The rise of artificial intelligence has many worried that robots may be taking their jobs. But Starbucks is using digital advancements to foster a stronger relationship between its customers and its employees.
“Our Mobile Order and Pay platforms through digital have been fantastically successful,” Ron Crawford, the company’s vice president of global benefits told Cheddar. “It’s driving more and more customers into our stores, which is great. It’s allowing our partners to have yet even more and more interaction with our customers.”
Starbucks has long been known for the emphasis placed on its “partners”, the term the company uses for baristas and other non-corporate employees. The company announced last week a second wave of raises, on top of pay increases that had already been scheduled for this year. It also unveiled stock grants for both full-time and part-time employees, extended sick-pay benefits, and plans to add more than 8,000 new jobs.
And while some credited President Trump’s new tax policy with sparking the changes, Crawford says most of the plans were already in the works.
“Some of those things would’ve happened in the next couple of months anyway, we were just able to do it a little bit sooner,” he said. “We were still on a path to execute our longer term strategy, and we would’ve made partner investments during the normal course of our business.”
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/starbucks-brews-up-employee-benefits).
Darden, the parent company of chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, beat Wall Street estimates in its latest earnings report.
A former Facebook executive pled guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company while she was employed there.
Rising safety concerns over water bead products marketed to kids have prompted major retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart to pull some toys off their shelves.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
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Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.
Mortgage rates have dropped below 7% for the first time since the middle of August.
