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Since our founding, Starbucks has a long legacy of putting our partners first and creating a culture where everyone is welcome. In 2019, we published a <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2019/01/Covington-Report-to-Starbucks-Jan-23-2019.pdf">Civil Rights Assessment</a> in which Covington &amp; Burling LLP evaluated our ongoing efforts related to diversity, equity and inclusion and how they support our mission and values. We <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/an-update-on-starbucks-civil-rights-assessment/">continue to track</a> annually against this assessment, reviewing its recommendations as we plan. Our equity and inclusion activity is updated regularly <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/starbucks-equity-and-inclusion-timeline/">here</a>.

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Among partners, our approach is to create meaningful opportunities by investing in their health, well-being, and overall success, all while working to advance a culture of equity and inclusion. This means ensuring that leadership demonstrates commitment and accountability to inclusion and diversity. It means building collective understanding among all partners, and cultivating a more inclusive workplace, where partners feel valued and a sense of belonging. It means building and sustaining a highly engaged, high-performing, and diverse workforce at all levels. And it means ensuring equal opportunity, pay equity, and proactive workplace resolutions.

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3,200+ diplomas with 14,000+ participants

Goal: Graduate 25,000 Starbucks partners from Arizona State University (ASU) by the end of 2025 Starbucks College Achievement Plan is helping partners complete their education through Arizona State University (ASU) online. We are proud to continue to lead in this area, providing 100% tuition reimbursement to partners that work an average of 20 hours a week or more. As of June 2020, more than <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-celebrates-our-college-graduates/">4,500 partners</a> have earned first-time bachelor’s degrees since the program was announced in 2014.

We also continue to expand the <a href="https://www.starbucksglobalacademy.com/#/default">Starbucks Global Academy</a>, a globally accessible platform created in partnership with ASU for Starbucks partners as well as customers, community members, and learners around the world that delivers world-class learning content and eliminates barriers to high quality education.

New U.S. and Canada mental health initiative and family support benefits

Goal: Continued leadership in innovative, relevant benefits for full- and part-time retail employees Starbucks continues to pioneer <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2020/03/Infographic-Starbucks-Benefits-March-2020.pdf">innovative benefits</a> for our full- and part-time partners in the U.S., and internationally, we continue to customize our compensation packages to remain competitive and responsive to partner feedback.

The new <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-commitment-to-partners-mental-health/">mental health initiative</a> announced to U.S. and Canadian partners in FY19, with further rollout in early FY20, includes efforts to break the stigma around mental health needs, connect partners to quality care that meet their specific needs, and provide ongoing training to 12,000 store managers and field leaders. In FY19 we also announced new reimbursement for uncovered surrogacy and intrauterine insemination in the U.S. and Canada.

100% pay equity in the U.S.; 100% gender equity in pay in Canada and China

Goal: 100% global gender pay equity in U.S. and company-owned markets Our pay equity achievements to date were reached in FY18 and maintained with continued rigor in FY19. We continue to work toward <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2018/starbucks-commitment-to-gender-racial-pay-equity/">global pay equity</a>. In 2019 the median pay for women globally was 98.3% of the median for men, while in the U.S., the median pay ratio was 100% for women and 100% for people of color.

In the U.S., Starbucks and 25 other U.S. employers in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.employersforpayequity.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Employers for Pay Equity</a>&nbsp;consortium agreed in 2019 to work with a shared set of <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/25-companies-join-starbucks-to-end-u-s-gender-pay-gap/">Pay Equity Principles</a>. We have established U.S. best practices supporting these principles. Going forward we will establish global best practices as well.

