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Starbucks to Provide Free College Education to Thousands of Workers

489 points by e15ctr0n 12y ago

danso 12y ago
>Starbucks is, in effect, inviting its workers, from the day they join the company, to study whatever they like, and then leave whenever they like — knowing that many of them, degrees in hand, will leave for better-paying jobs. > Even if they did, their experience “would be accreted to our brand, our reputation and our business,” Howard D. Schultz, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in an interview. “I believe it will lower attrition, it’ll increase performance, it’ll attract and retain better people.” This is pretty good long-term thinking on Starbucks' part...On one-hand, there's the obvious cost...on the other, I imagine that a significant number of the best, too-qualified-to-be-just-a-barista baristas leave after two or so years, anyway. Now that there's an extra benefit to joining Starbucks, SB could conceivably attract a higher number of higher-quality non-careerists without a substantially greater attrition in workforce loss. Besides the cost, another downside for Starbucks is that, OK, maybe your part-time studying baristas won't be so on-task...Maybe, but I doubt it. High-achievers stuck in mundane jobs may not perform to their potential...but these aren't people "stuck" as being bariatas. They purportedly agreed to become baristas with the expectation of getting a degree and then a "real" job...when you have that kind of open path in front of you, you're not as susceptible to low morale on the job. At least that's been in my experience, where I loved doing labor jobs in the summer between school years.
- gedrap 12y ago
  People are a big asset for Starbucks. They are trying to make a visit to SB a personal, warm experience. And the staff is key to that, they don't want grumpy and hate-this-job-a-lot people. Once when I was in SB, the doors to the personnel room were open and I saw bunch of hand drawn things, hand written colourful weekly goals (rather than just printed), etc. That shows their, management people, approach and goals. So I think this decision fits in pretty well in their long term mission.
  - l33tbro 12y ago
    Nothing fuzzy here. It is an extremely well-calculated ROI move from corporate. Win hearts and minds of the bean-proles on the front lines, and you get increasesed productivity via an enhanced sense of belongining.
    - logn 12y ago
      That's true. Public companies have an obligation to not waste money. But it's still admirable because they've attempted to find ways that altruism and respect can further their profits, when they didn't need to. It's kind of like saying there's nothing warm and fuzzy about people doing volunteer work because they ultimately derive self-satisfaction from it.
    - qq66 12y ago
      Culture isn't that easy to fabricate without some level of sincerity throughout the organization. And even if it was, who loses if everyone is happier to belong in the organization?
      - l33tbro 12y ago
        Starbucks didn't crawl to the cushier half of the Fortune 500 on a corporate mission statement of "chill vibes". Would of made them has-beans (had-beans?) long ago. You're right in that all parties win. But we would be all joshing ourselves if we didn't acknowledge that the muse beckoning to the boardroom here was the profit-motive. I'm not doubting their were some well-intentioned individuals involved in this initiative - hats off to them. Just saying let's be realistic about why this is happening.
        mseebach 12y ago
        You seem to suggest that "all parties winning" is a random, unintended by-product of the process being ultimately profit-driven (which apparently is nefarious). This is false. While there may well exist exploitation, the vast majority of successful businesses, especially those that are successful on the longer term, were and are successful because their profit/employee/customer value proposition is one of win/win/win.
- tootie 12y ago
  I'm sure turnover is already fairly high, so this is just inviting motiviated, intelligent kids to come compete for jobs with them. I'm going to buy a pound of coffee now.
- the_watcher 12y ago
  In N Out famously pays its employees far above minimum wage, even at entry level and offers fantastic benefits. All managers make >$100K annually. They have one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the food services industry, despite paying their employees more than enough to pay for an education and transition to a white collar career. I know friends from high school who started working there at 16, continued through college (and paid their way), then chose to continue on as managers at In N Out, as it was far and away a better immediate career option (with the potential to move to corporate after a few years as managers) than their others. Schultz's comments lead me to believe that he's well aware of In N Out's model.
001sky 12y ago
free <online> college...
- ekar45 12y ago
  they should just learn to code! In fact, let them check out http://coderin90.com http://coderin90.com
- mcphilip 12y ago
  free* <online> college... Still, it sounds like a noble effort. >The program is open to any of the company’s 135,000 United States employees, provided they work at least 20 hours a week and have the grades and test scores to gain admission to Arizona State. For a barista with at least two years of college credit, the company will pay full tuition; for those with fewer credits it will pay part of the cost, but even for many of them, courses will be free, with government and university aid.
- Zigurd 12y ago
  Then it's a noble experiment on two different planes: Offering education to their workforce and testing whether online education can scale up to serve an SBUX-sized workforce. Good on 'em.
- ASneakyFox 12y ago
  Its not real education unless you sit through 45 minutes of an instrctor reading you powerpoint slides from the book in person.
  - josefresco 12y ago
    Just like it's not real "startup school" unless you spend 3 months in Silicon Valley?
joshferg 12y ago
its a good start. good to see companies helping out their common man employees.
ninguem2 12y ago
I thought they all had degrees in English already.
- falsestprophet 12y ago
  Seventy percent of Starbucks employees don't have degrees, but want them. You are not correct.
  - honksillet 12y ago
    The fact 1/3 of Starbucks employees have university degrees is amazing.
    - pyre 12y ago
      Not entirely accurate. Some of those 30% could have no degree, and no desire to get one.
    - szatkus 12y ago
      In my country McDonald's employees with degree aren't uncommon.
      - VLM 12y ago
        Its highly location based. On the coasts in SV and Manhattan Island, I'm sure McDonalds only hires high school dropouts and illegals, while anyone with a college degree has a real job. Elsewhere, it varies, and plenty of McJobs are staffed by people with degrees. If the pie is continuously shrinking, and the supply of people with credentials (and related massive debt) is continuously expanding, this outcome seems fairly inevitable. Most of the bartenders / waitresses I know have a degree in something. Maybe not a STEM field, but a degree of some sort. It is uncontroversial that there are unemployed people with degrees, so it should be no surprise there are massively underemployed degree holders.
