Overview of Starbucks | Assignment

Title Page
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Overview of Starbucks.................................................................................................................3
2.0 WHS system of Starbucks...............................................................................................................4
2.1 Possible risks involved while implementing those measures.......................................................4
3.0 Weaknesses in the WHS system of Starbucks................................................................................4
4.0 Recommendations to Improve the WHS system of Starbucks.......................................................5
5.0 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference list.........................................................................................................................................7
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1.0 Introduction
Every business needs to ensure that they are providing a safe environment for the customers and
also for their employees to work conveniently. This is when the importance of a well-structured
Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) system comes into spotlight. A WHS system can be simply
defined as a set of policies or standards that can help manage the health and safety of the workers
systematically and minimize the possible risks and injuries that can happen during workplace
operations (Katunge et al., 2016). This report will include a detailed analysis of the WHS system of
the very well-known coffee chain Starbucks.
1.1 Overview of Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American based multinational coffee chain that is known as one of the
most successful coffee shops in the world. As of November 2021, it had more than 15,000 stores in
the United States alone and each store was reported to have served more than thousands of
customers daily. This shows the workload the Starbucks Baristas should deal with each day.
These baristas have to go through a lot of pressure and high demand to make quality beverages in a
face-paced working environment. They should handle some equipment like an espresso machine,
therefore, this working condition can cause some health and safety hazards if a proper WHS system
was not implemented.
When it comes to Starbucks, five main potential hazards can happen during work. They are:
 Getting muscle strains or sprains- the working environment behind the counter areas
usually becomes messy with boxes and cartons laying around and can have some liquid spills
from the preparation of the beverages which can cause some injuries from slipping or
tripping. Further, injuries can also happen due to equipment malfunctions.
 Risk of getting a burn- having the responsibility to prepare and handle freshly prepared
beverages and working with steam & heat can cause some burn injuries or scalds.
 Repetitive stress injuries- working as a barista involves the need to repeat the same actions,
stand for too long and multi-task. this can cause some effects like lower back pain, soreness
of feet, shoulder damages, carpal tunnel syndrome, lower-limb muscle fatigue and many
more (Michael Schultz Law Firm, 2019).
 Cyber security attacks- some of the cyber criminals target these businesses as it’s an easy
target than bigger companies. These data breaches can compromise the customer and
employee data that can affect their safety.
 Bullying and violence- this can be a possible health and safety hazard due to the diversified
workforce and working conditions (WorkSafe Zealand, 2021).
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2.0 WHS system of Starbucks
The Starbucks Coffee Company (2015) health and safety policy include the following measures:
 Make sure that employees have access to potable water, first aid kits and emergency
medical care.
 Providing free personal protective equipment and proper instructions on how to use it.
 Having proper labelling in the machinery about hazardous materials and other potentially
dangerous items.
Starbucks has implemented proper covid-19saffety precautions to ensure the health and safety of
both the employees and customers. Frequent sanitizing, hand washing and cleaning running
temperature checks providing safety gloves and masks are some of the steps taken as covid-19
precautions in Starbucks (Starbucks Philippines, 2021).
Implemented mental health benefits to the US workers by offering free therapy sessions
collaborating with a mental health provider named Lyra Health (Umoh, 2020). Further Starbucks also
provides health insurance to their employees to show their commitment towards their employee’s
health and safety (Food News, 2021).
Apart from that, Starbucks provides the employees to speak their mind out with their initiative of
having a section in their website called 'partner perspectives.' this is a survey from which Starbucks
get an insight into the worker's experience which will allow them to share their experiences freely
(Taylor, 2017)
2.1 Possible risks involved while implementing those measures
 Low risk- employees not willing to make use of the mental health benefits and health
insurance due to anxiety problems. this is low risk because the company can keep a track of
the employees who didn’t make use of the general health benefits to give a personalized
health initiative which can be more beneficial for them
 Medium risk- some employees or customers might not abide by the Covid 19 safety
precautions even though the company insists. This is a medium risk as it can cause many
potential risks towards the health of other employees and society as a whole by spreading
the virus.
 High risk- despite the availability of safety labelling and proper equipment, some employees
might have not taken proper training to handle machinery and also in using the protective
equipment which can be a high risk that would highly impact the health and safety
procedure.
3.0 Weaknesses in the WHS system of Starbucks
Starbucks launched several initiatives to improve their customer service and support their
employees. However, Taylor (2019) mentions that many of the Starbucks baristas are not happy
about their work schedules and how they are overworked. Increased demand and orders coming
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from different media like mobile append drive through had strained the employees affecting their
mental and physical health (Center for Popular Democracy, 2015). This shows that Starbucks is yet to
look into the well-being of their employees.
Further, the initiative of having a section called ‘partner perspectives" on their website sounds great
however, many employees were identified to have felt uncomfortable presenting their thoughts
openly. it was evident from the interview done by Taylor (2017) where some employees have
mentioned that they don't feel secure enough to tell their perspectives openly as their numbers and
name would be visible. This shows that they prefer to give their responses anonymously.
Apart from that, Starbucks ' health and safety policy doesn't include sufficient initiative to protect
the employee’s and consumers' data. This can be a weakness in terms of protecting against data
breaches.