42% women in senior leadership; 17% people of color in senior leadership

Goal: At the senior leadership level, 50% women and a 50% increase in representation by people of color since 2015 In addition to our goals related to staff leaders, our board is currently comprised of 38% women, four of whom are members of minority groups. Starbucks first Global Chief Inclusion &amp; Diversity Officer, Nzinga Shaw, was hired in November 2019. In an&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2020/02/Starbucks-Civil-Rights-Assessment-2020-Update.pdf">Update to Starbucks Civil Rights Assessment</a>&nbsp;the company has set new representation goals for the first time across all roles, including, at minimum, a goal of 40% people of color and 55% women in all retail roles, and 50% women and 30% people of color for all enterprise roles, by 2025.

More than 175,000 participating in anti-bias training since 2018

Goal: Cultivation of inclusion and diversity awareness Following Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2019/01/Covington-Report-to-Starbucks-Jan-23-2019.pdf">Civil Rights Assessment</a> in January of 2019, we have implemented several recommendations and continue to review them as we plan. In FY19, we published principles on <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/starbucks-principles-for-upholding-the-third-place-for-our-partners-our-customers-and-our-communities/">upholding the third place</a> and rolled out new resources for partners including&nbsp;<a href="https://tobewelcoming.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">To Be Welcoming</a>, a 15-course online curriculum designed to address bias through understanding the human experience; the course is also available to customers.

Goal: Hire 100,000 Opportunity Youth by the end of 2020 These <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2017/starbucks-hiring-initiatives/">hiring commitments</a> are intended to welcome new partners from communities that may experience barriers to employment. The FY19 status for Opportunity Youth is a decrease from the FY18 status due to an identified technical error.

Nearly 28,000 veterans and military spouses hired

Goal: Hire 25,000 veterans and military spouses by 2025 We met our military hiring goal <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/meet-some-of-the-25000-veterans-and-military-spouses-starbucks-has-hired/">six years early</a>, with a new goal set to hire 5,000 veterans and military spouses annually. More detail on our military commitment is <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/starbucks-military-commitment/">here</a>.

Goal: Hire 10,000 refugees globally by 2022 We continue to collaborate with other employers to share best practices and build partnerships with refugee-serving organizations. Starbucks EMEA has hired refugees in 12 countries across the region in partnership with local non-governmental organizations.

$7.5 billion spent with diverse suppliers since 2000

Goal: Stimulate economic development in the communities Starbucks serves while delivering high-quality products and services Starbucks Supplier Diversity and Inclusion program&nbsp;drives inclusion of&nbsp;qualified women-, minority-, people with disabilities-, veteran-,&nbsp;LGBTQ-&nbsp;and small (8(a) and HUBZone)-owned suppliers&nbsp;throughout our supply chain. To continue these efforts, we will focus on suppliers of all sizes and will include mentorship components to assist suppliers in developing to a point where they can succeed as a Starbucks supplier.

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2019 Report: Creating Meaningful Opportunities - Starbucks Stories EMEA

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Starbucks Stories EMEA

2019 Report: Creating Meaningful Opportunities

Starbucks 2019 Global Social Impact Report: Creating Meaningful Opportunities goals and progress.

https://stories.starbucks.com/emea/stories/2020/2019-report-creating-meaningful-opportunities/

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Take a look back at more than three decades of LGBT+ support and advocacy at Starbucks.

Len Larsen remembers when he first saw a pink flyer in come through his store mail. It was 1996, and he was a store manager back when the company had just more than 1,000 stores.

“But we were starting to talk about 2,000 stores in the year 2000,” said Larsen, who is senior manager of Starbucks Business Ethics and Compliance at Starbucks Seattle headquarters.

The gathering was a small one, with 15 or so LGBT+ partners from the company’s headquarters and nearby stores at a bar in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. “Starbucks had always been very inclusive, but we realized that we needed to become more organized,” he said.

By the next year, they marched as a group for the first time in the Seattle Pride Parade and were helping rally partners to participate in AIDS walks and fundraisers. Regular social gatherings, nicknamed “Beers and Queers” sprang up, and they began to invite employees from LGBT+ groups at other companies like Boeing, Amazon and Microsoft.