  - gedrap 12y ago
    That wasn't his point, his point was employment of people with English, Philosophy, Business Management and similar degrees.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
wallflower 12y ago
Michael Gill wrote a personal memoir about going from Corporate America to Coffee America. A quick, good read that may show you how deep valuing the individual in Starbucks goes. http://www.amazon.com/How-Starbucks-Saved-Life-Privilege/dp/1592404049 http://www.amazon.com/How-Starbucks-Saved-Life-Privilege/dp/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Starbucks_Saved_My_Life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Starbucks_Saved_My_Life
drpgq 12y ago
Is the answer really everyone having a degree? People think more people going to college is the answer to the current economic malaise, but I think it just leads to more and more people fighting over the same sized piece of pie.
- nightski 12y ago
  Isn't that pretty much what an economy is? Everyone fighting over the same sized piece of the pie? Free access to education is never a bad thing. They aren't forcing the employees to take it.
  - lukasm 12y ago
    It is not. If there is a growth the pie is bigger. The problem is the correlation between better income and degree is weak.
    - judk 12y ago
      Which is why free education is better than taking out loans, a point in favor of this program.
    - enjo 12y ago
      The problem is the correlation between better income and degree is weak Oh is it?
    - shrikant 12y ago
      This is just ill-informed. Just one among a multitude of links showing a strong correlation between formal educational credentials and income: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/ http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of...
- hindsightbias 12y ago
  One could say the answer is to grow the pie. Not sure how you do that with less education.
- 12y ago
conectorx 12y ago
what's it good for? they will end up in the same job. college is already overrated
kimonos 12y ago
Kudos to Starbucks! Two thumbs up!
seancoleman 12y ago
Here is the email I received from ASU President Michael Crow today making the announcement: I write to share an update on our evolution as a 21st century public research university. As you know, ASU is a New American University uniquely committed to the simultaneous achievement of excellence, access and impact. As we move forward, we will continue to balance scholarship, discovery and the development of real world solutions on a grand scale, while remaining true to our vision of inclusion and student success. Institutions of higher learning have a responsibility to go beyond imagining change and instead bring workable answers to fruition. ASU has demonstrated its ability to do so successfully and we will maintain that trajectory. On Monday, June 16, we introduce the world to the Starbucks College Achievement Plan. The Starbucks College Achievement Plan is the combined vision of Arizona State University and one of the world’s most trusted, innovative and socially conscious companies. Together, we will offer leading education delivered online with world class faculty and personalized instruction to students who would like to continue their journey in higher education. This model is a unique partnership designed to increase access for more students to earn and finish a college degree, and is based on Starbucks’ and ASU’s shared values. On June 16, we will join Starbucks as they host their first ever Partner Family Forum in the U.S. to announce the Starbucks College Achievement Plan with hundreds of their partners and family members in New York at the Times Center. Watch the webcast on June 16 beginning at 7:45 a.m. PT, 10:45 a.m. ET by visiting starbucks.com/collegeplan. I also encourage you to watch the video of what this means to Starbucks partners by visiting starbucks.asu.edu. The Starbucks College Achievement Plan is supportive of our vision to be measured not by who we exclude, but rather by who we include and how they succeed and moves toward our goal of enrolling 100,000 online and distance education degree seeking students. This is a program we can all be proud of, and I look forward to your support as together we continue to increase access to world class higher education. Michael M. Crow President Arizona State University http://president.asu.edu http://president.asu.edu
- judk 12y ago
  Wow that's a quintessential college essay, padded to 3x size to reach a target word count.
  - 12y ago
karmicthreat 12y ago
So at what point are we going to just going to accept that people need the equivalent of an associates coming out of high school. I don't think less education is the answer but as a bachelors equivalent becomes necessary for even a modest living, it might be worth looking at expanding what secondary education covers.
- FLUX-YOU 12y ago
  You can pretty much accept that now. That's how almost all public-facing job postings look for modest-living jobs (believe me, I've been scanning them). I'm assuming modest-living covers all standard bills allows for some amount of disposable income/savings per month in the low hundreds. The two 'overrides' are choosing a field that allows demonstration of competency (programming, art, writing, etc.), and a network of referrals. Even with demonstrations, you may get passed up for someone with a degree.
- blahedo 12y ago
  The idea has come up: https://chronicle.com/article/Free-Community-College-/144553/ https://chronicle.com/article/Free-Community-College-/144553...
  - karmicthreat 12y ago
    That is the thing, a free community college associates just means two more years of school. I think we need to make some progress on getting some of this compressed into the 4 years of high school as well. Plenty of people don't have the option of two additional years of school because they have no family. Or the just have to work full time or numerous part time jobs. Its a hard problem.
vonsydov 12y ago
Ok, Starbucks is in. Hipster coffee shops, out.
nwenzel 12y ago
While many universities strive for exclusivity, ASU is finding ways to be more inclusive. It probably hurts us in the rankings, but it's the right thing to do. Proud to be a Sun Devil. From the AZ Constitution: Article 11, Section 6 http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/const/11/6.htm# http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/const/11/6.ht... Section 6. The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible. The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be established and maintained in every school district for at least six months in each year, which school shall be open to all pupils between the ages of six and twenty-one years.
- Chronic28 12y ago
  And yet I don't see Arizona contributing much to the US economy, social welfare, and/or higher education. They are contributing some, but below your average state. Edit: Made the point more clear.
