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Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

cnbc.com

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Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#61

Post by coldpie »

dachryn wrote: post #55
coldpie wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's a CEO of a major company, man. They don't have actual work. This would be the most productive month of his life.

I was not expecting this Reddit level of comments on HN. Really hoping you are sarcastic.

Nope. The role of executives at large companies is to most effectively move resources away from labor and towards the owners of capital. They decide where to open the next branch to crush competitors who treat their workers and customers better; they negotiate deals with suppliers so those suppliers and their workers have fewer resources; they coordinate with other large competitors to hamper workers' attempts at improving labor conditions.

This, to me, doesn't qualify as work. Large company executives create no value. They only take and store value from those who actually perform real work.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#62

Post by dataengineer56 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #59
whack wrote: post #13

I recall Amazon used to do something similar. Executives would sometimes take customer service shifts. The goal isn't PR or worker morale - most people see through stunts like that. The real goal is to help leaders better understand their product, its problems, and customer frustrations.

IIRC McDonalds still does this for some subset of its corporate workforce.

I know of several restaurant chains who do this - it's seen as very important for restaurant head office workers to understand exactly how the restaurants work and the problems that they experience.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#63

Post by thrdbndndn »

roflchoppa wrote: post #46

The only way things like this really work is by not giving any heads up to the store or the store management. Otherwise store management spends a huge amount of time trying to tidy up before “corporate” comes by. At least that was my experience when things like this happened at the fruit stand.

Assuming he actually works the whole shift, he still can experience what works as a barista in his company is like (workload, how to deal with customers assuming they don't recognize him) somewhat truthfully.

I think it's worth something.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#64

Post by unsupp0rted »

roflchoppa wrote: post #46

The only way things like this really work is by not giving any heads up to the store or the store management. Otherwise store management spends a huge amount of time trying to tidy up before “corporate” comes by. At least that was my experience when things like this happened at the fruit stand.

It's really obvious when you put a c-suite 40-something or 50-something exec on a blue collar team: nobody's gonna be fooled for a minute. It's like that SNL skit of Kylo Ren from Star Wars going undercover in the employee cafeteria.

As long as you spring it on them they won't have a chance to tidy up first. They'll still be on their best behavior and follow every rule to a T once the exec shows up though.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#65

Post by dataviz1000 »

Ekaros wrote: post #16
whack wrote: post #13

I recall Amazon used to do something similar. Executives would sometimes take customer service shifts. The goal isn't PR or worker morale - most people see through stunts like that. The real goal is to help leaders better understand their product, its problems, and customer frustrations.

I think a week in warehouse might do good for them. Or as delivery driving...

My first career was a chef. When I asked a friend of the family who owned a restaurant when I was teenager what steps I should take to become a chef, the advice he gave was "Get a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant because the most important thing you need to know is to respect your dishwasher because anytime everything goes wrong and you are in a jam, it is your dishwasher who will save you." Unknown to me the restaurant that hired me when I was 17 as a dishwasher was also one of the most prestigious restaurants in California in the early 90s which lead to years cooking in Michelin Star restaurants. Good advice.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#66

Post by angry_moose »

thrdbndndn wrote: post #63
roflchoppa wrote: post #46

The only way things like this really work is by not giving any heads up to the store or the store management. Otherwise store management spends a huge amount of time trying to tidy up before “corporate” comes by. At least that was my experience when things like this happened at the fruit stand.

Assuming he actually works the whole shift, he still can experience what works as a barista in his company is like (workload, how to deal with customers assuming they don't recognize him) somewhat truthfully. I think it's worth something.

First line:

Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan told employees Thursday that he’ll work a half day every month at one of the coffee giant’s locations.

Something tells me it'll be something like 1-5pm; not the 7am rush.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#68

Post by blululu »

gwbas1c wrote: post #39
tiedieconderoga wrote: post #24

It's a nice gesture, but this sort of ear-to-the-ground work is something that everyone over a VP level should be doing in such a high-touch customer-facing business. When it's just the CEO for one day a month...it's like when you see a frontpage news article declaring that your governor recently undertook a choreographed ride on the local subway to better understand their constituents' public transit concerns. Inste…

One shift a month means that the CEO will have a much better feel for the customer environment and not be disconnected. I hope he rotates through a few different stores, though. Otherwise, he may become myopic to the quirks of one particular location.

A little bit of knowledge can be less than useless. It gives the impression of understanding while passing over the harsher realities. The way that such a move is enacted matters. Is this shift scheduled on a random Saturday/Sunday with ~48 hours notice. Does the shift last 8 hours? Does his replacement randomly show up 30 minutes late and he needs to work an extra 30 minutes with zero notice? Does he need to open the shop bright and early after closing the night before? If the CEO is insulated from these rather common experiences then the exercise masks the problems with a veneer of understanding.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#69

Post by adrianmonk »

throw1234651234 wrote: post #2

If this was not a PR move, but a desire to get a sense for work conditions, real problems, etc, it would not be publicized.

It can be both. If you have a better way to run your company, why not do it and also score a bonus PR win in the process?

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#70

Post by yuters »

roflchoppa wrote: post #46

The only way things like this really work is by not giving any heads up to the store or the store management. Otherwise store management spends a huge amount of time trying to tidy up before “corporate” comes by. At least that was my experience when things like this happened at the fruit stand.

I saw this happen too. Lots of people doing overtime to tidy up the store for when the regional manager came by.

I had my hand in a cast at the time in a work related incident, so I only did some menial tasks. The regional manager focused on me for a time, and was extremely frustrated with how slow I was. He proceeded to show me how much quicker he could do those menial tasks with just one hand. It was weird. I feel like the disconnect he had with the realities of the stores is on an entire other level than not being there to witness it.

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