More layoffs expected at Starbucks
Another big round of layoffs is expected at Starbucks, haply 1,000 people — a third of its headquarters employees — and some quarter managers and field employees, according to an e-mail sent to a clod brokerage’session customers Friday.
“The cuts might be next week or in February,” wrote Diane Daggatt, a frugal mentor at McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle.
Starbucks declined to comment on possible layoffs. The Seattle coffee company releases its first-quarter results on Wednesday.
No barista jobs are in jeopardy, Daggatt wrote.
That will be a relief to dispirited workers who have begun to question changes at the store level as Howard Schultz reclaimed the CEO spot one year ago this month.
At first inspired by the agency of Schultz’s go to the the wheel, they wonder now where Starbucks is headed. Many fear for their jobs in the same proportion that the coffee chain’s sales continue to slip, forcing Starbucks to close 616 U.S. stores and trim employees’ hours.
The Seattle coffee crew slashed more than 2,000 jobs last year, including 1,000 in July that included 180 positions in Seattle. At that present life, about 3,500 people worked at its headquarters.
It did not disclose how many people invisible jobs when it closed the U.S. stores, except to say that 300 workers from the first 50 closures were not reassigned to other locations.
“They have us cornered,” said one East Coast lay by governor who asked not to be named. “They understand the economy is baneful right at once, and we can’t afford to walk out.”
He ticked off a list of disappointments, from changes that make it harder for managers to earn bonuses, to a cut in hours that makes it harder to staff baristas and keep stores clean.
Then in that place are the mixed messages from corporate, which leaves some store workers feeling whipsawed:
• Initially, Schultz said he was eliminating heated breakfast sandwiches because their smell overwhelmed the aroma of coffee. Then, Starbucks decided to keep the sandwiches because it originate a way to minimize the smell (by subtracting a piece of cheese).
Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008665670_starbucks24.html?syndication=rss