  - zghst 12y ago
    ASU is the largest university in the US, that must make some type of impact in the US economy. Also ASU has a lot of cool research
    - xcrunner529 12y ago
      Based on what? It has been a few years since I've followed the rankings, but Ohio State and Texas were always battling for first in enrollment numbers.
      - imgabe 12y ago
        So only the university that's #1 in enrollment contributes anything?
        xcrunner529 12y ago
e12e 12y ago
By the way, if anyone else wondered about that parenthesis on union busting, here's the union's home page: http://starbucksunion.org/ http://starbucksunion.org/
- justizin 12y ago
  "Right now, Starbucks baristas are on strike in Chile, where they make less per hour than the price of a cup of coffee."
richcsmith 12y ago
One of the longer term benefits for Starbucks that stands out to me the most is the long-term brand loyalty these folks will have. They'll be walking, talking advertisements for the greatness that is Starbucks for all the good they've done for them. I wish more companies understood that treating your people well is one of the best marketing tactics you can employ. By and large, companies are only going to make decisions that positively impact their bottom line, and sometimes it just so happens that those decisions align with the best interest of their employees. This is definitely one of those moments. Not to say that Starbucks' intentions aren't genuine, but it's hard to ignore the obvious positive impact this is going to have for them. I always wonder about what matters more to these companies (employee welfare or their bottom line), but I guess it doesn't much matter if the employees are happier and better off for it in the end.
Goopplesoft 12y ago
Interesting if this becomes widespread to other companies as well. Free enterprise/big-corp solving the cost of education/college issue when our government couldn't will be a big win for the laissez-faire folks. Are there any existing tax benefits for educating your workers? That might be the next govt involved step here.
- ksrm 12y ago
  I think Starbacks have enough tax benefits don't they? For example, "not having to pay tax".
  - ctdonath 12y ago
    Why the obsession with "they don't pay enough taxes" without any consideration of the socioeconomic good they provide? Starbucks employs about 150,000 people (that's some $2.25B the gov't doesn't have to spend on welfare etc), contributes 0.1% to the GDP (for one company, that's impressive), and (a seriously under-discussed point) contributes increased velocity of money (people being willing to spend cumulatively lots of money frequently on a whim). Starbucks also is noted for pushing a lot of other society-benefiting factors, which now includes free education to their employees. That all of this is flat-out ignored by so many with "but they don't pay [enough] taxes" belies an intent of greed over altruism.
    - justizin 12y ago
      tax law does not say that you only have to pay taxes if you don't contribute to the GDP or employee people, which zero businesses qualify for. contributing to the GDP is synonymous with the basic function of any business. employing people is synonymous with the basic function of any business. large corporations shouldn't be allowed to flaut their tax bill, while paying people minimum-wage-or-close-to-it, simply because they are a large part of the economy. starbucks is not a non-profit. all of those activities are great, but this is kind of like saying that your heart does so much work in moving blood around that it does not need to oxygenate your blood.
michaelq 12y ago
Starbucks is using ASU's famously developed online course infrastructure and its own massive headcount to educate all of its employees in a way that will add little marginal cost for either entity. Thought the normal ASU cost per credit is ~$500, I would be amazed if Starbucks ended up spending even a third of that. ASU president Michael Crow is profiled positively as one of the more progressive thinkers in higher ed the 2013 book College Unbound: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544027078/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8=1789=9325=0544027078 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544027078/ref=as_li_tf_tl?... I wouldn't be surprised if ASU went on to work out a deal with other big retailers that employ a lot of people who haven't finished college yet. ASU's marginal costs will continue to fall as they get more students into the pipes. Walmart, McDonalds and other large employers could be next to partner with them.
- avz 12y ago
  > ...to educate all of its employees in a way that will add little marginal cost for either entity. Is it somehow evil to boost education cost-effectively?
  - dkokelley 12y ago
    I don't think that's the connotation of the OP's sentence.
  - the_watcher 12y ago
    >> Is it somehow evil to boost education cost-effectively? Pretty sure the OP feels that education at a low marginal cost is a fantastically positive thing.
  - naturalethic 12y ago
    He forgot to think about how it might reduce marginal cost for both.
dan_bk 12y ago
So Starbucks is basically doing the government's job.
- lotu 12y ago
  If Starbucks can do a better job educating students I'm not going to complain.
  - grecy 12y ago
    Don't complain about starbucks, but you should absolutely be complaining about the government.
    - arturh 12y ago
      Governments don't seem to be able to make Starbucks pay tax.
      - _pmf_ 12y ago
        Merely paying taxes is obviously less publishable than holding back taxes and then sprinkling trace amounts on some good cause.
      - ctdonath 12y ago
        Completely ignoring everything else Starbucks does to the benefit of the country (employment, raised standards, contribution to GDP, etc), now including free education to some 150,000 employees.
- zghst 12y ago
  I've calculated free education, it would basically collapse our government's finances. A College education is nice, but is not the sole step to ending to our economic and societal problems.
  - claudius 12y ago
    If I understood the article correctly, a BSc costs $60k in tuition for an online course. I believe this to not cover required textbooks etc., which are likely more difficult to find in a library if you’re on the other side of the country. In comparison, my BSc at TU Berlin cost me 6 * 240 €, which includes free access to Berlin’s public transport system. And while the financial state of Berlin is certainly far from perfect, I wouldn’t call it ‘collapsed’ (oh, and I get the impression that a college education in the US is more like a high school degree in Germany and not directly comparable to a proper university degree…any comments/similar observations?)
grifpete 12y ago
Terrific.
phazmatis 12y ago
Great. Now recruiters will be calling me offering ping-pong, beer fridays, and college tuition.
- aestra 12y ago
  >Now recruiters will be calling me offering ping-pong, beer fridays, and college tuition. College tuition is a very common perk in the cooperate world as long as you maintain your grades and study something related to your work.
