Starbucks to Donate Millions to Help Employees in China Pay Rent

Photo via fastcompany.com

Starbucks recently made two big announcements about their presence in China, a country where economic troubles have been causing global shockwaves for months and other American chains (including KFC and Pizza Hut) are struggling. The first announcement is that they plan to open 500 more locations in China this year alone, and create 10,000 new jobs in the country every year through 2019. The second announcement is that all those new employees may get handed a very big perk with their green aprons – the coffee giant will soon begin offering vouchers to full time baristas and managers to help them pay their rent. They predict that 7,000 Chinese workers will be eligible for the vouchers immediately, and another 3,000 will be in the near future. Although Starbucks hasn’t given an exact number for the total cost of this program, they say it is a “multimillion dollar” investment and that they expect to pay around 50% of the rent for qualifying workers.

In China, the practice of offering subsidized living to employees is more common, although these living situations usually amount to crowded dorms. With rents rising across the country, it is unsurprising that workers have been requesting a subsidy from Starbucks for awhile.

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