The U.S. tax reform pushed by the Trump Administration has prompted many corporations to announce bonuses and wage hikes for their employees. Starbucks is one of the latest to boost its compensation and benefits package in light of the recent changes in U.S. tax law. Ron Crawford, VP of Benefits at Starbucks, was with us to discuss the company's investment in benefits.
Starbucks said the U.S. tax reform accelerated its latest investment in paid leave and wages. Had there not been tax reform, Crawford said Starbucks still would have made investments in compensation, but the timing and the extent of it may have been different. The offerings will total more than $250 million for more than 150,000 workers.
Digital apps and emerging technologies are driving more coffee runs to Starbucks, says Crawford. He believes digitization has brought more customers to its stores and boosted interactions between customers and employees. Starbucks is pumping in $7 billion of capital to build and renovate stores, manufacturing plants and technology platforms in the U.S. over the next five years.
Pinky Cole, founder and CEO of Slutty Vegan ATL, is helping college grads start new businesses. She is providing Clark Atlanta University grads with LLCs. Cole joins Cheddar News to discuss giving grads a financial boost and the success of her vegan food chain.
According to a survey, 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Amit Paley, CEO and Executive Director of The Trevor Project, joins Cheddar Pride to address LGBTQ youth mental health.
Reepher is a Salt Lake City-based company that offers a prepaid legal defense plan for cannabis DUIs. CEO and co-founder Justin Kahn joined Cheddar News to break down the business model, explaining how lawful users may be in trouble when being pulled over by police. "The reason is because cannabis users have THC and cannabis cannabinoids in their system regardless of the last time that they consumed," he said. "Any regular cannabis user is at risk, or they're one mistake away from having an interaction with a police officer that could lead them to be suspected of being under the influence of cannabis."
Elon Musk is demanding his Tesla employees to return to the office full time, a minimum of at least 40 hours a week. The CEO also took a shot at other companies who have some form of work-from-home status. The ultimatum comes at a tumultuous time for Musk with the reveal of a sexual misconduct scandal and his attempted Twitter purchase.
Bindu Sundaresan, Director, AT&T Cybersecurity, joins Cheddar to discuss best practices and important cybersecurity milestones to hit for any organization, and how small business owners can think about cyber beyond technology and compliance.