quadrangle 12y ago
Good for them! Most folks today still think Capitalism has merit, so if a corporation is working out ways to do things like this, way to go. Sure, it will help Starbucks recruit college-oriented more ambitious employees, and that's what they want. Fine. This is no solution for society overall, but it's a good thing for what it is.
- pizza234 12y ago
  Considering that Starbucks practices massive tax avoidance, the company is essentially using taxpayers' money for a very clever PR stunt.
  - xerophtye 12y ago
    >using taxpayers' money for a very clever PR stunt. Firstly i don't think "taxpayer's money" is an accurate description as they aren't exactly using the money we pay as tax. Instead they are deciding how their tax money is used. Not that i support tax avoidance or anything, but if a certain sum of money is being used to provide a large number of people with free college education, I don't really see how the govt can make better use of it. ok i guess there are better uses but this isn't exactly a bad spend is it?
  - mseebach 12y ago
    Starbucks' tax arrangements are specifically legal. It's not in any meaningful sense taxpayers' money, no matter how strongly you feel it should be.
dsplatonov 12y ago
Nice thing. Now people will have less motivation to fire from Starbucks - i believe in this case the employee will need to pay by himself. Additionally, managers will be able to push employees to work harder and therefore the amount workers, required to work in one place might be reduced. Genius!
jayantsethi 12y ago
See, this is what I love about some nice corporations. Get big, then return back to the society by giving them the most valuable gift : Education. A very good initiative.
- pizza234 12y ago
  Large business corporations today have a huge amount of power in their hands; in the context of greedy shareholders and governments which are getting proportionally weaker, there can certainly be "nice" corporation in the traditional sense, but most of the times, their niceness is synonym of good PR. In this specific case, it's important not to forget the massive amount of taxes that Starbucks avoids.
VeejayRampay 12y ago
This is going to be a conundrum for ultra-liberal coffee hipsters... On the one hand, Starbucks is "The Man" and killing their precious neighbourhood artisan roasters one after another, on the other hand they're offering a chance to a good education to their workers and setting a new example for other companies to follow. Hard choices.
- lugg 12y ago
  Doubt it. Armed forces world wide have been touting the free education policy for decades. The man is still the man, man. ;) Hipster discussion aside, mad props to Starbucks - even if I'll still never drink that flavorless milky crap again. (I think Starbucks might be different here?)
- Malarkey73 12y ago
  Theres no conundrum for me. I won't go there. 1. They make rubbish coffee. 2. They pay no tax in my country. When they pay no tax, they have an unfair anticompetitive advantage against businesses that do. Other taxpayers have to make up the balance. The fact they are now gifting a fraction back and looking of kudos just vexes me more.
  - VeejayRampay 12y ago
    That is actually a good point you're raising. Starbucks is known for some dodgy tax-evasion schemes, which really makes that whole education thing kind of hypocritical.
    - cududa 12y ago
      I don't think hypocritical is the right word. If they paid in taxes an equal amount that this program costs, would that still equal free education for their employees?
vparikh 12y ago
The more I read and hear about Howard Schultz the more of a hero is becoming of mine. Pure genius. I will be drinking a lot more Starbucks coffee to support this company.
dclowd9901 12y ago
One thing that infuriates me whenever a company decides to do this is that we'll see politicians from both sides of the aisle laud this as an important and meaningful step, all the while oblivious to the irony that at one point, it was the federal government's mandate and responsibility to provide exactly this for its citizenship. So now we're supposed to just rely on the random benevolence of companies to provide investment into social infrastructure? Let's hope that never stands in the way of their profits -_-
- gmu3 12y ago
  It's not the government's mandate nor responsibility to provide higher education in the United States. It infuriates me when citizens are so conceited they think the government should provide everything for them as if they have no agency themselves.
  - hughw 12y ago
    People have agency. They just don't have money.
  - sjg007 12y ago
    If we vote to provide higher education, then it is.
  - efuquen 12y ago
    It infuriates me when citizens are so conceited that having the money to afford a higher education is equivalent to the merit of pursuing one. A government footing the bill for higher education isn't and wouldn't be the same as simply giving it to someone on a silver platter. You still have to earn that degree based on work and merit and it certainly isn't the same thing as a handout. The idea that money is always related to agency is idiotic. There are plenty of people who have the agency to obtain a college degree but don't have the resources, monetary or societal support, to do so.
    - zaroth 12y ago
      I think gmu3 is referring specifically to the 10th amendment; "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Pretty straight forward and to the point, right? So simply point to the article in the Constitution where the Fed is supposed to fund education, and we'll be on the same page. Otherwise, it's completely up to each state to tax and spend how they see fit. Any state that wants can make the choice, and I think it's a great system where we can freely move to any state which taxes and spends to our individual liking. If only the Fed could ease up a little bit, rather than still running a deficit while collecting more money than they ever have before even in inflation adjusted dollars [1]... Aside from the technical considerations of the Constitution, if you take a quick look at the New York Fed published slide deck [2] on trends in college loans, you can learn a lot about how much the Fed is already subsidizing the college industry and "footing the bill" indeed since a large percentage of these loans will never be repaid. They can't ever be repaid, because too many recipients of these loans don't actually gain anywhere near the marketable skills necessary to cover the cost of tuition. [1] - http://www.cnsnews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/lightbox/images/RECORD%20TAX%20REVENUES%20THROUGH%20MAY-CHART-PHOTO-1.jpg http://www.cnsnews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/lightb... [2] - http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/mediaadvisory/2013/Lee022813.pdf http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/mediaadvisory/2013/Lee0...
differentView 12y ago
I'll have one of those vanilla bullshit degrees.
rXoX 12y ago
Just another corporation stepping in to do the work an ignorant, ineffective populace is too stupid to demand from their political representatives.

