Starbucks is sweetening the pot for executives to expedite the company’s turnaround efforts, even as workers protest the company’s wages for baristas.
The coffee chain will give its executives up to $6 million in stock grants should they expeditiously deliver on cost-saving goals, according to documents filed Wednesday. The entirely performance-based incentive is in an effort to advance the company’s “Back to Starbucks” plan introduced by new CEO Brian Niccol to return Starbucks to its cozy, third-place roots.
“These grants are designed to motivate and retain our senior leaders to deliver on the significant transformation required by our turnaround plan,” the filing said. “The grants are directly tied to the achievement of key components of the Back to Starbucks plan to encourage our senior leaders to achieve these goals as quickly as possible.”
These goals pertain to the rollout of Starbucks’ Green Apron Service program to leverage technology to expedite orders, as well as “new food and beverage platforms” and “a reimaged Starbucks Rewards program,” per the filing. Employees are eligible to receive the stock grants at the end of Starbuck’s fiscal 2027, which ends in September 2027.
While employees can unlock a payout of up to 200% of the target, they must have worked through the service date of the performance-based restricted stock units.
Upon joining Starbucks as CEO in September 2024, Niccol has rolled out sweeping changes to the Seattle-based coffee chain, including a green apron dress code for baristas, human touches like hand-written order names, and a revamped hiring process to beef up store staffing. Amid slumping sales, the CEO wants to return Starbucks to its reputation of yore, when customers lingered over lattes in comfortable in-store seating.
Niccol stands to make up to $113 million in his first year as CEO, including a base salary of $1.6 million, a $75 million equity grant, and $10 million in signing bonuses for sticking at the job for the first six months.
Baristas’ grievances over wages
Unlike those in the C-suite, Starbucks employees behind the counter are fighting for incremental increases in hourly wages. Baristas last year earned smaller pay increases in 2024—about 2% to 3%—compared to the 3% to 5% increase from years prior, Bloomberg reported in December, citing an internal document. The pullback in wages, which are not tied to performance, came amid a challenging year for Starbucks, in which it battled lower traffic and sales following boycotts and slowing service. The coffee chain pays its baristas $19 an hour on average, totalling about $30 an hour when you include benefits.
Unionized Starbucks baristas have taken issue with wages as they seek to ratify a new contract with management two years after negotiations began, with Starbucks Workers United rejecting a company proposal in April guaranteeing at least a 2% pay increase annually. Starbucks did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Executive bonuses like what Starbucks disclosed on Wednesday are another worker grievance, particularly amid contract negotiations. Jasmine Leli, a barista in Buffalo, New York, and a bargaining delegate with Starbucks Workers United, told Fortune the $6 million incentives for executives is a “ridiculous and irresponsible step for Starbucks.”
“Starbucks cannot tell us that there is no money to put into a fair union contract for baristas when they paid Brian [Niccol] $96 million for 120 days of work in 2024 and have allocated millions upon millions for a glitzy manager conference and C-Suite bonuses,” Leli said in a statement. “‘Back to Starbucks’ will only succeed when baristas can thrive—and the first step is finalizing fair union contracts that lock in the staffing, hours, and protections we need to do our jobs.”
Not all baristas are sold on the company’s “Back to Starbucks” strategies more broadly. More than 2,000 Starbucks baristas at 120 U.S. stores went on strike in May, arguing the new dress code was not a relevant step to improve the customer experience.
“It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table that they’re putting into protesting wearing black shirts to work,” Starbucks said in a statement at the time.
Other workers have advocated for an easier way for stores to pause digital orders to mitigate overwhelm among baristas. Leli indicated baristas are still struggling to make drinks efficiently due to understaffing and high traffic volumes, despite Niccol’s efforts to decrease wait times to just 30 seconds.
“Baristas are the most important part of the Starbucks experience,” Leli said. “We’ve yet to see any progress in our demands including better staffing, guaranteed hours, improved take-home pay, and on-the-job protections.”
