Today, building on Starbucks historic commitments to offering leading benefits for its partners (employees), Starbucks Coffee Company announced a set of programs, designed to support eligible partners when it comes to two critical areas of financial well-being: savings and student loan debt.
The new benefits, which will begin on September 19, will contribute to eligible partners’ financial stability and help them manage their higher education debt. Both programs were informed by thousands of conversations with partners over the last several months as the coffee company reinvents its future.
“We’ve heard from our partners and know that pressures of inflation, in addition to debt and savings are weighing heavily on them,” said Ron Crawford, SVP Total Rewards, Starbucks. “Providing industry-leading benefits for our partners is a cornerstone of who we are as a company. As we reinvent the future of Starbucks, together with our partners, we knew we had an opportunity to further support the financial well-being of our partners and their families.”
Working with Fidelity, Starbucks is introducing My Starbucks Savings, a new way to help eligible partners save for the unexpected. All eligible U.S. partners will be able to contribute a portion of after-tax pay on a recurring basis directly from their paycheck to a personal savings account. To incentivize savings and account growth, Starbucks will contribute $25 and $50 credits at key saving milestones up to a total of $250 per incentive eligible partner.
“Too many Americans are unprepared financially to handle the unexpected, and this current economic environment only makes it more important to help people establish solid savings behaviors and foundation to cover short-term expenses,” says Kevin Barry, president of Workplace Investing at Fidelity Investments. “As this program demonstrates, employers are in a position to help, which is why Fidelity is pleased to work with Starbucks and other companies to provide savers with a path to achieving their financial goals, such as emergency savings.”
Starbucks will also launch a Student Loan Management Benefit through Tuition.io to help eligible partners manage and optimize student loan repayments. Through this tool, eligible U.S. partners and their families will have access to new tools, resources, and individual coaching to manage student loan debt, such as repayment options and loan refinancing. Tools within the platform will help partners view all their student loan debt in one place and locate the best individual action to take based on their personal repayment scenario and goals. This could include taking advantage of income-based repayment options, refinancing, and planning how best to finance education for college-bound students and parents of students.
“Student loan debt remains a tremendous financial burden for the nearly 48 million US consumers who have borrowed to finance the education necessary to unlock the best career opportunities,” said Scott Thompson, CEO of Tuition.io. “As we approach the time when payments will be restarted for federal loans, we’re honored to work with Starbucks to support their partners and their families to make the best financial decisions regarding repayment of their student loans and options for financing their future education.”
These benefits build on Starbucks continued work to support partners’ holistic well-being as a company with programs that include 401(k) with Starbucks Match, Bean Stock, comprehensive healthcare coverage, full tuition coverage for a Bachelor’s Degree through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, Lyra mental health benefit and more.
“We believe that when we invest in you and your greater aspirations we are investing in the success of Starbucks too,” says Sara Kelly, Starbucks chief partner officer. “This is just one more way we are co-creating a meaningful partner experience and a better future for Starbucks.”
This announcement builds on partner financial stability investments from Starbucks earlier this year when the company committed to increase partner pay, effective August 1.
