Bulletin Board Usage

MOUNTAIN JOB SEEKERS BEWARE!!

Looking for employment? Looking for Benefits? Don’t look at the new STARBUCKS in Lake Arrowhead. Though you might have heard that they are the only place on the Mountain that offers health benefits- and that they are a good company to work for- don’t be deceived. A dear friend reluctantly told me of her experience with the national coffee house chain and it is worth repeating. My friend, who is in her mid-forties, going through a divorce, has a child to support and- has a history of cancer, has scoured the mountain for employment with health benefits and ended up there having heard all the above accolades. In her interview with the manager, she explained her situation: that her insurance is running out and that she needed sufficient hours as the money offered is minimum wage. The manager was encouraging and enthusiastically hired this hard-working, very over-qualified lady, leading her to believe that her needs would be met.

REAL STORY: After 3 weeks of training and indoctrination into the STARBUCKS corporate coffee world, she was given a 12 hour work week! She was told that she could ‘qualify’ for insurance in September; only with a minimum of 20 hours per week- which were not guaranteed- and further, that she could lose her insurance if the hours weren’t met. When she asked around, she discovered that very few of the many employees (15-20) actually had health benefits, and/or the hours needed to qualify. When my friend kindly confronted the manager with her concerns, she was told to refer to her booklet; that it was all in there, etc., etc. By the way, there was no indication that her job performance had anything to do with this seeming change of attitude.

TRUTH: It’s a scam. Though it is legal to hire many part-time employees, thereby not having to offer any full benefits- it is unethical and bad business to offer these and manipulate the system so that honest, sincere people who actually need these things are led to believe that they will receive them and end up with the sad truth . . . nothing. Too bad and so sad that STARBUCKS would want to do this. Of course the allure to hire a more mature person with both management and great customer service skills, in lieu of the average teen who needs fewer hours to meet his/her school schedule, is understandable. But to lead someone on who has laid it on the line- is neither understandable, nor forgivable. It’s just bad business and poor management.

As a former Starbucks employee this is Ludicrous. Starbucks is one of very few companies that so graciously offer benefits to their part time employees even though they do not have too. You do have to work a minimum of 20 hours a week to qualify for these benefits, and they also offered profit sharing (not sure if they still offer this benefit). Still needless to say this is something that most companies would never even consider to offer. Also as far as being paid minimum wage, what do you want you are a Barista serving coffee what should you get paid?

The truth of the matter is is the starbucks in lake arrowhead is in a small community and there is not a lot of staff that is needed to maintain the care of the store, and customers so not a lot of employee hours are available to be spread over the entire staff.

I feel bad for your friend but really this is not something that starbucks caused, nor is it something that you should be mad at starbucks for at least your friend has a job here on the MTN and doesnt have to travel DTH to work.

Actually this may be a Starbucks policy. I know a young person who has worked at starbucks for over a year DTH. He also does constructions clean up, but keeps the starbucks job to have extra money for savings. (Apparently a history teacher DTH told him we were going to have another depression and he believes it so works two jobs.) He has also subbed at several other starbucks who were shorthanded to pick up more hours.

Anyway, after more then a year they still only offer him less than 20 hours a week. He says only the managers, assistant managers ect...get more than 20 hours a week because they are also the only ones who get the benefit.

Seems to me that starbucks could change their policy to read that benefits are only offered to full - time employees (ie managers) Then they would be letting young kids know up front that they would have to work towards that position. I believe that they are leading kids to believe that they are getting a better job then they end up with.

One happy thought about starbucks. This young man says he is allowed to drink coffees or teas while on shift free of charge. The coffees are expensive and apparently his manager doesn't limit the number he can have while working...so at 5 bucks a coffee I suppose they are getting a small benefit there. Plus, they do get a small amount in tips.

I worked at starbucks for 4 years and the entire time that I worked there I received benefits because I worked over 20 hours a week I was not considered a full time employee until I became a shift lead and then an Assistant Manager. But as an extremely hard worker who had full availability I was never scheduled for less than 30 hours unless I asked for time off.

