Starbucks unveils subsidized child care for employees

Starbucks has partnered up with Care.com to offer backup child care to all of its employees.

RELATED: Starbucks preparing for layoffs at Seattle headquarters

Under the new program, employees are given 10 “backup care days,” on which they pay just $1 an hour for “in-home backup child care or adult care,” or $5 a day per child in daycare.

“We all have needs at home, whether you have children, pets, parents or aging grandparents. This benefit supports the partner and their family,” said Starbucks’ director of benefits, Alyssa Brock.

The partnership with Care.com also gives employees a free Care.com premium membership, and resources for senior care planning, including access to a Care Advisor, and “a customized plan for a loved one that outlines an approach to senior care.”

This comes during what’s been a rough year for Starbucks. Around 175,000 employees went through racial bias training following a controversial incident, the company will end up shuttering around 150 under-performing stores by year’s end, Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters is currently bracing for layoffs, and most recently, used hypodermic needles have been turning up in bathrooms following a change to the company’s bathroom policy.

The issue with hypodermic needles has been particularly unsettling for employees, with many coming forward to report being poked while cleaning bathrooms, and in turn, needing to take anti-viral medication. KIRO 7 reported that this had become so frequent, that employees “even shared medication to avoid illness.”

That all being so, it’s safe to say that Starbucks could use a PR win in 2018. In a news release announcing the new child care program, the company claims to be “among the largest retailers to offer this benefit.”

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