Starbucks to Offer Free Therapy to All Workers
March 16 2020 - 9:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Patrick Thomas
Starbucks Corp. said Monday it will begin to offer 20 free
therapy sessions a year for all of its employees, including
part-time workers, as part of a broader mental-health benefit
plan.
The move makes the coffee chain one of the most high-profile
employers of hourly service workers to give significant
mental-health benefits, human-resource consultants say.
Starting April 6, Starbucks employees can tap their pool of
therapy sessions and meet with a counselor in person or via video
chat, the company said. They will also have unlimited access to
self-care apps through Lyra Health Inc., a software company that
connects people with mental health services through their
employer.
The therapy sessions will also be open to employees' family
members, such as a spouse and children, Starbucks said.
"We did a ton of listening with all of our partners," Ron
Crawford, vice president of global benefits at Starbucks, said of
the company's efforts to solicit feedback from employees.
"Something that's been bubbling up over the past year or so has
been the topic of mental health. It's an issue across the entire
country."
Mental-health discussions in the workplace are becoming more
common as companies say the benefit can be a tool for improving
employee wellness, performance and, ultimately retention. Some
firms are bringing mental-health professionals into the workplace
to offer on-site counseling for employees.
Starbucks's decision to give front-line, hourly workers and
certain family members access to free therapy is a significant step
that might lead to other fast-food type companies taking similar
actions, said Laurie Ruettimann, a human-resources consultant who
works with Fortune 500 companies.
"It's different. I think it's an acknowledgment of the humanity
of the workforce," she said. "It's a good message not just for the
food industry but anyone with hourly workers."
Mr. Crawford said Starbuck's move is the second part of a
broader mental-health initiative by the company. In January, the
company said it would start offering subscription access to the
meditation app Headspace to its U.S. and Canada workers. After the
benefit was issued, some Starbucks baristas said they bristled at
it and complained among themselves that the company should improve
their hourly pay and give them more labor support in stores if they
really are focused on their well-being, some workers said.
A company spokesman said that in the first month since the app's
launch more than 60,000 employees downloaded it.
"I think that speaks for itself in terms of the feedback we
heard from the field," he said. Starbucks pays a competitive hourly
wage and baristas working an average of 20 hours a week receive a
comprehensive benefits package, he added.
Starbucks was planning the mental-health rollout before
coronavirus hit workplaces around the globe, but Mr. Crawford said
that the timing could also help quell some of the anxiety workers
now face regarding the pandemic.
"I think this new benefit program makes that solution available
to people in a time right now when we all need it more than ever,"
he said.
The roughly 200,000 workers at Starbucks's U.S. cafes who pour
coffee for millions of Americans risk exposure to the virus if
infected customers visit their stores and they are under pressure
to keep cafes cleaner than ever to reassure customers.
Heather Haddon contributed to this article.
Write to Patrick Thomas at Patrick.Thomas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 16, 2020 09:14 ET (13:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024