If these weaknesses are not addressed, Starbucks can face a high turnover and burnout rate due to
improper work schedules. Further, genuine employee perspectives will not be gained due to many
staffs feeling insecure about sharing their ideas. Moreover, the data breaches that can happen due
to improper data security can cause some legal issues as well. Therefore, let's have a look at how
Starbucks can improve their WHS system.
4.0 Recommendations to Improve the WHS
system of Starbucks
As we discussed above, the work of a barista requires a lot of hard work in a closed space to meet
the demanding orders. Therefore, the WHS system needs to be in place to support the employees to
perform their best and ensure their safety.
As we say in the above sections, Starbuck has a risk of having undertrained staff. It becomes a high
risk due to its enormous effect on the health and safety of the employees and customers as well as
on the overall company performance. Therefore Organizing necessary health and safety training
programs for both employees and managers would be the first recommendation.
Next, Starbucks can implement a scheduled inspection to check the durability of coffee machines,
see whether they are properly installed and check whether they are in a good condition to be used
by the employees. This can prevent the injuries caused by possible equipment malfunctions.
Another recommendation to improve the Starbucks WHS system is to maintain a Hazard
identification checklist. It can be a good initiative to improve the WHS system in any company
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General, 2014). Therefore, Starbucks can maintain a checklist in
terms of the potential hazards that can happen and take control and monitor to minimize and
eliminate those.
Finally, implementing proper data security systems and also coming up with a way for the employees
to fill surveys anonymously can ensure that employees are comfortable to share their genuine
experience without having the fear of displaying their identification. This can help the company to
get insights about their operations and identify the possible weaknesses to improve it further and
also protect its data from cybercriminals.
These steps would help improvise the WHS system of Starbucks and improve its heal and safety
standards.
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5.0 Conclusion
Maintaining a well-structured health and safety system should be given the highest priority by
Starbucks management. A WHS system should be aimed at creating convenient working conditions,
capabilities and relevant habits that would enable the workers to carry out their work productively
and safely. Further, both the company employer and the employee have the responsibility to
contribute towards maintaining the WHS system and ensuring their safety.
An effective WHS system and a successful implementation of it will bring in many advantages to the
company such as increased employee satisfaction, increased productivity and reduced costs related
to possible accidents (Katunge et al., 2016). On the other hand, it was evident that failure to
maintain a proper WHS system and failure to recognize the weaknesses of the system can cause
major safety concerns in the workplace affecting the overall performance of the company.
As per the analysis, Starbucks had a considerably good WHS policy however there were some areas
to be improved as well. Therefore, this report was able to portray the weaknesses identified in the
WHS system of Starbucks and also highlight the possible steps that can be taken to improve the
health and safety standards. If Starbucks take the possible steps to reduce their weakness, the
competitive advantage of the company can be improved along with the improved health and safety
standards.
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Reference list
Center for Popular Democracy (2015). Starbucks Employees Treated Badly. The Center for Popular
Democracy. Available at: https://www.populardemocracy.org/news-and-publications/starbucks-
employees-treated-badly-1.
Department of Justice and Attorney-General (2014). Cafe and restaurant industry: Hazard
identification checklist. Available at:
https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/21448/hazard-identification-checklist-
cafe.pdf.
Food News (2021). Health and Safety at Starbucks. Food News. Available at:
https://www.foodnewsnews.com/starbucks/health-and-safety-at-starbucks/
#What_are_the_health_and_safety_regulations_for_Starbucks [Accessed 2022].
Katunge, G., English, J., Teacher, L., Girls, M., School, H., Wahu, R. and Dean, M. (2016).
Maintaining Health and Safety at Workplace: Employee and Employer’s Role in Ensuring a Safe
Working Environment. Journal of Education and Practice, [online] 7(1). Available at:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1118861.pdf [Accessed 2022].
Michael Schultz Law Firm (2019). 5 common barista injuries. Michael Schultz Law Firm. Available
at: https://www.mikeschultzlaw.com/blog/2019/06/5-common-barista-injuries/.
Starbucks Coffee Company (2015). Starbucks Supplier Social Responsibility Standards:
Manufactured Goods and Services. Available at:
https://globalassets.starbucks.com/assets/1deb372ee3d840179e59c5b9c21cd5fe.pdf.
Starbucks Philippines (2021). We Care about You. Starbucks Coffee Company. Available at:
https://www.starbucks.ph/about-us/newsroom/customer-experience-feature/store-safety-
guidelines.html.
Taylor, K. (2017). “They’d Rather Us Be machines”: Starbucks Baristas Reveal the Worst Parts of
Working There. Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/worst-parts-of-
working-at-starbucks-2017-5.
Taylor, K. (2019). Starbucks is installing needle-disposal boxes in locations across America
following OSHA penalties and worker concerns about drug use in bathrooms. Business Insider.
Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-needle-disposal-boxes-more-locations-2019-
4 [Accessed 2022].
Umoh, R. (2020). Starbucks Expands Mental Health Benefits, Offers Therapy To All U.S. Workers.
Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/2020/03/16/starbucks-expands-mental-
health-benefits-offers-therapy-to-all-us-workers/?sh=7bcbbed57698 [Accessed 2022].
WorkSafe Zealand (2021). Cafés and restaurants. WorkSafe. Available at:
https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/managing-health-and-safety/managing-risks/what-risk-looks-like-in-
your-industry/cafes-and-restaurants/.
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