I've been at Starbucks for the past seven months, and it honestly has awarded me nothing but opportunity, stability, and encouragement to become a better barista and a better person.
1. Starbucks offers low-cost health insurance to most partners.
Starbucks is a company that definitely values its workers — and it shows. It offers partners (its employees) affordable health, dental and vision insurance to all partners who work, on average, 20 hours a week. The health insurance on its own is only $27 a paycheck and covers the complete cost of preventative care visits.
2. The three free drinks a shift really help to keep me motivated.
Honestly before I started working at Starbucks I was a caffeine junkie, but after seven months it's only gotten progressively worse. Aside from feeding my caffeine addiction, getting free drinks helps partners and supervisors to try new combinations of drinks to suggest them to our customers.
3. The food also helps save on groceries.
Every shift Starbucks gives it's employees one free food item. This may not seem like much, but it definitely helps me cut costs on groceries when I know that I get a free meal six days a week.
4. All of the cool coffee terms you learn.
Ever wonder what affogato style is? What macchiato means? What the difference between a cappuccino and a latte is? You'll learn it as part of your basic training. You won't have to memorize them right away by any means, but you'll learn what they are. You'll also learn random other words that customers create by mispronouncing things.
5. The total tuition reimbursement!
Starbucks has partnered with Arizona State University Online to guarantee all partners working 20+ hours a week full tuition reimbursement to attend the university. Starbucks covers 40 percent tuition upfront with their College Achievement Plan (SCAP) scholarship, then you pay the next part with federal loans, and whatever is leftover Starbucks will reimburse you with the money in a paycheck after the semester is completed. Starbucks is a company that is genuinely appreciative of its employees, and this shows since the degree you earn at ASU Online doesn't have to be Starbucks or management related! You could seriously just work at Starbucks for school and leave — and Howard Schultz is okay with this.
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6. The political environment.
Even though we really aren't supposed to talk about politics or religion at work, Starbucks is outspokenly liberal. More so, they're outspokenly one of the largest allies to the LGBT+ community. I have no problem feeling safe and welcomed by the company, my coworkers, and the customers. It's the icing on the cake on why I love my job so dearly.
So as I've stated Starbucks offers great benefits to its workers. On top of these benefits it gives all of us the opportunity to network with customers -- which may seem crazy. However, once you stay there long enough, just like any other customer service job, you start to learn the names of regulars and learn about their lives. Maybe you'll run into someone who works in the field that you want to go into, or you'll run into your soulmate. Maybe you'll meet the next Bill Gates or Barack Obama, but the great thing is you'll always know them in their humblest form -- when they're ordering their coffee.
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