Starbucks Corporation CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ...

Listening to Our PartnersOur workplace culture is firmly rooted in our first GuidingPrinciple: “Provide a great work environment and treat eachother with respect and dignity.” This is a deeply held valuethat has inspired and driven our workplace practices fornearly two decades. This is the basis of our belief that ourpartners’ opinions should be heard and valued. We act on ourbelief by inviting partners to give us their feedback througha variety of channels. We then use partner input to shape ouractions and enhance the partner experience. One method weuse to get feedback is by conducting Partner View Surveys.Partner View SurveysStarbucks conducts a Partner View Survey approximatelyevery 18-24 months to solicit anonymous feedback frompartners around the globe. The survey touches on manyfacets of the partner experience, including development,communication, senior leadership, coffee knowledge andwork/life effectiveness. By participating in the survey,partners point out what Starbucks is doing well, and theyidentify issues at all levels of the company that need closerattention. We use this feedback to make adjustments andimprovements in order to increase our partners’ satisfactionand engagement – the connection our partners have totheir store or work group and to our company. Throughthis process, our partners are given a voice in shaping andenhancing their own workplace experience.The most recent survey was conducted in March 2006. Allpartners who work in company-operated stores, supportoffices and roasting plants or warehouses in the followingcountries were invited to participate: Australia, Canada,Costa Rica (Farmer Support Center), Germany, Hong Kong,Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand,United Kingdom and the United States. This was a significantexpansion over past Partner View Surveys in both its globalreach and response – 101,800 partners participated, an 84percent response rate.Partner View Survey Results – Fiscal 2006Partners’ overall satisfaction rate and level of engagementremained high – see chart at right. The survey called outspecific areas where Starbucks is succeeding in creating agreat work environment, including training and developmentopportunities and the focus on promoting coffee knowledge.Partners identified several areas that called for attention bythe company:• Pay and benefits• Communication within and between groups• Future job opportunitiesStarbucks began to address these issues in fiscal 2006.Specifically, we:• Increased wages for the majority of hourly store partners inall U.S. markets• Are working to improve our online tools, and consolidatepublications where appropriate• Are designing a global “Look Internal First” sourcingstrategy for filling all jobsPercentageFiscal year% of engaged partners % of satisfied partnersF U T U R E G O A L SPartner View Survey Results8273200373* We did not conduct a survey in fiscal 2004.In fiscal 2007, additional steps will be taken torespond to the survey results. We will:• Complete a study of pay for international storepartners.• Share the success of the company, consistent withour philosophy, through additional incentive andbenefits programs.• Look at new ways to communicate pay and benefitsinformation to our partners, including a new onlinetraining module for store partners.• Develop tools to enable internal talent sourcing andimprove career opportunity access and preparationfor partners.87200569862006W O R K P L A C E64