One of my favorite companies of all time is Starbucks. I love their themed holiday drinks and overall feeling of comfort they exude. With that said, Starbucks is so much more than a coffee company; they truly care for the wellbeing of others and try to do their part when it comes to corporate social responsibility.
Starbucks’ mission statement is as follows: To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. More than that, Starbucks’ company values include but are not limited to dignity and respect, inclusive culture, challenging the status quo, being present, and above all, holding yourself responsible.
First and foremost, Starbucks prioritizes the health and wellbeing of their employees and customers. When COVID-19 first started spreading, Starbucks management provided partner (employee) benefits that included no involuntary layoffs, food and beverage allowances, expanded childcare support, expanded mental health support, and so much more. As stores began reopening, the company even allowed for unpaid leave without losing other earned benefits.
Before the pandemic, Starbucks was a front-fighter on racial and social equity for their employees, consumers, and communities. Starbucks offers an internal safe space for hard conversations and addressing heavy topics because they want to help increase understanding and bridge the gap of unnecessary cultural barriers. Starbucks is open to change, and they rely on the community to voice its concerns and wishes.
In 2020, Starbucks scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and 100/100 on the Disability Equality Index (Starbucks Corporation, 2021). While the company is all about inclusivity, they do plan to boost diversity by 2025 with the following goals:
- At least 40% minority representation and 55% women in all U.S. retail stores
- At least 40% minority representation and 30% women in all U.S. manufacturing roles
- At least 30% minority representation and 50% women for all U.S. enterprise and leadership roles
Additionally, Starbucks aims to open 100 community stores and 200 military family stores in the U.S. by 2025 and 2022 respectively. As of 2020, they had opened 29 community, 68 military, and 9 signing (sign language) stores. Starbucks also opened 4 community stores in Asia that focus on providing educational opportunities for children and help support farming communities and young entrepreneurs. Moreover, six signing stores were opened to provide employment to those hard of hearing or deaf, furthering the effort to welcome and include all members of the community.
There have been countless efforts made by Starbucks to help restore the environment and eliminate hunger. One of the most recent efforts includes the new lids that, shockingly, many were not a fan of. On September 10, 2020, Starbucks launched a new, more environmentally friendly lid. This new product helps contribute to the company’s goal to reduce single-use plastics and packaging. This new rollout was to help eliminate one billion plastic straws globally per year. This new wide-lipped lid uses nearly 9% less plastic than the old lid and straw that was the standard for iced drinks (Starbucks Corporation, 2020). As not everyone appreciates this new style of lid, straws are still available upon request.
While Starbucks publicly strives to do good, some of their methods have been questionable. In 2018, Starbucks did not answer a questionnaire regarding their ethical reporting. There were numerous mentions of specific efforts on their website but no timeline as far as crating a more sustainable agricultural system for providing coffee beans, nor was there any mention of the impact of transportation on the environment. Furthermore, Starbucks’ rating on animal rights and factory farming was impacted as they were found to sell factory-farm animal products, and those animals were believed to consume genetically modified animal feed (Starbucks Corporation, 2022). While factory farming isn’t illegal, it’s not a great socially responsible business practice. As far as politics, Starbucks has been quiet with their country-by-country financial reporting. While this non-disclosure doesn’t necessarily suggest tax avoidance or excessive directors’ compensation, it is questionable as Starbucks claimed to improve transparency; so, what are they hiding?
References
Starbucks Corporation. (2022). Ethical Consumer. https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/starbucks-corporation#:~:text=Animals,the%20Ethical%20Consumer%20rating%20system.
Starbucks Corporation. (2021, April). Global environmental & social impact report. Starbucks 2020 Report. https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2015/starbucks-mission-and-values/
Starbucks Corporation. (2020, September 10). Starbucks announces rollout of new strawless lids throughout U.S. and Canada. Starbucks Stories & News. https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-announces-rollout-of-new-strawless-lids-throughout-u-s-and-canada/
Starbucks mission and values. (2015, December 15). Starbucks. https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2015/starbucks-mission-and-values/
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