Starbucks reviews

3.5

56% would recommend to a friend

(85,268 total reviews)
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Brian Niccol

31% approve of CEO

40% positive business outlook

Starbucks has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 85,268 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Starbucks employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Restaurants & Food Service industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

85K reviews
3.0
May 28, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You get to learn a lot about a global company and there is something for everyone at the headquarters. The company is very relationship driven (which can be a downside) and there is a lot of emphasis on "chatting over coffee." The headquarters is a great place to be and there are a lot of perqs (all you can drink coffee, etc.). If you have the opportunity to work at headquarters I would suggest being a part of the product testing group (anyone can join). It's great to be able to have a sneak peak of future drinks and food and to be a part of how they are perfected.

Cons

It's a coffee company and they don't appreciate (at least in the department I worked in) people actually LEARNING about and being excited about the product. Just like any company, politics rule the show. Sometimes you can cover them up with whip cream, but there are still politics resting underneath. It is VERY relationship driven and just because you perform your job well, get fantastic reviews, and complete all of your work does NOT mean that you are a "good worker" in the Starbuckian world. Work-life balance is encouraged for people with families (read "kids"), but those without children are expected to take up the slack. They try to be innovative, but many of the long tenure partners strike down innovation from the "newbies."

1.0
Oct 5, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Salary and bonus combined to make this on par with Microsoft and other big tech companies in the Seattle area.

Cons

There have been several big rounds of layoffs in Marketing and the Creative studio over the last year and it's not the first time they've gone through this cycle. It's a very unstable place to work which causes it to be very stressful. There's a re-org every 3 months, making it impossible to keep up with changing expectations of each team and position. I wish I had left sooner, it was a really unpleasant experience. The creative studio in particular has a gossipy high school vibe with a lot of negativity. Thank you next.

4.0
Dec 8, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I was working on innovative projects that felt like they really mattered to the company and the environment at large. Starbucks really does care about the environment and the community, it is not just lip service like some companies. Benefits are good, particularly vacation time. Starts at the typical two weeks but increases much faster, starts at three years rather than usual five. It is an exceptional policy that allows full benefits at only 20 hours per week. There are many opportunities to grow your career. Interdepartmental transfers are encouraged and there are many opportunities for time limited assignments to try out different roles within the company. There is an annual employee survey that is taken seriously by the executives. Problems flagged by the survey actually get addressed.

Cons

Tends to be a disconnect between senior leadership and mid-level management. A lot of politics happen here and people tend to lose sight of company goals. There is a strong passive-aggressive culture, it takes a lot of follow up and general pestering to get things done. While there are a lot of growth opportunities within the company compensation can lag far behind. It can take years to reach a pay-scale that is appropriate for the work that you are doing.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 85,268 Reviews

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