Starbucks Human Resource Frame

Kiersten Umberger

June 7, 2020

OGL 481
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I was a supervisor at Starbucks for many years and the situation I have chosen is

in regards to a policy change made in my store, as a result of a bigger incident in

another store. The spark of this policy change came from an incident in Philadelphia

where two black men had the police called on them by an employee, and were kicked

out of the store all for no apparent reason. My situation is a policy change made in my

personal store that was a result of this larger issue. My manager typically had no issues

with us asking people who were not making purchases to leave, she often would ask us

to have certain people leave. She saw spaces at tables as potential profit from frequent

customers, not to be taken up by someone who did not spend money. As far as

protection of the partners we were also told to ask homeless people to leave as well as

people using the restrooms for too long. These practices were put in place to protect

partners/employees.

Once the incident in Philadelphia took place the company was under a lot of heat

all over the world so changes needed to be made to this store policy of asking people to

leave. The existing policy we had was very vague and could result in a larger incident

like the one in Philadelphia, if it was not made more specific and backed up with

training. As a quick reaction with little direction from her own manager, my manager

decided that we would not be asking anyone to leave no matter what. This resulted in a

larger amount of homeless visitors panhandling in and around the property. We also

had a few issues with bodily fluid leaks from these visitors during this time. Many

employees were upset and uncomfortable, as well as many of the customers. The

customers would complain to the employees who were not in charge of these larger
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decisions. Eventually a written policy was put in place that was posted for customers

and employees. The policy had visitor guidelines and it protected customers and

employees. It helped employees know what situations are appropriate in asking

someone to leave.

Before the improved policy was implemented I felt very frustrated with the

sudden change in our store structure with not asking anyone to leave. I felt that the

decision was made out of fear of being ridiculed by outsiders rather than out of

compassion for people. I also felt the decision put employees at risk considering the

concept of asking certain visitors to leave was for our protection (for example protection

from the bodily fluid leaks we experienced in our store.)

Starbucks is very passionate about humanity, so customers, employees,

shareholders and people in general. The mission and values are heavily focused on

helping others and inspiring them as well. I think the company heavily operates under

the human resources frame. The company receives many applications and managers

really attempt to hire the right people that also have a passion for humanity. The

incentives and rewards for being an employee help keep people in the company for

many years. The tuition assistance, stock in the company and health insurance are a

few that help so many employees. Employees are typically very diverse and heavily

invested in with frequent training. . In stores I have worked in I have been surrounded

by people of all ages, genders, race, sexual orientation, etc. As someone with an

internal role I have seen the impact all of these have on the people that work for the

company and how employees are more willing to come to work every day with a smile

on.
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For my particular situation I believe that I was angered because I too was

thinking with a human resources frame. I was concerned for the partners and customers

being placed in an uncomfortable or potentially dangerous situation. I wanted there to

be regulation and structure with our guidance around use of the store. I felt it was very

vague and up in the air. I believe I was not thinking of a much larger picture and the

depth of the original incident that took place in Philadelphia. That incident was so large

that it even had an impact in my area in a completely different state. If I could go back I

would try and see the larger picture rather than reacting with anger over a smaller issue.

I believe that I would have used the human resource frame to come up with a

powerful philosophy regarding how we as employees treat people that come in the

store. I know the company is passionate about people but I believe that diversity was

not heavily emphasized and made important prior to the incident. I think there should

have been training revolving around this topic from the very beginning. The company is

excellent about inspiring employees to treat people kindly but as sad as it is some

people will not realize when they are being selective in who they treat kindly. The

incident in Philadelphia was about two black men having the police called on them by

an employee for no apparent reason. The interview for a job does not include anything

about diversity or how a person feels about those that may be different than them in any

way. I think from a human resources perspective it is important for the company to have

diversity acceptance training in the beginning for all employees. This became a thing

after the incident but it needs to be continued. I think this would help prevent a manager

having to make a rash decision to avoid any confrontation like mine did. However, I still

feel that one mistake in one store can have a domino effect but does not mean that the
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overall company has failed. A person made a mistake somewhere and the company

suffered because of this. In my personal store I did not like the sudden changes or

understand that they were a result of something much larger. If I could go back I would

try and utilize my human resources knowledge. I would understand that the decision

was made for people and for the better treatment of everyone that comes into the

stores.