From 1st June 2017, Starbucks employees in mainland China can add their parents to the company’s health insurance plan. The company’s representative has stated that this policy will benefit more than 10,000 parents.
Executive chairman Howard Schultz, said that “Supporting critical illnesses for aging parents exemplifies what we believe is our responsibility as a global public company and honours the family values deeply-rooted in the Chinese culture,”
Starbucks currently has more than 2 thousand stores in China across 127 cities, and employ around 40,000 people.
CEO of Starbucks China Belinda Wong stated “Culturally, parents play an important role in the lives and career choices of our Chinese partners and they are a natural extension of our Starbucks family in China.
Through this new investment, we are stepping up on our responsibility to help our partners take care of their aging parents by alleviating the financial costs that may arise during a family emergency.”
A recent study conducted by human resource department showed that more than 70% of Starbucks’ employees in China are worried about their parents’ health as they age. This led Starbucks to make the decision of implement the new policy.
The study also revealed that nearly 80% of the retail employees who are single are quite concerned about their financial capacity to give for their parents’ proper care for a long-term in case of critical illness.
Starbucks hopes to provide better support to its employees with this new benefit.
Human Resource Consultant Australia 