. You start off with a crash course in barista basics, which teaches you the baseline level of what you need to know before you're set loose in the store. Once you've learned the basics, you know the patterns for all the drinks and the systems established to make operations efficient and just need polishing. That varies with how quickly you are able to learn. I would say it would take anywhere from 1 to 7 months to become a decent barista here. That being said, there are always new drinks being introduced and policies updated, so there are trainings and supplemental materials to fill you in on this information every few months. HOWEVER, although everything you need to know is outlined in these trainings and supplemental materials, there can be frequent miscommunications regarding standards set within the store. Some of them are set at the store level while others are set at corporate and are required at all stores. There is sometimes confusion and a bit of inconsistency over how these tasks are executed.
I think it's also important to mention you will not just be making drinks and food. You will be cleaning the store (restrooms included), taking out trash, and preparing setup for the next day, among other tasks. Th
ProsDecent benefits, free food and drinks, free coffee, caring coworkers, room for innovation, room for growth
This job was nonstop stress. From the moment I arrived at work, often past the time I was supposed to clock out, my coworkers and supervisors would yell and berate me, often for things out of my control. I was not allowed to stand still for a single moment before a supervisor yelled at me to do something, and occasionally there was nothing to be done. I'm not a slacker, at every other job I've been praised for my work ethic. But here I was expected to constantly perform as if corporate was watching me and hoping to see that I'm a perfect, maximum efficient robot.
We were not allowed to ever take a second to breathe on the floor, no matter what happened. I mean every second of every minute you are supposed to be doing something For The Siren. Most of the rare moments I stood still, I was trying to figure out what to do in a minute of downtime with no customers, what I could restock or straighten up. But that was not good enough, I was yelled at for not instantly knowing and jumping into action. I wish I was exaggerating.
I took sociology 101 in my first year of college and remember learning the term "overspecialization" in regards to factory jobs in the industrial revolution. It resonates all too well with the positions at Starbucks. You will be placed in one role for several hours and aren't allowed to deviate for anything no matter what. For example, you are making drinks on bar and need more of something, but see it near the warming station. You can't grab it yourself
ProsFree drinks, one free food item
ConsLow pay, bad morale, abusive authoritative mentality, psychologically damaging work roles, high stress environment
Hands down the worst career experience I’ve ever had.
Starbucks on its surface should be a very good company to work for. They have a great benefits package, tuition reimbursement for school up to a four year degree, and preach about how they treat partners (employees) as their soul of the company. They offer cool financial incentives. Their corporate culture talks about an efficient and technologically advanced company who is committed to zero negative impact on the environment, amazing work/life balance for their people, and an exceptional customer experience. It should be a great company to work for. However the truth is quite literally the opposite, and no where does this hold true than their store managers. I applied to work for Starbucks in the Store Manager role to expand my leadership capabilities, and while I was successful in doing so, it was only in the face of extreme adversity, borderline harassment and neglect, and with a high degree of mental and physical stress that ultimately led to a disappointing departure from Starbucks. I cannot speak for every market, but the Greater Houston Region suffered from an extreme lack of leadership capability at the district, and regional level. The region was led by an individual who was hired without coming up through Starbucks management, and therefore was out of touch with his direct reports and his store locations. His failure at effective leadership showed in every meeting that I and my fellow peers had with him every time consistently. He didn’t understand our metrics for s
ProsGood benefits, tuition reimbursement, financial assistance and PTO
ConsEverything else. Horrible wages, hours, work/life balance, and the worst part? Leadership.
I worked at the same Starbucks for a little over two years. It was fairly busy café store. Something about this store deemed it unable to have a good store manager. The manager that was there when I started was ok at first, but it went down hill after we had a remodel of the entire store. She was under a lot of pressure by her higher-ups and I understand that but she just started to not care. She was never on time, never worked until her scheduled time, didn't care about the partners personal needs no matter the reason. Long story short, all of her employees, including myself, got fed up and reached out to corporate. They began an investigation on the subject and the DM personally interviewed almost every partner and after all of the partners had the same complaints, she was given an ultimatum, and decided to resign. So we ran the store on our own for a few months while they looked for a new manager for the store.
They hired someone that had NEVER worked at Starbucks before but had managing experience. This was a disaster. They sent her to another store for about a month (a drive-thru, which is irrelevant training since she was going to a café store), and she was supposed to receive all of the training necessary in that amount of time. To this day, this manager is not a barista and only runs around doing "manager" things and micro-managing everyone. She won't take any direction, no matter from who or the approach they take. I had tried to approach her about a couple conc
ProsFree coffee, good benefits.
ConsLow pay for the amount of work that is expected.
