USA 
United Kingdom
New Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has become the latest executive to weigh in on the ongoing return-to-office (RTO) debate, suggesting that being in-office is the best place for most workers to be.
Speaking to his collective staff for the first time since stepping into the role earlier in September, Niccol discussed the “power of having everybody together,” according to a transcript of the address shared by Bloomberg News.
But in the speech to Starbucks employees on September 10, he did not go as far to introduce a new RTO mandate for the company.
What did Starbucks’ CEO say about returning to office?
While Niccol did not directly mention RTO, the executive did reveal his belief that for the majority of employees, working from the office is the most effective place to do their work.
“My point of view is we should be together as much as possible,” he said, before adding that employees should also use their autonomy.
“You need to figure out where you need to be to get your job done, then do that… We’re all adults here," he continued.
Unlike other employers including Amazon and Salesforce, which have both introduced strict return-to-office mandates in recent months, Niccol did not increase any existing requirements for in-office work from Starbucks employees.
Nor did he signal staff would be subject to more rigorous monitoring, such as badge scans or hours spent in the office.
“This is not a game of tracking. This is a game of winning,” Niccol, explained. “I care about seeing everybody here succeed, and if success requires us being together more often than not, let’s be together more often.”
Starbucks to attract, not force, staff back to the office?
Starbucks’ existing hybrid working policy mandates all corporate staff to work in the office three days a week.
It was introduced in 2023 by then-CEO Howard Schultz as “a shift designed to preserve the flexibility and productivity that you’ve built through your work-at-home rituals while, at the same time, bringing us together in a synchronized way for the in-person work that’s vital for our future success."
Satisfied with the requirements in place – a spokesperson for Starbucks confirmed no changes are being made to the three-day-per-week policy – Niccol’s attempts to encourage greater in-person work instead focused on creating an attractive in-office experience.
The executive reiterated benefits on offer to staff including an on-site gym, subsidized transit and shuttles to public transport hubs, free electric vehicle (EV) charging, and daycare center facilities.
He will also lead by example by complying with the mandate himself, spending the majority of his time in the office or visiting Starbucks sites, despite living 1,000 miles from the office.
The commute, which he will complete by private jet, has drawn widespread criticism including from employees as well as environmental activists.
Is return-to-office costing employers their best talent?
In his most recent role as CEO of Chipotle, Niccol introduced a four-day in-office mandate for staff, prompting fears from some Starbucks staff that their flexibility to work from home may be further reduced.
The fears have been fuelled by high-profile RTO mandates at other Fortune 500 companies.
At Salesforce, for example, despite CEO Mark Benioff stating in 2022 that office mandates are “never going to work,” the company told employees in numerous departments to come into the office four to five days a week from October 1.
Earlier in September, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy informed all corporate staff they must start working from the office five days per week from January.
“We’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another,” a memo to staff stated.
But employees have been widely critical of mandates that lower their flexibility to choose where, how, and when they work.
“Salesforce used to be the pinnacle of innovation and technology and now it's just backwards with a RTO mandate,” one employee said. “Four days in-office? Seems like a step back, honestly,” another added.
One Amazon staffer even quipped: “Can I negotiate my manager to PIP me… Take my money and leave?”
Previously in 2024, a report released by three researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago analyzed 260 million resumes alongside company data, revealing that strict RTO mandates, when not supported by employees, could be costing companies some of their highest-ranking talent.
