Starbucks CEO shares plans to eliminate 1,000 support roles as of 25 February

To support the affected partners (employees), Starbucks will provide pay and severance, healthcare coverage and career transition services.

A message shared by Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol on Monday (24 February 2025), published on the company’s website, has stated a decision to eliminate certain roles within the organisation.

The CEO referenced an earlier announcement in January, where he had shared that the company was "evaluating the role, structure and size” of its global support teams to stay aligned with its 'Back to Starbucks' plan.

In order to position the company for future success, the decision was made to eliminate 1,000 current support roles along with several hundred additional open and unfilled positions staring on Tuesday (25 February). Additionally, other changes to partner roles including responsibilities and reporting structures will be shared personally to affected partners by the end of this week.

Niccol explained that the reason for doing so is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity, and drive better integration — all with the goal of being more focused and driving larger impact on the company’s priorities. As such, Starbucks is simplifying their structure, removing layers and duplication and creating smaller and nimble teams.

The company will continue to provide support through this challenging time. This includes pay and severance, healthcare coverage and career transition services. For the unaffected partners, time will also be scheduled for all to gather as a company, and by function, where more details will be shared on the role, structure and size of the global support teams, and how the team should move forward after this process.

Alongside these changes, Niccol shared that the company is looking to take intentional, short-term steps to bring its North America leadership teams together. With this, North America leaders at the vice-president level and above are required to be present with their teams in the Seattle and Toronto offices at least three times a week. A designated set of ‘in-market’ roles will be maintained to directly support employees and coffeehouse operations in specific geographics.

It was also emphasised that hybrid work policies or in-office expectations for other partners will not be affected as those already working remotely in director-level and below roles will still keep their remote status. Only future hired roles will require partners to be Seattle or Toronto based, with the exception for enterprises that designate remote positions. For markets outside the US and Canada, local leaders will communicate specific expectations for each market.

Looking back at the growth of Starbucks, Niccol expressed his gratitude to all the contributions everyone has made, acknowledging that this news will impact several livelihoods. "We appreciate all you’ve done for our company, our partners and our customers, and we’ll do all we can to support you," he added.

HRO has reached out to Starbucks for more details and will update this story once received.

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