Its funny that to me that people would complain that starbucks offers this as an incentive to its employees. It is not misleading it clearly states that employees who work over 20 hours in a given time period are qualified for benefits.

If someone is not clearing the 20 hours I would venture to say it is because of their unavailability to be scheduled during the times that the store needs them, or that they are in an area where the starbucks is just not as busy as it is in more densely populated areas (if you can imagine that)

RS - the complaint wasn't that they offer benefits to those who work 20 hours the complaint is that they are not giving everyone 20 hours.

The young guy I know has asked for more hours many times and was told to sub. He also states that the baristas he works with consistantly are given under 20 hours. He works in a busy high traffic area where there are shopping centers etc...So, I doubt lake of business is the case there.

lol - lake = lack (typo)

The original complaint was about starbucks and how they supposedly offer this deceptive incentive to its employees. I was merely clearing up that their is not any deception. The policy is as it is stated and it is honored as such. The reality is that many of the people who are hired to work at starbucks are: students, young adults, and people who already have a job and just need or want the supplemental income. When working with these populations of workers it lends itself to a myriad of problems with scheduling shifts throughout the day. Shifts need to be covered more throughout the busy parts of the day and less in the slow parts lending the way to short shifts to more appropriately spread the hours among the employees and to also meet the business needs.

The mere disarray of our economy is another reason for less hours. more people needing a second job to make ends meet lends to employees all needing more money but yet the store can only give out so many hours each month and still make money.

I work with a couple of former and one present starbucks employees. They were talking about this at lunch the other day. They worked there because of the benefits they got while still in college. There are very few places you can work part time and get benefits. We were telling a college student about our experiences. All of them worked for different Starbucks that provided them benefits. Instead of claiming the whole chain is scammers, maybe there are circumstances in this case that are different.

One of the teachers still works for Starbucks on a very limited basis and loves the company and training new employees.

I never worked for Starbucks, so this is only from the conversation we had. I got my flexible hours and benefits in college by working for UPS at the Ontario Airport. They also offer benefits for part time employees.

Devkon,

I would agree 100% it would seem to me that their are circumstances that are not presented here or are not known to the person making the complaint.

Starbucks in my experience is a very good company to work for and a very community oriented business.

what does this have to do with bb usage

Nobody, I repeat, NOBODY, should ever get benefits for working 12 hours a week! That is ridiculous and most businesses would go out of business if they had to do such a thing. The original poster's "friend" shouldn't have taken the job in the first place if benefits were an issue. I'm afraid I can totally understand that a new employee would get very few hours, because the work ethic today is really lousy and I'm afraid most employees don't work out for the long term. (Just relaying the info I get from business owners these days.) I come from the old school where benefits are earned over time. Just call me an old-fart! (I know, I asked for it, didn't I? lol)

The OP was coveying in the post that the person who applied for the job was in dire need of medical insurance and was mislead by the person who did the hiring by not scheduling enough hours a week to qualify for the benefits.

Some places do this on purpose, however, I dopn't really see that it is unreasonable to have new employees on a probationary period to make sure they have the qualities needed to perform the job better than average. During that time you have the opportunity to show initiative and hard work to advance in this career.

this is true.
starbucks was voted one of the top places to work.
they offer benefits to part time workers.
starbucks is closing 600 stores.

I go into both the lake arrowhead and blue jay SB all the time, been going to the one in Jensens since it opened. What I have noticed is that the employees seem happy to be working for SB. they seem to stay for years, this is rare in the food biz. Also rare in the food biz is getting full time work. Many employees avarage about 15 hrs per week and most min. wage jobs do not offer ins. It seems that most of the employees at both are working more then 20 hrs same employees are there every day. In the food biz you have to prove yourself to gain more hrs, And be available to work all shifts. Maybe she should have given them more time to see what a great worker she was and how available she really was. I give the hours to the employees that work hard, are on time, follow the rules and are available. Does SB still give pounds of coffee beans to employees??