### Starbucks Enforces Hybrid Work Policy: Office Attendance Now Mandatory

Starbucks has issued a firm warning to its office personnel: come to work in person at least three times a week or face potential job termination. Beginning January 2025, employees who do not adhere to this hybrid work policy will enter into an "accountability process" that could result in their separation from the company, as reported by an internal message revealed by the Wall Street Journal.

A Starbucks spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg News that leadership is being supported to ensure their teams comply with this policy. Notably, the company will no longer enforce a mandatory Tuesday office attendance, leaving the responsibility to managers to decide which three days work best for their respective teams. This three-day in-office rule has been in effect for the past two years.

One significant figure under scrutiny is Starbucks's new CEO, Brian Niccol, who has received criticism for utilizing a corporate jet to travel nearly 1,000 miles from his home in Newport Beach, California, to the Seattle headquarters three times a week. Starbucks has defended Niccol, stating that he will meet or exceed the company’s hybrid work requirements. Niccol, who previously served as the CEO of Chipotle, adopted this role at Starbucks in September 2024. At Chipotle, he enforced a more stringent policy requiring employees to be in the office four days a week.

Expressing his views last month, Niccol emphasized that for employees to be effective, they often need to be in the office. "This is not a game of tracking. This is a game of winning," he remarked during a forum at Starbucks headquarters. "I care about seeing everybody here succeed, and if success requires us being together more often than not, let's be together more often."

This move by Starbucks is part of a broader trend as corporations reestablish return-to-office mandates that began during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. For example, Amazon has recently required a full return to the office, effective 2 January, with Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman explaining that those who cannot adapt to this environment might consider opportunities elsewhere.