Starbucks closing over 8,000 stores for anti-bias training
Starbucks is closing more than 8,000 U.S. stores for a few hours Tuesday to conduct antibias training in the company’s latest effort to deal with the fallout over the arrest of two black men at one of its shops in Philadelphia.
After the incident last month, the coffee chain’s leaders apologized and met with the men but also scheduled an afternoon of training for 175,000 employees.
“We still aspire to be a place where everyone feels welcome,” Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz said in an open letter Tuesday. He said the instruction will become part of how Starbucks trains all its workers.
According to a video previewing the session, Starbucks executives and rapper-activist Common were to deliver recorded remarks. From there, employees were to “move into a real and honest exploration of bias” where, in small groups, they can share how the issue comes up in their daily work life.
Developed with feedback from the NAACP Legal Defence and Education Fund, the Perception Institute and other advocacy groups, the fourhour session was designed to give workers a primer on the history of civil rights from the 1960s to the present day. The agenda included a short documentary film.
Starbucks has not said how much the training will cost the company or how much money it expects to lose from closing the stores early.
“It’s quite expensive,” Schultz told reporters Tuesday. “We’ve had certain shareholders call and say, ‘How much is this going to cost and how do you justify this?’ My answer to them was simply: We don’t view it as an expense. We view it as an investment in our people and the long-term cultural values of Starbucks.”
The training was not mandatory, but the company expects almost all of its employees to participate. It said the workers will be paid for the full four hours.
Training in unconscious, or implicit, bias is used by many corporations, police departments and other organizations. It is typically designed to get people to open up about prejudices and stereotypes.