Starbucks adds worker perks

The world’s largest coffee chain is adding new perks for its employees in the wake of the U.S. tax cuts, announcing a wage increase and onetime bonus in the form of a stock grant, just as dozens of companies have done in recent weeks.

Yet it is also expanding paid sick leave and parental leave for many new dads, adding its name to the much smaller but growing list of companies using the recent tax cuts to expand benefits for workers.

Cutting such benefits in the future can be awkward for companies to pull back — even if simpler than trimming base pay — and could have a more lasting effect than a one-time bonus. New perks also allow companies to try to stand out among a crowded and increasingly competitive labor market by offering benefits that may pique the interest of workers or help retain them.

According to 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, only about 35 percent of workers in the accommodation and food services industry have access to paid sick days.

Indeed, Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges said the announcement was another way Starbucks aims to build on its brand of offering benefits to its workers other retail employers do not.

“Historically, we’ve shown we’re constantly thinking of ways for partners to share in our company’s success, from health care to stock grants,” he said.

The new perk allows Starbucks employees, whom the company calls “partners,” to accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, extending a benefit that had previously only been offered to employees where state law required it.

Workers may use the benefit in the case of an illness for themselves or for a family member, and the company said an employee working 25 hours per week could expect to accrue about five days of sick time over a year.