Not the fun and flexible work environment it appears to be
If you enjoy working in a chaotic stressful disorganized environment for very little pay and having everything you do timed down to the seconds, then this is the job for you. As a customer for decades, I always believed working at Starbucks would be fun, because the Baristas are always cheerful, smiling and friendly. In reality, you are instructed to "connect" with the customers, making eye contact and small talk that includes open ended questions to make them feel acknowledged and welcome. There is no time or place for genuine interaction. Every activity you do is timed, and there are timers with constant bells and beeps going off at all times, keeping you in a state of hypervigilance with excessive amounts of cortisol and adrenaline flowing through your body which can lead to developing adrenal fatigue and even depression. The additional constant noise of the coffee grinders, espresso machines, loud Spotify music in the cafe and customer chatter, combined with wearing (dirty) headsets, causes tinnitus and cumulative hearing loss over time. Positions are supposed to be rotated so no Barista is at any one station for more than 30 minutes at a time, yet in reality, you will likely be standing in one spot or doing one role with repetitive tasks throughout your entire shift, which is injurious to the body over time, and offers no job satisfaction whatsoever. Schedules are supposed to be posted 3 weeks in advance to allow for planning your life outside of work, yet the manager of
Interesting, fast-paced environment with occasionally stressful situations
A typical day at my work place involved a number of different tasks being performed depending on what my shift manager decided to have me do for my shift. Sometimes, I would be stationed in one place, other times, I would perform multiple roles and not be stuck in one position for an extended period of time. The tasks I would most commonly perform would be cleaning, coffee cadence/store support, register work, or bar work. Each one came with a different set of standards and required tasks, some more than others. For example, cleaning would require that I follow not just the local laws and health code regulations, but also those set forth by our company's own health auditing company. Coffee cadence/store support, on the other hand, would require that I follow a strict list of tasks to keep my store supplied and our lobby area looking welcoming and clean. Each role kept me occupied and I was never left wandering around with no idea as of what to do.
I learned a lot during my time at the company. I learned how to up-sell to customers, how to be engaging without being overbearing, and how to multitask better and be more intuitive as to a customer's overall wants and needs. I also learned about basic health and safety policies and how to interpret information given to us directly from the company regarding advisories or changes to the rewards program or promotions. I honestly feel that I still learn something new everyday, despite being with the company for 5 years straight.
Man
ProsPartner discounts, great work crew, fantastic regulars, free food/drinks on shift, free take-home coffee every week, decent food
Little chance to promote to management, bad managers aren't rooted out, but there are silver linings
Starbucks is a fantastic company in many regards, but with a few drawbacks. The most obvious problem is pay, but Starbucks business model coupled with societal norms are to blame. Starbucks retail stores only make a one or two percent profit margin. Unless you're management, or your store is understaffed it is very rare to have a full time position. It is highly difficult to support oneself in an area with a high cost of living on nothing more than a barista's wages.
Another drawback is opportunity for advancement. It's fairly easy to promote to a shift supervisor position if you're competent at what you do & are efficient. At this point you reach a bottleneck for promotion to Assistant Store Manager or Store Manager positions. Generally a district consists of a dozen stores give or take a few, each store will have about four or five supervisors on average, and ASMs will only be present in some of the stores that are high volume. So with forty to sixty supervisors in a district, there may only be two or three ASM positions. Most of the time these positions when vacant, are given out for political reasons, or given to outside hires. You have to be the best of the best, and also in the right place at the right time to promote at that level if you aren't game for backstabbing or political plays.
The biggest drawback can be said of most any business, but is disappointing considering Starbucks' culture, size, and infrastructure. The quality of your work environment at a reta
ProsOkay benefits, discounts, free beverages while working, flexible hours
ConsFast pace, little room for promotion to management, problems with human resources
Bueno, pues mi experiencia en Starbucks no fue muy buena. Primero les cuento lo que tenias que hacer todos los días; llegabas, te ponías tu mandil, checabas entrada en el sistema (si se te olvidaba checar te descontaban ese día, aunque hubieras trabajado), de ahí te podían asignar caja o bebidas, si estas dos labores ya las estaba realizando alguien te ponían a hacer limpieza de la tienda o a apoyar a tus compañeros en la barra.
Y bueno en lo personal no me gusto el ambiente laboral (esto depende mucho en que tienda trabajes), para empezar la gerente de tienda no era accesible y no llevaba acabo sus responsabilidades, por ejemplo no supervisaba bien como trabajaban mis compañeras (eramos puras mujeres) y ellas eran las que me capacitaban. Como muestra, en bebidas, aunque tu fueras principiante, si no tenían a alguien mas te ponían a prepararlas sola, o sea luego se te juntaban hasta 15 bebidas y tu sola las tenias que sacar super rápido sin saberte bien las recetas. A mi mis compañeras me llegaban a decir que era lenta, siendo que ponía todo mi esmero en prepararlas lo mas rápido posible, no se me hacia justo.
