NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — If your Starbucks barista seemed particularly happy for a Monday morning, there’s a reason: The whole company just got a raise.
Pay increases of 5% to 15% took effect Monday for all 157,000 Starbucks employees in the United States.
The raises were announced in July. They include an increase in base pay of at least 5% and a doubling of company stock awards for employees who have been there at least two years.
The bumps apply to workers in Starbucks’ 7,600 company-operated stores, but not in the almost 5,000 licensed locations operated by other companies.
Starbucks does not disclose its pay scale, saying only that it depends on where an employee lives. But workers in stores get an average of $9.35 an hour, according to Glassdoor.com, which tracks salaries. Shift supervisors get an average of $11.68 an hour, according to the site.
The Starbucks raises are the latest move by a major U.S. retailer to hike pay to fill positions in an improving labor market.
Starbucks didn’t say what it would spend on the raises, but it previously said it would spend $275 million in 2015 and 2016 on additional “digital and partner investments.” A significant part of that will go to wages, spokesman Corey duBrowa said.
Customers are paying for it, at least in part. The company raised the prices of some drinks in July, as much as 30 cents in some cases.
Starbucks had faced complaints from employees unhappy that their hours had been cut. An online petition posted a few weeks before the pay hikes were announced claimed that cutbacks in hours and staffing were killing morale and hurting customer service. The petition got 13,000 signatures before the raises were announced, and 4,000 more since.
CEO Howard Schultz addressed the complaints in a letter to employees announcing the raises, saying, “You have my personal commitment that we will work with every partner to ensure you have the hours you need.”
Even after that promise, some employees told CNN they were unhappy with the hours they were being scheduled to work.
