Five day work culture is growing popularity in India. Apart from a better work life balance, it also helps to curb the energy consumption at offices as well as savings on transportation. Following suit is Tata Starbucks, which recently announced a five day work schedule for its employees.
A joint venture of Starbucks Corp. and Tata Global Beverages – Tata Starbucks released a statement that the company has initiated a five day work schedule for its 1,200 employees which will be effective from May 15, 2016.
“We acknowledge that our success would not be possible without the contributions our partners make on a daily basis to provide an exceptional third place experience for our customers and we are pleased to adopt a five day work schedule that also recognizes their commitments outside of their work,” CEO, Tata Starbucks Private Limited, Sumitro Ghosh was quoted by The Economic Times as saying.
Before this announcement, Starbucks was in news in 2015, for the monthly housing allowance it offered to its China employees. It helped them in overcoming the financial challenges of beginning their careers.
In 2014, the company had launched a College Achievement Plan which for the US partners, where they could earn a bachelor’s degree and their tuition fee will be covered.
Tata Starbucks – The Inception
Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971, Starbucks Corporation is an American coffee company and coffee house chain. It is the result of combined efforts made by the trio- Jerry Baldwin (english teacher), Zev Siegl (history teacher) and Gordon Bowker (writer), who were inspired to sell high-quality coffee beans and equipment by coffee roasting entrepreneur Alfred Peet after he taught them his style of roasting beans.
The Expansion
The first store of Starbucks store was built at 2000 Western Avenue between 1971–1976 in Seattle. This cafe was later moved to 1912 Pike Place Market permanently. During this time, the company only sold roasted whole coffee beans and did not yet brew coffee to sell. The only brewed coffee served in the store were free samples. During their first year of operation, they purchased green coffee beans from Peet’s, then began buying directly from growers.
Starbucks first became profitable in Seattle in the early 1980s, and despite an initial economic downturn with its expansion into the Midwest and British Columbia in the late 1980s, the company experienced revitalized prosperity with its entry into California in the early 1990s. The first Starbucks location outside North America opened in Tokyo in 1996; overseas properties now constitute almost one third of its stores. The company had opened an average of two new locations daily between 1987 and 2007.
Today it operates in around 23,768 locations worldwide, which include United States, China, Canada, Japan, South Korea and India.
The India Story
Starbucks, opened its first India store in October 2012, today it has more than 80 outlets and its expansion rate has created a record in Starbucks’ history. The Indian unit of the Seattle-based company has added 29 stores in 2014-15 in a market that has been subdued over the past two years as the consumers are not keen to spend in the mid of economic uncertainty.
