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

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

#111

Post by KptMarchewa »

angry_moose wrote: post #66
thrdbndndn wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

11am-6pm seem to be peak hours for cafes near me - and google data confirms this. Why would 7am be peak time there?

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

#112

Post by badwolf »

angry_moose wrote: post #66
thrdbndndn wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've mixed feelings. Many probably wouldn't want the semi-dead weight of big executive screwing up the morning rush.

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

#113

Post by tmpz22 »

logicalmonster wrote: post #77
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.

> Executives would sometimes take customer service shifts. This won't happen among most companies, but I'd love to see that become a common practice with at least some high-level developers. There's so many pain points in many customer service organizations that are easily solvable if a developer understood the frustration and waste with many customer service tasks. Nothing motivates more than having to do some annoy…

> There's so many pain points in many customer service organizations that are easily solvable if a developer understood

AND if a developer actually has the opportunity to do something about it. Many companies overbook their developers time such that deadlines are constantly missed, where in that prioritization is their room for significant improvements to other services?

If the Engineering Manager is judged by their project throughput how does the EM feel about their reports working outside of that scope?

If there's value in Customer Service there should be a distinct team working on it and it shouldn't become a second job existing employees have to work.

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

#114

Post by parker_mountain »

daedalus_j wrote: post #109

Ron Johnson used to do this when he headed Apple retail. Would just go into a store totally undercover to the customers (obviously staff would recognize him) and work for a bit. Occasionally fairly major changes, both to the staff side and to the customer experience, were made based on his visits. I don't recall ever seeing a press announcement about it. Saying you're doing it to win brownie points sure makes it seem…

> Occasionally fairly major changes

like what? I'm curious. There's nothing that shows the flaws of a process like running it yourself.

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

#115

Post by system16 »

The reverse of this: in my early days in tech support for a major router manufacturer, we were told the CEO would occasionally call in posing as a customer, and agents had been fired for being rude or offering poor support. To this day I don't know if it was true or not, but it scared enough people to think Big Brother was always watching.

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

#117

Post by cushychicken »

stagger87 wrote: post #76
diebeforei485 wrote: post #67

This is good. But it should be unannounced. He should just show up and work.

The marketing department will not allow that to happen.

Any CEO doing this for the right reasons - I.e., to help ensure the product is good - would whip the marketing department right into shape and tell them to keep a lid on it.

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

#118

Post by kube-system »

richiebful1 wrote: post #44
wodenokoto wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at a small (in Amazon scale - still the largest in the country) home grocery delivery service and everyone pre corona had to spend their 2 first weeks in the warehouse. Everyone had done it, including managers and c-level

I figure that's a much better place to work than an Amazon warehouse then?

The couple of people I personally know that have worked at Amazon warehouses says they're pretty well ran in comparison to other warehouses.

And I know personally that my experience working in a small-business warehouse back when I was young was absolutely garbage. Smaller businesses rarely get any news coverage, but I worked in a warehouse with zero ventilation, no safety training, no safety equipment, nobody trained in logistics, broken and improper lifting equipment, etc. This is par for the course at a workplace with zero outside scrutiny.

Amazon warehouses are at least run by professionals in logistics, have proper safety procedures, equipment, training, etc. As I understand, the 'bad' part is the volume. But at the end of the day, even a well-run warehouse job is a warehouse job. It is physical work.

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

#119

Post by darth_avocado »

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…

I’d like to see them work a month on worker pay, with no access to outside funds, house or car. Get some real empathy going.

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

#120

Post by unsupp0rted »

throwawaymaths wrote: post #108
unsupp0rted wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

to be fair half of what made that funny/awkward is Kylo fishing for compliments. If Narasimhan is chill, it might be less super-awkward. Plus, who knows Narasimhan. This is the first I've heard his name. I wouldn't be surprised if most starbucks counter employees don't know the name of the CEO, much less what he looks like.

It's not really name or face-recognition usually. Execs slumming it in the trenches just speak and listen differently. And they have very specific priorities there that day (it's not "I'm just covering my shift" like everybody else). They stand out, clear as day.
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