Starbucks CEO urges office return but avoids mandates: ‘We’re all adults here’

In Niccol’s first staff address after taking the top job this month, he extolled the “power in having everybody together” but said he wouldn’t tell them what specific days to badge in at the company’s Seattle headquarters or at what time, according to a transcript of his Sept. 10 remarks obtained by Bloomberg News.

Niccol’s own work arrangement, which allows him to live in California and travel 1,000 miles to Seattle on the company’s corporate jet, sparked initial backlash by some workers and outside critics who said he was getting special treatment while the rest of the firm was required to be in the office three days a week. Other workers said they didn’t care where the CEO was based, so long as he didn’t upend anyone else’s remote or hybrid arrangements. 

Starbucks said Niccol will spend most of his time at the office and visiting the chain’s stores around the world. A Starbucks spokesperson confirmed there have been no changes to the company’s three-day in-office policy.

“This is not a game of tracking. This is a game of winning,” said Niccol, who was hired to turn around the company as it reels from sales declines. “I care about seeing everybody here succeed, and if success requires us being together more often than not, let’s be together more often.”

At the forum, he listed amenities such as an on-site gym, a daycare and a Starbucks store as elements that should encourage workers to go to the office. The company also offers subsidized transit, free electric-vehicle charging, bike lockers, and shuttles to nearby public transportation. 

Dangling the carrot to lure people back into the office stands in contrast to the stick wielded this week by fellow Seattle corporate giant Amazon.com Inc., which ordered workers to return to the office five days a week beginning in January. 

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a note to employees that it had become harder to get things done at Amazon and that working from home has been part of the problem. To hammer the point home, he said the company also would reinstate permanent desk assignments. 

The decision prompted frustration among some workers, who said the decision isn’t backed by data that shows people are productive outside the office, too. 

Research findings on the productivity impact of remote work vary wildly, often depending on the type of work studied. It’s also “highly dependent” on how well it’s managed, according to Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor who has analyzed remote work for more than a decade.

At Starbucks, some workers have raised concerns about whether Niccol would increase the in-office work requirements or change remote work arrangements for staff who already have them. In his prior gig as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Niccol brought workers back four days a week.

Niccol didn’t address the matter directly during the internal forum, according to the transcript, and he stopped short of issuing any new mandates. 

“My point of view is we should be together as much as possible. You need to figure out where you need to be to get your job done, then do that,” he said. “We’re all adults here.”