The partner group, which officially became <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StarbucksPride/">Starbucks Pride Alliance Network</a> in 2007, has grown to include thousands of partners in chapters around the world. They have also become powerful advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, and hope to do more in the years ahead both inside and outside the company.

Looking back, Jeff Jones, current co-chair of the Starbucks Pride Alliance, is proud of the group’s efforts. “We help connect partners with something bigger,” he said. “And we hope to use our influence to make the company more inclusive.” &nbsp;

Starbucks History of LGBTQ Inclusion

Teaming up with Born This Way Foundation

Starbucks and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation come together to help make the world a more compassionate and welcoming place for the LGBT+ community. During Pride Month (June 1-30), The Starbucks Foundation is matching <a href="bornthisway.foundation/starbucks">donations to Born This Way</a>, up to $250,000, to make a kinder, braver world.

New and current partners can now choose to self-identify with the company as LGBT+ – similar to other identifications, such as disability, refugee, veteran and military spouse. The option was the result of efforts by the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StarbucksPride/">Pride Alliance</a> partner network to create another way to build upon the company’s commitment to the inclusion and diversity of all partners.

Advocating for Civil Rights Protection

Starbucks joined over 200 companies to file a joint <a href="https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/Title-seven-business-amicus-brief.pdf">amicus brief</a> to the Supreme Court in support of LGBT+ rights. The landmark briefing argues that existing federal civil rights law should protect LGTB+ people from discrimination in contexts ranging from employment to housing, healthcare and education. To file the brief the company worked with prominent civil rights groups the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, Out &amp; Equal, Out Leadership, and Freedom for All Americans.

Starbucks also joined the Human Rights Campaign’s <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/business-coalition-for-equality">Business Coalition</a> in support of the Equality Act, a bill that would protect LGBT+ people from discrimination in housing, the workplace, public accommodations, and other settings under federal law. The Equality Act has since passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Two decades after Starbucks partners marched in its first Pride Parade in Seattle, hundreds of Starbucks Pride Alliance partners, friends and family join Pride events in <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/emea/stories/2018/hundreds-of-starbucks-partners-friends-and-family-join-the-pride-in-london/">London</a> (above) and around the world.

Expanded benefits for transgender partners

Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2018/they-are-lifesaving-starbucks-offers-expanded-benefits-for-trans-people/">broadens its health insurance options for transgender partners</a> to not only include gender reassignment surgery (which had been covered since 2013), but also a host of procedures that were previously considered cosmetic, such as breast reduction or augmentation surgery, facial feminisation, hair transplants and more. “Starbucks is taking a stand and standing up for trans people and saying that our procedures aren’t just cosmetic – they are lifesaving. They’re affirming,” said Ron Crawford, vice president of benefits at Starbucks.

The&nbsp;Starbucks Foundation&nbsp;contributes <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/a-message-from-starbucks-regarding-the-tragedy-in-orlando">$50,000 to the&nbsp;OneOrlando Fund</a> to help people and families impacted by the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla.

Calling for equal treatment

Starbucks joins with more than 200 other business leaders to urge equal treatment for the LGBT+ community. Lucy Helm, then general counsel and now chief partner officer, shares a letter to partners underscoring <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/views/starbucks-commitment-to-inclusion">Starbucks commitment to inclusion</a>. “From our very earliest days, we have strived to create a company and culture that treats everyone – partners and customers alike – with respect and dignity,” Helm wrote. “We will continue to champion these values and to stand for our partners, our customers and our communities.”

Starbucks earns 100 out of 100 for the first time on the 2015 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an initiative administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation on corporate policies and practices as <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2017/human-rights-campaign-recognizes-starbucks-as-top-employer/">a top employer for LGBTQ workplace equality</a>.

In order to help partners in self-identification, Starbucks updates its technology systems to ensure that documentation in stores reflect a partner’s “known as” name or nickname that is consistent with their gender identity or expression. This is an especially meaningful move for transgender partners, who now see their preferred name each time they log in for a shift. 