489 points by e15ctr0n 12y ago

danso 12y ago

>Starbucks is, in effect, inviting its workers, from the day they join the company, to study whatever they like, and then leave whenever they like — knowing that many of them, degrees in hand, will leave for better-paying jobs. > Even if they did, their experience “would be accreted to our brand, our reputation and our business,” Howard D. Schultz, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in an interview. “I believe it will lower attrition, it’ll increase performance, it’ll attract and retain better people.” This is pretty good long-term thinking on Starbucks' part...On one-hand, there's the obvious cost...on the other, I imagine that a significant number of the best, too-qualified-to-be-just-a-barista baristas leave after two or so years, anyway. Now that there's an extra benefit to joining Starbucks, SB could conceivably attract a higher number of higher-quality non-careerists without a substantially greater attrition in workforce loss. Besides the cost, another downside for Starbucks is that, OK, maybe your part-time studying baristas won't be so on-task...Maybe, but I doubt it. High-achievers stuck in mundane jobs may not perform to their potential...but these aren't people "stuck" as being bariatas. They purportedly agreed to become baristas with the expectation of getting a degree and then a "real" job...when you have that kind of open path in front of you, you're not as susceptible to low morale on the job. At least that's been in my experience, where I loved doing labor jobs in the summer between school years.

gedrap 12y ago
People are a big asset for Starbucks. They are trying to make a visit to SB a personal, warm experience. And the staff is key to that, they don't want grumpy and hate-this-job-a-lot people. Once when I was in SB, the doors to the personnel room were open and I saw bunch of hand drawn things, hand written colourful weekly goals (rather than just printed), etc. That shows their, management people, approach and goals. So I think this decision fits in pretty well in their long term mission.
- l33tbro 12y ago
  Nothing fuzzy here. It is an extremely well-calculated ROI move from corporate. Win hearts and minds of the bean-proles on the front lines, and you get increasesed productivity via an enhanced sense of belongining.
  - logn 12y ago
    That's true. Public companies have an obligation to not waste money. But it's still admirable because they've attempted to find ways that altruism and respect can further their profits, when they didn't need to. It's kind of like saying there's nothing warm and fuzzy about people doing volunteer work because they ultimately derive self-satisfaction from it.
  - qq66 12y ago
    Culture isn't that easy to fabricate without some level of sincerity throughout the organization. And even if it was, who loses if everyone is happier to belong in the organization?
    - l33tbro 12y ago
      Starbucks didn't crawl to the cushier half of the Fortune 500 on a corporate mission statement of "chill vibes". Would of made them has-beans (had-beans?) long ago. You're right in that all parties win. But we would be all joshing ourselves if we didn't acknowledge that the muse beckoning to the boardroom here was the profit-motive. I'm not doubting their were some well-intentioned individuals involved in this initiative - hats off to them. Just saying let's be realistic about why this is happening.
      - mseebach 12y ago
        You seem to suggest that "all parties winning" is a random, unintended by-product of the process being ultimately profit-driven (which apparently is nefarious). This is false. While there may well exist exploitation, the vast majority of successful businesses, especially those that are successful on the longer term, were and are successful because their profit/employee/customer value proposition is one of win/win/win.
tootie 12y ago
I'm sure turnover is already fairly high, so this is just inviting motiviated, intelligent kids to come compete for jobs with them. I'm going to buy a pound of coffee now.
the_watcher 12y ago
In N Out famously pays its employees far above minimum wage, even at entry level and offers fantastic benefits. All managers make >$100K annually. They have one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the food services industry, despite paying their employees more than enough to pay for an education and transition to a white collar career. I know friends from high school who started working there at 16, continued through college (and paid their way), then chose to continue on as managers at In N Out, as it was far and away a better immediate career option (with the potential to move to corporate after a few years as managers) than their others. Schultz's comments lead me to believe that he's well aware of In N Out's model.

001sky 12y ago

free <online> college...

ekar45 12y ago
they should just learn to code! In fact, let them check out http://coderin90.com http://coderin90.com
mcphilip 12y ago
free* <online> college... Still, it sounds like a noble effort. >The program is open to any of the company’s 135,000 United States employees, provided they work at least 20 hours a week and have the grades and test scores to gain admission to Arizona State. For a barista with at least two years of college credit, the company will pay full tuition; for those with fewer credits it will pay part of the cost, but even for many of them, courses will be free, with government and university aid.
Zigurd 12y ago
Then it's a noble experiment on two different planes: Offering education to their workforce and testing whether online education can scale up to serve an SBUX-sized workforce. Good on 'em.
ASneakyFox 12y ago
Its not real education unless you sit through 45 minutes of an instrctor reading you powerpoint slides from the book in person.
- josefresco 12y ago
  Just like it's not real "startup school" unless you spend 3 months in Silicon Valley?

joshferg 12y ago

its a good start. good to see companies helping out their common man employees.

ninguem2 12y ago

I thought they all had degrees in English already.

falsestprophet 12y ago
Seventy percent of Starbucks employees don't have degrees, but want them. You are not correct.
- honksillet 12y ago
  The fact 1/3 of Starbucks employees have university degrees is amazing.
  - pyre 12y ago
    Not entirely accurate. Some of those 30% could have no degree, and no desire to get one.
  - szatkus 12y ago
    In my country McDonald's employees with degree aren't uncommon.
    - VLM 12y ago
      Its highly location based. On the coasts in SV and Manhattan Island, I'm sure McDonalds only hires high school dropouts and illegals, while anyone with a college degree has a real job. Elsewhere, it varies, and plenty of McJobs are staffed by people with degrees. If the pie is continuously shrinking, and the supply of people with credentials (and related massive debt) is continuously expanding, this outcome seems fairly inevitable. Most of the bartenders / waitresses I know have a degree in something. Maybe not a STEM field, but a degree of some sort. It is uncontroversial that there are unemployed people with degrees, so it should be no surprise there are massively underemployed degree holders.
- gedrap 12y ago
  That wasn't his point, his point was employment of people with English, Philosophy, Business Management and similar degrees.

