Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ashleigh Gardner
Starbucks: Partner-Focused
The purpose of this document is to create six-months of plans for my current workplace,
Starbucks, with the purpose of incorporating key concepts of health and wellness. The intent of
these plans is to consider events common for each month and the ways a leader could reinforce
healthy themes in practical ways. Following a brief map of these logical and effective strategies,
a reflection will allow this leader to consider context and focus of each months presentation.
Presentation Map
Social January
- After holidays
- Back to basics
- Primary focus is customers, creating new customer base, welcoming them into our
- Enjoy meeting and cultivating new customers, seeing new faces that will become familiar
Emotional February
- Share the love event: universal love for others and for those in the community
- BOGO on some form of chocolate beverages (in the past, truffle chocolate latte)
- This is an opportunity to boost business, but also to be aware of the emotional needs of
- Starbucks asks partners to be observant of these emotions and how we may collectively
be able to help; remember, even outside this store, there are partner resources and
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contacts you may make through the Back Office, email, or phone calls
Physical March
- Also our month for renewing health benefits: medical, dental, vision, and disability
- Celebrate the month with a sports day of our own: would you prefer a tournament of one
- On your feet all day, but make sure you are getting rest, stretching, etc.
Spiritual April
- Earth Day
- Starbucks promotes this month every year to get stores and partners involved in the
- How can you benefit/improve the community you work in while serving them? What can
- There will be some sign-ups for events in our district that we would like to have
representatives attend
- Remember that this activity is a peaceful, purposeful work that relieves stress and
improves the holistic spiritual aspect of each partner; while it may not benefit you
Nutritional May
- Buy one Frappuccino, get one half-priced; huge event for students; moms will stop after
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- Frappuccinos are NOT very nutritious; this year Starbucks is introducing new options
that are more fruit-forward (mango puree, strawberry puree, and prickly pear puree)
- Offer smoothies for an option high in protein and natural sugars (bananas and
strawberries)
- Make sure you get your vacation time in early if you plan to take one or else provide an
- With the rising temperatures, stay hydrated and try to keep the sugars to a minimum
Intellectual June
- Graduation season
- Prepare for ASU? : Starbucks pays tuition for partners wanting to take classes towards a
degree online at Arizona State University through the College Achievement Plan
- Please consider taking advantage of this and getting enrolled for the Fall
- If not interested or unable to attend, also consider this season an opportunity to reevaluate
challenging yourself intellectually at Starbucks: what would you like to learn more
- One-on-One meetings with your store manager will take place in order to assess your
Reflection
In considering the upcoming months at Starbucks, several events are common annual
activities. However, as often as we plan for these events, we consider the business planning but
not always the effects on partners. Even when we recognize, perhaps the exhaustion or need for
more hours, we fail to acknowledge how our preparedness can also coach healthy practices to
our partners. With this mindset, I evaluated how meetings might run if we sought to incorporate a
January could easily take on the social topic in that Starbucks promotes their Rewards
system following the holiday season. Customers, who have purchased or been given gift cards,
can now register those cards and earn rewards with each purchase. This is a time for welcoming
new regular customers and cultivating those relationships. Partners can use this business
opportunity as the chance to get to know their peers, community, and customer base. February
takes the next step in this progression with our annual share the love event and can take on the
emotional theme. While we center Valentines day around the theme of love and one-to-one
relationships, this event is promoted as kindness to others and empathy for various situations.
Just as we celebrate with each other, we should also support each other during times of weakness
and struggle. Accepting this concept and exemplifying it in the workplace can create higher
employee satisfaction and an inner peacefulness that is essential in building a community or team
(Ackerman, 2017). March would match well with the physical theme since our business-
neighbors always host a 5K walk/run event in mid-March, usually promoting treatment for
diseases like Alzheimers. However, I think our team could also use a group event during this
month, such as a sports tournament or triathlon (of our own design). This would be an exciting
and welcome morale boost. April brings to mind community awareness, which I believe we
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could use to tie into a spiritual benefit. While there are a vast number of beliefs within our
workplace and our community, we can all agree on the benefits of improving our community and
the physical environment we live in. Starbucks usually promotes volunteer activities around this
point of the year, which can vary from planting trees to assisting in shelters. It is important for
Starbuck employees to recognize that the community values them as members, even if this is not
where the partner resides. There is a bit of irony attached to including the theme of nutrition in
the month of May, since this is when we promote our Happy Frappuccino Hour (buy one, get
one 50% off all frappuccinos) for two whole weeks. However, it occurred to me that a number of
customers have been advocating for healthier options to take advantage of in this time frame.
Last year, we launched a few fruit-forward alternatives that were technically still frappuccinos,
but with a healthier twist. This may be a perfect time to encourage this again for business, but
also to remind partners of the importance of their own nutrition. With the Texas heat approaching
quickly, it is essential that partners remember to stay hydrated, cut back on sugars during busy
hours, and get full rest each night, all to ensure good energy and health given the added stress.
Finally, June seems an adequate fit for the topic of intellectual wellness in that we celebrate
graduations within the community and ASU begins promoting partner enrollment for the Fall
sessions. As a College Achievement Plan partner, I can attest to the stress relief provided
through having intellectual stimulus and goals, even while working a very busy, high stress job
Each of these months can recognize one central theme in improving the health and
wellness of our partners. Not only will this benefit them individually, it will produce a more
satisfied and efficient work force for our company. Happy partners create happy customers.
References
Ackerman,C.(2017,March6).The23AmazingHealthBenefitsofMindfulnessforBodyand
Brain.RetrievedNovember5,2017,from
https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/benefitsofmindfulness/
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml