Starbucks CEO promises to sling coffee at stores, job seekers favor postings where pay is listed
Plus, why Gen Z might want to return to the office.
Greetings, comms pros! Let’s look at some news stories from this week and see what lessons we can learn from them.
1 . Starbucks CEO says he’ll work in stores one day a month
It’s one thing when the head of a company says that they want to build a culture of positivity, but it’s another thing entirely when they roll up their sleeves and experience their employees’ day-to-day work. That’s exactly why Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan announced he is planning on working one shift a month in a Starbucks cafe.
“To keep us close to the culture and our customers, as well as to our challenges and opportunities, I intend to continue working in stores for a half day each month, and I expect each member of the leadership team to also ensure our support centers stay connected and engaged in the realities of our stores for discussion and improvement,” he wrote in a letter to employees Thursday morning.
Narasimhan’s commitment to working in-store comes at a time in which the company’s relationship with its baristas isn’t on the most stable ground. Nearly 200 corporate-owned Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, and workers have cited unsafe work conditions and understaffing as reasons they support forming unions.
To that end, Narasimhan’s comms play here has wisdom for organizations of all sizes. When employees see that their leadership is willing to get in the trenches and experience work from their perspective, it starts to close the hierarchical gap and sets the stage for visibility, and accountability from the C-suite — depending on what they learn and how they act on it. Will it work at Starbucks? It’s too early to say. But it’s a step in the right direction.
2. Study claims more than half of employees only apply for jobs with pay listed
A recent study from Beamery found that 52% of employees will prioritize applying for jobs that are upfront about compensation.
As the movement around pay transparency continues to grow, some locales like New York have gone so far as to codify it into law. These numbers offer a reminder that today’s employees demand more from their employers. Transparency can take many forms, but letting employees feel as if they understand how companies allocate things like finances and budgets, when appropriate, can deepen trust and come off to your employees as a sign of respect.
If you’re not sure what transparency is missing, continue to ask employees when you deploy pulse surveys, hold town halls, and equip managers with the tips to be aware of what employees in our organization want. we learn back up the ladder.
3. Gen Z shows signs that they want in-person office work
We’ve written about the benefits of remote and hybrid work here at Ragan, fresh research shows that the youngest generation in the workforce might want to head into the office to get their jobs done.
The oldest Gen Zer is only 26 and at most, has a couple of years of pre-pandemic work experience under their belt. They hope to see the future of work differently than their older colleagues. In an Axios survey, when asked what they’ll miss out on if continuing to work remotely, 74% of young people say the office community and 41% say mentoring.
There’s no denying that cultivating community is a major tenet of solid workplace culture and that mentorship is key to advancing in any comms job. It’s understandable that younger employees who haven’t had the experience of working in an office five days a week (and drinking the horrible coffee that’s usually there) want to be around their coworkers, especially since many of them have probably only existed through Zoom screens.
To that end, organizations should take care to cater to employees’ situations, and a one-size-fits-all approach usually doesn’t work for an entire company.
4. How about some good news?
- A kitchen renovation in England revealed 400-year-old paintings
- Spirit Mountain, a site sacred to indigenous populations in Nevada, was listed as a National Monument
- A Swiss startup will install solar panels on railroad tracks to generate electricity
- Ragan Training is great for communications pros to find inspiration and resources.
- You should be rewarded for your work. Find out how to earn an award here!
Have a great weekend comms all-stars!
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time, he enjoys Philly sports, a good pint, and ’90s trivia night.