deleted 12y ago

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wallflower 12y ago

Michael Gill wrote a personal memoir about going from Corporate America to Coffee America. A quick, good read that may show you how deep valuing the individual in Starbucks goes. http://www.amazon.com/How-Starbucks-Saved-Life-Privilege/dp/1592404049 http://www.amazon.com/How-Starbucks-Saved-Life-Privilege/dp/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Starbucks_Saved_My_Life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Starbucks_Saved_My_Life

drpgq 12y ago

Is the answer really everyone having a degree? People think more people going to college is the answer to the current economic malaise, but I think it just leads to more and more people fighting over the same sized piece of pie.

nightski 12y ago
Isn't that pretty much what an economy is? Everyone fighting over the same sized piece of the pie? Free access to education is never a bad thing. They aren't forcing the employees to take it.
- lukasm 12y ago
  It is not. If there is a growth the pie is bigger. The problem is the correlation between better income and degree is weak.
  - judk 12y ago
    Which is why free education is better than taking out loans, a point in favor of this program.
  - enjo 12y ago
    The problem is the correlation between better income and degree is weak Oh is it?
  - shrikant 12y ago
    This is just ill-informed. Just one among a multitude of links showing a strong correlation between formal educational credentials and income: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/ http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of...
hindsightbias 12y ago
One could say the answer is to grow the pie. Not sure how you do that with less education.
12y ago

conectorx 12y ago

what's it good for? they will end up in the same job. college is already overrated

kimonos 12y ago

Kudos to Starbucks! Two thumbs up!

seancoleman 12y ago

Here is the email I received from ASU President Michael Crow today making the announcement: I write to share an update on our evolution as a 21st century public research university. As you know, ASU is a New American University uniquely committed to the simultaneous achievement of excellence, access and impact. As we move forward, we will continue to balance scholarship, discovery and the development of real world solutions on a grand scale, while remaining true to our vision of inclusion and student success. Institutions of higher learning have a responsibility to go beyond imagining change and instead bring workable answers to fruition. ASU has demonstrated its ability to do so successfully and we will maintain that trajectory. On Monday, June 16, we introduce the world to the Starbucks College Achievement Plan. The Starbucks College Achievement Plan is the combined vision of Arizona State University and one of the world’s most trusted, innovative and socially conscious companies. Together, we will offer leading education delivered online with world class faculty and personalized instruction to students who would like to continue their journey in higher education. This model is a unique partnership designed to increase access for more students to earn and finish a college degree, and is based on Starbucks’ and ASU’s shared values. On June 16, we will join Starbucks as they host their first ever Partner Family Forum in the U.S. to announce the Starbucks College Achievement Plan with hundreds of their partners and family members in New York at the Times Center. Watch the webcast on June 16 beginning at 7:45 a.m. PT, 10:45 a.m. ET by visiting starbucks.com/collegeplan. I also encourage you to watch the video of what this means to Starbucks partners by visiting starbucks.asu.edu. The Starbucks College Achievement Plan is supportive of our vision to be measured not by who we exclude, but rather by who we include and how they succeed and moves toward our goal of enrolling 100,000 online and distance education degree seeking students. This is a program we can all be proud of, and I look forward to your support as together we continue to increase access to world class higher education. Michael M. Crow President Arizona State University http://president.asu.edu http://president.asu.edu

judk 12y ago
Wow that's a quintessential college essay, padded to 3x size to reach a target word count.
- 12y ago

karmicthreat 12y ago

So at what point are we going to just going to accept that people need the equivalent of an associates coming out of high school. I don't think less education is the answer but as a bachelors equivalent becomes necessary for even a modest living, it might be worth looking at expanding what secondary education covers.

FLUX-YOU 12y ago
You can pretty much accept that now. That's how almost all public-facing job postings look for modest-living jobs (believe me, I've been scanning them). I'm assuming modest-living covers all standard bills allows for some amount of disposable income/savings per month in the low hundreds. The two 'overrides' are choosing a field that allows demonstration of competency (programming, art, writing, etc.), and a network of referrals. Even with demonstrations, you may get passed up for someone with a degree.
blahedo 12y ago
The idea has come up: https://chronicle.com/article/Free-Community-College-/144553/ https://chronicle.com/article/Free-Community-College-/144553...
- karmicthreat 12y ago
  That is the thing, a free community college associates just means two more years of school. I think we need to make some progress on getting some of this compressed into the 4 years of high school as well. Plenty of people don't have the option of two additional years of school because they have no family. Or the just have to work full time or numerous part time jobs. Its a hard problem.

vonsydov 12y ago

Ok, Starbucks is in. Hipster coffee shops, out.

nwenzel 12y ago

While many universities strive for exclusivity, ASU is finding ways to be more inclusive. It probably hurts us in the rankings, but it's the right thing to do. Proud to be a Sun Devil. From the AZ Constitution: Article 11, Section 6 http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/const/11/6.htm# http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/const/11/6.ht... Section 6. The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible. The legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be established and maintained in every school district for at least six months in each year, which school shall be open to all pupils between the ages of six and twenty-one years.

Chronic28 12y ago
And yet I don't see Arizona contributing much to the US economy, social welfare, and/or higher education. They are contributing some, but below your average state. Edit: Made the point more clear.
- zghst 12y ago
  ASU is the largest university in the US, that must make some type of impact in the US economy. Also ASU has a lot of cool research
  - xcrunner529 12y ago
    Based on what? It has been a few years since I've followed the rankings, but Ohio State and Texas were always battling for first in enrollment numbers.
    - imgabe 12y ago
      So only the university that's #1 in enrollment contributes anything?
      - xcrunner529 12y ago

e12e 12y ago

By the way, if anyone else wondered about that parenthesis on union busting, here's the union's home page: http://starbucksunion.org/ http://starbucksunion.org/

justizin 12y ago
"Right now, Starbucks baristas are on strike in Chile, where they make less per hour than the price of a cup of coffee."

richcsmith 12y ago

One of the longer term benefits for Starbucks that stands out to me the most is the long-term brand loyalty these folks will have. They'll be walking, talking advertisements for the greatness that is Starbucks for all the good they've done for them. I wish more companies understood that treating your people well is one of the best marketing tactics you can employ. By and large, companies are only going to make decisions that positively impact their bottom line, and sometimes it just so happens that those decisions align with the best interest of their employees. This is definitely one of those moments. Not to say that Starbucks' intentions aren't genuine, but it's hard to ignore the obvious positive impact this is going to have for them. I always wonder about what matters more to these companies (employee welfare or their bottom line), but I guess it doesn't much matter if the employees are happier and better off for it in the end.

Goopplesoft 12y ago

Interesting if this becomes widespread to other companies as well. Free enterprise/big-corp solving the cost of education/college issue when our government couldn't will be a big win for the laissez-faire folks. Are there any existing tax benefits for educating your workers? That might be the next govt involved step here.

ksrm 12y ago
I think Starbacks have enough tax benefits don't they? For example, "not having to pay tax".
- ctdonath 12y ago
  Why the obsession with "they don't pay enough taxes" without any consideration of the socioeconomic good they provide? Starbucks employs about 150,000 people (that's some $2.25B the gov't doesn't have to spend on welfare etc), contributes 0.1% to the GDP (for one company, that's impressive), and (a seriously under-discussed point) contributes increased velocity of money (people being willing to spend cumulatively lots of money frequently on a whim). Starbucks also is noted for pushing a lot of other society-benefiting factors, which now includes free education to their employees. That all of this is flat-out ignored by so many with "but they don't pay [enough] taxes" belies an intent of greed over altruism.
  - justizin 12y ago
    tax law does not say that you only have to pay taxes if you don't contribute to the GDP or employee people, which zero businesses qualify for. contributing to the GDP is synonymous with the basic function of any business. employing people is synonymous with the basic function of any business. large corporations shouldn't be allowed to flaut their tax bill, while paying people minimum-wage-or-close-to-it, simply because they are a large part of the economy. starbucks is not a non-profit. all of those activities are great, but this is kind of like saying that your heart does so much work in moving blood around that it does not need to oxygenate your blood.

michaelq 12y ago

Starbucks is using ASU's famously developed online course infrastructure and its own massive headcount to educate all of its employees in a way that will add little marginal cost for either entity. Thought the normal ASU cost per credit is ~$500, I would be amazed if Starbucks ended up spending even a third of that. ASU president Michael Crow is profiled positively as one of the more progressive thinkers in higher ed the 2013 book College Unbound: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544027078/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8=1789=9325=0544027078 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544027078/ref=as_li_tf_tl?... I wouldn't be surprised if ASU went on to work out a deal with other big retailers that employ a lot of people who haven't finished college yet. ASU's marginal costs will continue to fall as they get more students into the pipes. Walmart, McDonalds and other large employers could be next to partner with them.

avz 12y ago
> ...to educate all of its employees in a way that will add little marginal cost for either entity. Is it somehow evil to boost education cost-effectively?
- dkokelley 12y ago
  I don't think that's the connotation of the OP's sentence.
- the_watcher 12y ago
  >> Is it somehow evil to boost education cost-effectively? Pretty sure the OP feels that education at a low marginal cost is a fantastically positive thing.
- naturalethic 12y ago
  He forgot to think about how it might reduce marginal cost for both.

dan_bk 12y ago

So Starbucks is basically doing the government's job.

lotu 12y ago
If Starbucks can do a better job educating students I'm not going to complain.
- grecy 12y ago
  Don't complain about starbucks, but you should absolutely be complaining about the government.
  - arturh 12y ago
    Governments don't seem to be able to make Starbucks pay tax.
    - _pmf_ 12y ago
      Merely paying taxes is obviously less publishable than holding back taxes and then sprinkling trace amounts on some good cause.
    - ctdonath 12y ago
      Completely ignoring everything else Starbucks does to the benefit of the country (employment, raised standards, contribution to GDP, etc), now including free education to some 150,000 employees.
zghst 12y ago
I've calculated free education, it would basically collapse our government's finances. A College education is nice, but is not the sole step to ending to our economic and societal problems.
- claudius 12y ago
  If I understood the article correctly, a BSc costs $60k in tuition for an online course. I believe this to not cover required textbooks etc., which are likely more difficult to find in a library if you’re on the other side of the country. In comparison, my BSc at TU Berlin cost me 6 * 240 €, which includes free access to Berlin’s public transport system. And while the financial state of Berlin is certainly far from perfect, I wouldn’t call it ‘collapsed’ (oh, and I get the impression that a college education in the US is more like a high school degree in Germany and not directly comparable to a proper university degree…any comments/similar observations?)

grifpete 12y ago

Terrific.

phazmatis 12y ago

Great. Now recruiters will be calling me offering ping-pong, beer fridays, and college tuition.

aestra 12y ago
>Now recruiters will be calling me offering ping-pong, beer fridays, and college tuition. College tuition is a very common perk in the cooperate world as long as you maintain your grades and study something related to your work.

