Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), which has offered company stock to store employees for more than two decades, will now begin picking up most of the tab for workers to get a degree through Arizona State University online.
Starbucks employees who work at least 20 hours a week and enroll in the university?s online bachelor?s degree will get $6,500 -- about half of their tuition -- for the first two years, the company said in a statement. They will then get full tuition for the final two.
?We?ve always known that our partners work hard every day,? Cliff Burrows, president of Starbucks? Americas region, said in a phone interview. ?This is the best way we can serve them.?
Starbucks, the world?s largest coffee-shop chain, has offered cafe workers restricted stock, known as Bean Stock, since 1991, and has a 401(k) matching program. Store employees get a free pound of coffee weekly, plus free beverages on work breaks and a 30 percent discount on Starbucks food, drinks and merchandise. The company previously offered as much as $1,000 a year in tuition reimbursement for employees who had worked at Starbucks at least one year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...s-workers.html