Starbucks Needs to Take Action!

The largest U.S. coffee-shop chain, Starbucks, is in trouble with its employees and the law. Bloomberg Television reports that Judge Patricia Y. Cowett of San Diego Superior court ruled that Starbucks must pay penalties in the amount of $105 million for illegally using servers' tips to pay superiors.  Employers taking tips from the baristas is prohibited under California law.   Now, 100,000 Starbucks servers from 1,400 California locations will be repayed as restitution.  It was determined that a shocking $87 million was improperly distributed by the company to its supervisors.  

So what does this mean for the public relations of Starbucks? Since the ruling was just announced, any negative effects on the company are yet to be determined.  In fact, Starbucks actually rose 3 cents in the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday.  My concern for this chain is not only the public relations, but especially its employee relations.  This negative attention could possibly start a domino effect and spin out of control.  This could spark even more filed legal complaints if this issue is happening elsewhere in the country.  If workers feel unappreciated and undermined by their employers, it is likely they will either quit or simply not care about their job responsibilities.  Unhappy employees undoubtedly leads  to unhappy customers, which is in no way good for this company.  Additionally, disgrunteled employees never hesitate to vent about their concerns, which in this day and age is extremely easy to spread word about. With the Internet, blogs, chat rooms, etc., spreading complaints and gossip about a company catches on like wild fire and often times receives extremely negative public attention and even worse, press.  This is why I purpose Starbucks take action NOW before it's too late.

When asked about the California ruling, Starbucks spokeswoman Lara Wyss would not return calls for comments.  In my opinion, this is very dangerous.  Although there is no huge PR crisis right now, Starbucks management should be looking to the days ahead.  I first think it is crucial to issue an apology to their employees, or at least make a public statement regarding the situation.  Also, I would suggest that Starbucks initiate an employee incentive or employee recognition program.  I believe this would be the best way to retain their current workers as well as continuing to attract new ones.  Aside from following the law, Starbucks must focus on keeping their employees happy so that this situation doesn't spin out of control, and cause a serious public relations mess.