quadrangle 12y ago

Good for them! Most folks today still think Capitalism has merit, so if a corporation is working out ways to do things like this, way to go. Sure, it will help Starbucks recruit college-oriented more ambitious employees, and that's what they want. Fine. This is no solution for society overall, but it's a good thing for what it is.

pizza234 12y ago
Considering that Starbucks practices massive tax avoidance, the company is essentially using taxpayers' money for a very clever PR stunt.
- xerophtye 12y ago
  >using taxpayers' money for a very clever PR stunt. Firstly i don't think "taxpayer's money" is an accurate description as they aren't exactly using the money we pay as tax. Instead they are deciding how their tax money is used. Not that i support tax avoidance or anything, but if a certain sum of money is being used to provide a large number of people with free college education, I don't really see how the govt can make better use of it. ok i guess there are better uses but this isn't exactly a bad spend is it?
- mseebach 12y ago
  Starbucks' tax arrangements are specifically legal. It's not in any meaningful sense taxpayers' money, no matter how strongly you feel it should be.

dsplatonov 12y ago

Nice thing. Now people will have less motivation to fire from Starbucks - i believe in this case the employee will need to pay by himself. Additionally, managers will be able to push employees to work harder and therefore the amount workers, required to work in one place might be reduced. Genius!

jayantsethi 12y ago

See, this is what I love about some nice corporations. Get big, then return back to the society by giving them the most valuable gift : Education. A very good initiative.

pizza234 12y ago
Large business corporations today have a huge amount of power in their hands; in the context of greedy shareholders and governments which are getting proportionally weaker, there can certainly be "nice" corporation in the traditional sense, but most of the times, their niceness is synonym of good PR. In this specific case, it's important not to forget the massive amount of taxes that Starbucks avoids.

VeejayRampay 12y ago

This is going to be a conundrum for ultra-liberal coffee hipsters... On the one hand, Starbucks is "The Man" and killing their precious neighbourhood artisan roasters one after another, on the other hand they're offering a chance to a good education to their workers and setting a new example for other companies to follow. Hard choices.

lugg 12y ago
Doubt it. Armed forces world wide have been touting the free education policy for decades. The man is still the man, man. ;) Hipster discussion aside, mad props to Starbucks - even if I'll still never drink that flavorless milky crap again. (I think Starbucks might be different here?)
Malarkey73 12y ago
Theres no conundrum for me. I won't go there. 1. They make rubbish coffee. 2. They pay no tax in my country. When they pay no tax, they have an unfair anticompetitive advantage against businesses that do. Other taxpayers have to make up the balance. The fact they are now gifting a fraction back and looking of kudos just vexes me more.
- VeejayRampay 12y ago
  That is actually a good point you're raising. Starbucks is known for some dodgy tax-evasion schemes, which really makes that whole education thing kind of hypocritical.
  - cududa 12y ago
    I don't think hypocritical is the right word. If they paid in taxes an equal amount that this program costs, would that still equal free education for their employees?

vparikh 12y ago

The more I read and hear about Howard Schultz the more of a hero is becoming of mine. Pure genius. I will be drinking a lot more Starbucks coffee to support this company.

dclowd9901 12y ago

One thing that infuriates me whenever a company decides to do this is that we'll see politicians from both sides of the aisle laud this as an important and meaningful step, all the while oblivious to the irony that at one point, it was the federal government's mandate and responsibility to provide exactly this for its citizenship. So now we're supposed to just rely on the random benevolence of companies to provide investment into social infrastructure? Let's hope that never stands in the way of their profits -_-

gmu3 12y ago
It's not the government's mandate nor responsibility to provide higher education in the United States. It infuriates me when citizens are so conceited they think the government should provide everything for them as if they have no agency themselves.
- hughw 12y ago
  People have agency. They just don't have money.
- sjg007 12y ago
  If we vote to provide higher education, then it is.
- efuquen 12y ago
  It infuriates me when citizens are so conceited that having the money to afford a higher education is equivalent to the merit of pursuing one. A government footing the bill for higher education isn't and wouldn't be the same as simply giving it to someone on a silver platter. You still have to earn that degree based on work and merit and it certainly isn't the same thing as a handout. The idea that money is always related to agency is idiotic. There are plenty of people who have the agency to obtain a college degree but don't have the resources, monetary or societal support, to do so.
  - zaroth 12y ago
    I think gmu3 is referring specifically to the 10th amendment; "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Pretty straight forward and to the point, right? So simply point to the article in the Constitution where the Fed is supposed to fund education, and we'll be on the same page. Otherwise, it's completely up to each state to tax and spend how they see fit. Any state that wants can make the choice, and I think it's a great system where we can freely move to any state which taxes and spends to our individual liking. If only the Fed could ease up a little bit, rather than still running a deficit while collecting more money than they ever have before even in inflation adjusted dollars [1]... Aside from the technical considerations of the Constitution, if you take a quick look at the New York Fed published slide deck [2] on trends in college loans, you can learn a lot about how much the Fed is already subsidizing the college industry and "footing the bill" indeed since a large percentage of these loans will never be repaid. They can't ever be repaid, because too many recipients of these loans don't actually gain anywhere near the marketable skills necessary to cover the cost of tuition. [1] - http://www.cnsnews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/lightbox/images/RECORD%20TAX%20REVENUES%20THROUGH%20MAY-CHART-PHOTO-1.jpg http://www.cnsnews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/lightb... [2] - http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/mediaadvisory/2013/Lee022813.pdf http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/mediaadvisory/2013/Lee0...

differentView 12y ago

I'll have one of those vanilla bullshit degrees.

rXoX 12y ago

Just another corporation stepping in to do the work an ignorant, ineffective populace is too stupid to demand from their political representatives.