Seattle Police Department<a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/safe-place-program-at-starbucks"> Safe Place program</a> rolls out to Starbucks stores in Seattle, with special designation as secure places for victims of anti-LGBT+-related crimes and harassment. More than 2,000 store partners receive SPD Safe Place training and window clings identify the 100 participating company-owned stores in the greater Seattle area.

Marriage equality becomes the law of the land in the United States thanks to the <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-applauds-supreme-courts-ruling-on-marriage-equality">U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling</a>. Earlier in the year, Starbucks had signed on to The People’s Brief in favor of the decision.

Starbucks&nbsp;<a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/for-the-first-time-starbucks-raises-the-pride-flag-atop-its-headquarters">flies the Pride flag atop its Seattle headquarters</a>&nbsp;for the first time. “Given our public stance on diversity and inclusion of all people, particularly on this issue, it makes sense to raise the flag in celebration,” said Lucy Helm, then-general counsel who is now chief partner officer for Starbucks. “Being open, inclusive and forward-thinking is at the core of what Starbucks is about.”

Starbucks chairman and chief executive officer Howard Schultz makes a vocal statement on diversity and equality during a spontaneous exchange at the 2013 Starbucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders. In response to a stockholder who voiced his view that the company had lost customers because of its support for marriage equality, Schultz said. “Not every decision is an economic decision. The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people.”

Expanding transgender partner support

Starbucks&nbsp;<a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/transgender-partners-share-stories-of-unconditional-acceptance-at-starbucks">supports transgender partners</a>&nbsp;by adding coverage of gender reassignment surgery to the company’s health benefits.

Promoting marriage equality

Starbucks files an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. The year before, the company had joined with other Pacific Northwest employers in supporting marriage equality legislation in Washington state.

Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2008/starbucks-joins-redtm-to-help-save-lives-in-africa/">joins (RED)™</a> to help invest in AIDS programs in Africa through the Global Fund.

Starbucks Pride partner affinity group officially becomes the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StarbucksPride">Starbucks Pride Alliance Network</a>.

Starbucks issues Workplace Gender Transition Guidelines to support partners who are transgender or considering transitioning to promote understanding of fair and equitable treatment of transgender and gender-diverse partners.

Starbucks includes a quote from author Armistead Maupin on its cups as part of its “The Way I See It” series, a collection of thoughts and expressions printed on the back of Starbucks cups to inspire conversation. 

The <a href="https://www.hrc.org/campaigns/corporate-equality-index">Human Rights Campaign’s first Corporate Equality Index</a> includes Starbucks in its national benchmarking tool on LGBT+ corporate policies and practices with a score of 86.

LGBT+ partners meet informally at Seattle area bars which eventually becomes Starbucks LGBT+ partner affinity group. The group goes on to become the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StarbucksPride/">Starbucks Pride Partner Network</a> and grows to include thousands of partners around the world.

Starbucks creates a new healthcare policy for employees with terminal illnesses to bridge the gap between the time they can no longer work until they become eligible for government insurance. The policy was inspired by Jim Kerrigan, a longtime partner who found he was unable to work due to the advanced stages of AIDS. Kerrigan died a year later, but hundreds of partners would continue to march in his memory to support AIDS research and programs.

Starbucks offers full health benefits to eligible full- and part-time employees, including coverage for same-sex domestic partnerships.

Starbucks Pride: A long legacy of LGBT+ inclusion - Starbucks Stories EMEA

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Starbucks Pride: A long legacy of LGBT+ inclusion

Take a look back at more than three decades of LGBTQ support and advocacy at Starbucks.

Starbucks Pride: A long legacy of LGBTQ inclusion

https://stories.starbucks.com/emea/stories/2019/starbucks-pride-a-long-legacy-of-lgbtq-inclusion/