Con respecto a la caja, no tuve para nada una buena capacitación. Llegue a pagar como $500 y eso tuve suerte. La caja de Starbucks es muy compleja, tienes que marcar ingrediente por ingrediente ya que las ches bebidas son personalizadas y cada gordo que la pide con quien sabe cuantas cosas. Bueno pues si te falta marcar algún ingrediente o alimento o te equivoca
ProsPrestaciones, horarios
ConsAmbiente laboral, falta de liderazgo de la gerente, abuso de autoridad
Friendly, warm and welcoming place to work with great opportunities
Working hours are as follows during the week: Monday-Wednesday 6am-8pm, Thursday 6am-10pm, Saturday 7am-8pm, Sunday 8:30am-7pm.
Depending on your shift within the working day, mine usually being on average around 6 hours each shift, I would work closely and professionally with my co-workers, maintaining a high level of communication, understanding and trust to create a positive team atmosphere and a suitable and effective working environment for everyone to be a part of. The quality of service and customer focus is always high on the priorities; making sure each customer is acknowledged, valued and given a personalised service to which they feel welcomed and given the best possible customer experience. We also work together as a team, with respect and in acknowledgement of one another and our professional titles, which allows us to obtain and group together the best of our qualities and skills in order to organise and deliver the highest form of performance and service that our job and role requires.
During a typical day at work, my role compiles itself of a variety of duties that i would use throughout my shift depending where i was placed by my store supervisor. These duties and skills include: working on till, delivering the best possible customer service, making beverages on the bar (with latte art), cleaning tables and "bussing", opening and closing up shop, handling and prepairing food items, selling merchandise and general health and safety protocols in accordance t
ProsGreat team atmosphere, Great customer base and communication, Can personalise service and be creative, Opportunity to progress in your job/role.
ConsThe hours can be long (6am starts-10pm finish), Things can get hectic during busy times.
Questions And Answers about Starbucks
What is the interview process like at Starbucks?
Asked Jul 11, 2016
Super casual process, took about 25 minutes. asked me to describe a time where i worked with a team to meet a goal, how i would handle an unsatisfied and angry customer, examples of how i’ve connected with customers before, and if i’m good with multi-tasking in fast-paced environments. make sure to mention connecting with customers, that’s a huge thing with starbucks. told me i was hired then offered me a free drink.
Answered Nov 15, 2021
It is a good process
Answered Oct 1, 2021
What is the best part of working at Starbucks?
Asked Dec 3, 2019
For me, the best part is the staff, I've been a partner for almost two years, and I can say that I've meet amazing people working there. We truly support each other. Partners also get lots of free beverages, weekly markouts (coffee or tea), as well as a discount.
Answered Jun 24, 2021
The best part of Starbucks in the incredible tasting beautiful aroma of medium roared Veranda to start a UPSers day
TOPNOTCH morning awake
CEO doing and incredible job in bravery honor loyalty and sacrifice as a leader distributing award winning coffee and infrastructural line of safety to establishments throughout NYS
Doing a great job
Answered Mar 1, 2021
What is a typical day like for you at Starbucks?
Asked Mar 22, 2020
A shift in the morning looks and feels very different than a shift in the afternoon or at night. First of all, the morning shift is responsible for getting food and coffee ready, everything should already be stocked up from closers the night before. The morning has a lot of customers on their way to work, black coffees, lattes, breakfast sandwiches. Not especially looking for much conversation. Overall somewhat busy but not stressful. In my opinion. late afternoon is the most stressful, often, this is when being understaffed hits. you start ton run out of things you need to make the drinks and you have to start running around a lot. Depending on staff and supervisor, it can get overwhelming, especially since people are craving sugar at this point. Orders tend to be bigger, Frappuccino's, refreshers, beverages that take more time to prepare. I like to avoid being on the bar position alone at that time of day. To finish, the closing shift, or anything after 5 is way more relaxed, the main focus is to clean everything, stock up, and get ready for the next day. At our location, we mostly just see students studying inside. The vibe is more chill.
Answered Jun 24, 2021
Rough. They want you to arrive at the store 30 minutes before your shift and you just sit around. You get ready, clock in (not a minute before your shift starts!) and you immediately go to your assigned space (there is a lot of pressure, not a single second can be wasted!). Then you do as many tasks as you possibly can as quickly as possible. If a mistake is made, you are the worst in their minds. You are yelled at by your coworkers and the customers if not everything is picture perfect in the very little time you have. It is not a good job if you are sensitive to pressure.
Answered Dec 6, 2020
How flexible are your working hours at Starbucks?
Asked Mar 15, 2020
They scheduled me whenever they wanted. I didn’t have any set days off. Some weeks, I had 9 hours, other weeks, I had 24. I was hired with the expectation of 30-40 hours a week. I never got that in all the time I worked there. They expect you to come in on your days off and are angry when you call out sick.
Answered Dec 6, 2020
My working hours were very flexible
Answered Nov 28, 2020
How would you describe the pace of work at Starbucks?
Asked Feb 11, 2017
Very fast pace you need a lot of urgency to work here
Answered Dec 19, 2021
Either very frantic, or incredibly slow. Usually the former. Some days the rush starts at 7am and doesn't stop until much later in the day.
