Days after Tesla chief executive Elon Musk made headlines for calling his employees back to the office, another CEO has echoed the same view. Chief executive of American coffeehouse chain Starbucks Howard Schultz has expressed that he wants employees to return and was even ready to do “push-ups” or whatever can get the staff to return to the office!
Speaking at a New York Times event in Washington on Thursday, Schultz described himself as an “old-school person” in a different generation. During the event, the Starbucks CEO shared that he had begged his employees to return to office too. “I said I’ll get on my knees. I’ll do push-ups. Whatever you want. Come back,” the Starbucks boss added.
However, he has remained unsuccessful despite his earnest attempts. “No, they are not coming back at the level I want them to. I think people will come back two to three days a week and that’s the way — that’s the way it is,” Schultz further stated.
Schultz, who first joined the company in 1982, grew Starbucks from a small Seattle coffee chain into a global juggernaut in two earlier stints as CEO. He even shared how he works from 7 am to 7 pm in his office in an attempt to “make an example”. “The thing that I am evaluating is, what’s the level of productivity? And you know, it appears that people are working at home,” the chief executive noted.
Worth mentioning here is that despite his failed attempts at calling the employees back to the office, Schultz has not mandated this, instead, presented “flexible options for eligible, non-retail roles” in the form of hybrid and remote positions.
“Hybrid workplace options depend on the individual role and are identified in our job postings. Roles that do not have to be based in a specific location are labeled as ‘remote’ while roles that can be fulfilled in multiple locations, such as a combination of home and office, are indicated as ‘hybrid’,” according to the Starbucks website.
Meanwhile, Tesla boss Elon Musk, on the contrary, had informed his employees last month that they must be present in office 40 hours per week or leave the company. The mandate drew criticism from bosses who favour flexibility at work.
