Starbucks to Revise Policies to End Irregular Schedules for Its 130,000 Baristas
Amid growing controversy over its use of worker-scheduling software, coffee chain Starbucks announced changes to its scheduling practices for its baristas Thursday. The impetus for the announcement is a recent New York Times article criticizing the automated software for giving workers little notice of their work schedule, inconsistent hours, and not taking into account baristas with long commutes to Starbucks. The company has declared it will now give workers one week's notice of their schedules, more consistent hours, and encourage managers to not solely rely on the software in scheduling hours. While most baristas welcome the changes, they are skeptical how much Starbucks managers will actually follow the company's directives, and say that even one week's notice on scheduling is not enough.
See "Starbucks to Revise Policies to End Irregular Schedules for Its 130,000 Baristas", Jodi Kantor, The New York Times, August 14, 2014