Your Special Blend

For the past year, Caitlyn has been working at Starbucks, part time. She took the job for the benefits. Starbucks is one of the few companies that allows employees to get benefits for working 20 hours a week. There is a catch-- if you drop below the 20 hours, your  benefits are yanked. This means there has to be a tacit agreement with the "scheduler" that you will always average 20 hours a week.

So while Starbucks does offer these benefits to part timers, receiving and keeping them are two different things.

Starbucks calls their employee benefits package "Your Special Blend".

"Partners that

work full time or part time (20 hours or more per week) may participate in a variety of programs, and make choices based on individual needs and interests. Depending on job and personal situation, a partner’s total pay package may include:

	Progressive Compensation Package
	Healthcare Benefits (Medical, Prescription Drugs, Dental and Vision)
	Retirement Savings Plan
	Stock Options and Discount Stock Purchase Plan
	Income Protection Plan (Life and Disability Coverage)
	Management Bonus Plan
	Adoption Assistance Plan
	Domestic partner benefits
	Referral programs and support resources for child and eldercare
	Discounted Starbucks merchandise
And of course, all partners get a pound of coffee each week.

So for an entire year Caitlyn made put in her time creating half caf, skim super dry  grande caps with a shot of hazelnut. She didn't love the work. She did love the benefits.

Then there was a change in management. The new manager hired three new people --people she had worked with at another location and began slashing the hours of some of the regulars.

Instead of getting the 20 hours a week needed to qualify for insurance, Caitlyn is now getting anywhere from 18 to 9 hours.

When she went to the manager and explained without the hours she wouldn't qualify for the insurance, the new manager was less than sympathetic saying  the reason Caitlyn's hours were being reduced was because she couldn't start her shift until 6:00 pm and the manager wanted her to start at 4:30 pm.

As Caitlyn explained, " I started at 6:00 pm for the past year without any problems, now this manager says I can't close effectively unless I start at 4:30. It doesn't make sense. We don't close until 11:00 p.m."

According to Caitlyn she is not alone-- her friend Janna ,who happens to be pregnant ,is in the same boat -- her hours have been slashed and she will no longer be eligible for Starbuck's Special Blend of benefits either.

Is this typical? Unusual? What is the experience of Starbucks part -time workers?Is this a trend or just an unusual situation at one lonely Starbucks?

Image Credit: Flickr member Recent Topics
Note: Caitlyn is a pseudonym. She is continuing to work at Starbucks for the time being.