Is Starbucks a decent place to work?

[Connonym]

I need to get a second part-time job and I heard that Starbucks gives insurance benefits at 20 hours a week. Dog knows I could use the insurance but I don't know if my rebel heart is willing to trade my soul to work for a giant asshole corporation. Anyone here ever worked for them?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. yes they are.

they offer health insurance for part time employees and have generally been noted as a good place to work,

[Chan790]

2. I work there.

I love it and yes they do give benefits after 20 hours a week averaged (it's 240 a quarter actually and is issued at the end of the quarter. Thus you have to be there for at least most of one quarter first (Next one ends March 31st so I'd do it quickly. To meet quota by March 31st, you'd have to average more than 25/week, otherwise the earliest you'd qualify for health benefits would be June.). Hawaii is monthly-qualifying (80 hours in a month) because I think that may be the law there.)

I have health, vision, dental, short and long term disability, life and supplemental for just under $19/week. (I have no dependents and chose the middle-rate plan. You can choose coverage options: you can get health alone in the cheapest plan for like $8/week with no dependents or Open Choice (the "best" health plan, they pay for everything healthwise pretty much no questions asked) for like $32 with no dependents.)

Other benefits include S.I.P (Stock Investment Plan), Bean Stock (Yearly-issued stock gifts to long-term retail employees), Free Coffee, Employee Discount of 30%, 40% during the holidays, Partner Perks (A discount program for pretty much anything you can think of from gym memberships to fine dining to car repairs to tax prep.), Vacation time after 6 months (it compound-accrues like bank interest for each hour worked up to 40 hours of vacation time...this kind of sucks because it makes it impossible to ever have more than 1 week of vacation time and you'll stop accruing once you have 40 hours of time saved up unless you use some.)

If you want more info, ask to speak to a manager the next time you're in a store and ask for info on "Total Pay" b/c you're thinking of applying.

The catch, the pay stinks. I started at $7.62/hr in CT and make maybe another $25/week in tips. Going rate for a barista in an indie coffeehouse is 2-3x that for take-home $$$ but usually no bennies.

[Nicole]

3. My neighbor works there.

She loves it. They're really good about working around her class schedule.

[Sanity Claws]

4. Good reputation

I'm in Seattle and have heard only good things about working there. On their shifts, people switch duties so sometimes you're doing the espresso machine, other times you're at the cash register. My understanding is that this is to prevent repetitive motion problems, like carpal tunnel syndrome.
You could do a lot worse.

[deepthought42]

5. From what I've heard, it is

Benefits for part-time employees is good in my book. I'm lucky my p/t job has that too (Borders). A friend of mine worked at a Starbucks, and aside from a couple annoying co-workers, she liked it there.

[Connonym]

6. Borders does too?

I think I'd like working in a book store more than working in a coffee shop. Do you like working for them? <g> do they give a book discount?

[deepthought42]

10. Yeah.

I don't have alot of benefits, but once a year they have open enrollment for health care. Last year I signed up for it, cuz I figured $30/paycheck was alot better than paying $170/month for private healthcare (that was no good anyway...ug). F/T employees get more benefits, of course. But everyone does get a discount. 33% for p/t employees, 25% for f/t (but they get a store gift card every month), plus they'll have employee appreciation weekends. Last january ('06) our store did really well, so everyone at the store got a Borders gift card ($45 p/t, $50 f/t). Not too shabby! :)

And they have a scholarship program for employees and their dependents. This is great timing for me, as I just got accepted to grad school for the fall!

They recently renovated the Borders Cafe into a Seattle's Best Cafe, and I left the B.C. to work at the calendar kiosks in the mall, now I'm working in the store, selling books, for the first time since I started there (10/05). So far, so good. I like the people I work with.

[graywarrior]

7. The people who work at the one I go to act like they're on happy pills.

[Chan790]

8. It would be encouraged...

smiling all the time, being a Coffee Master (Black Apron woo hoo!), and making a latte in 3 minutes or less are the surest ways to become a manager quickly.

Edit: I'm a cynical bastard (almost all the good baristi I know are) and I don't want to be a manager because my manager's job sucks.

[graywarrior]

9. I suck at management. I always end up siding with the workers.

[Dastard Stepchild]

11. I worked for them many years back...

I liked the coworkers and the benefits. And they were very flexible. I couldn't complain.