---
title: "Starbucks Wants To Ensure Its Employees Are In The Right ‘Headspace’"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/b1d9e6b1-6b5a-457c-93f3-ab7401ef6edc
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/starbucks-wants-to-ensure-its-employees-are-in-the-right-headspace-2712001
category: "Coffee & tea"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Coffee & tea"
topics: ["Operations"]
published: 2020-01-09T18:13:20.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:30:13.946Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/aa65b92f0fe70b45d81713444dcb183f1146.jpg
---

# Starbucks Wants To Ensure Its Employees Are In The Right ‘Headspace’

**TL;DR:** Starbucks invests in its employees' mental health well-being, including online forums and training sessions, and provides a free subscription to the meditation app Headspace. The company's latest initiative aims to promote World Kindness Day and Veterans Day, and address employee concerns about mental stress and work schedules.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2020-01-09. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/starbucks-wants-to-ensure-its-employees-are-in-the-right-headspace-2712001).*

## Story

**In the past year or so, Starbucks has really taken an initiative to take care of its employees and the communities it serves. In October, the brand announced that it was** **investing $10 million to a group of community development organizations in Chicago****. The investment was expected to fund more than 500 loans to small businesses in the Windy City.**

**Starbucks latest investment? Its employees mental health well-being.**

**According to The Takeout****, Starbucks announced its new mental health initiatives, which include online forums, partnerships with organizations to promote** **World Kindness Day** **and** **Veterans Day****, and training sessions “tackling topics like loneliness, vulnerability, courage, and the power of small acts and conversation to strengthen human connection.”**

**Additionally, Starbucks employees will receive a free subscription to the mediation app dubbed** **Headspace****.**

**The employee reactions have been mixed—whereby some have said “they’re really happy about this and have already logged into Headspace” and others mentioned that “Starbucks could be offering more practical help than a meditation app,” according to The Takeout.**

***Business Insider*** **even interviewed** **a few of the employees and they explained that “a lot of their mental stress stems from Starbucks itself” as the company has “cut back on staffing hours, leaving them to work longer shifts with fewer people and with no increase in pay.” According to The Takeout, a Starbucks spokesperson told** ***Business Insider*** **that managers and employees (or partners as they call them) will be working together to create more manageable work schedules for everyone and that the company has responded to partners to who raised concerns.**

**It’s interesting to see employees’ reactions to this new mental health initiative—even if they aren’t that pleased with it. Regardless, it’s extremely important for companies to take their employee’s mental health seriously and hopefully other brands will start to follow suit.**

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Starbucks (company)
- veterans day (topic)
- Headspace (company)
- employee well-being (topic)
- world kindness day (topic)
- meditation app (topic)
- mental health initiative (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/starbucks-wants-to-ensure-its-employees-are-in-the-right-headspace-2712001). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/b1d9e6b1-6b5a-457c-93f3-ab7401ef6edc).