(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX) said on Wednesday its U.S. support center employees have to work from office at least three days a week, compared with a previous commitment of at least one day per week.
The coffee chain giant joins other U.S. companies that are bringing back employees from work-from-home or hybrid work models prompted by the pandemic.
Effective Jan. 30, Starbucks employees within commuting distance would be required to come in to work on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and a third day of the week that would be mutually decided by the immediate leader and team. They would be free to work from anywhere the remaining two days, the company added.
Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) said late last year that employees would be working from offices 80% of the time, from February-end. Ride-hailing service Uber (NYSE:UBER) has also asked employees to work from office twice a week, while Elon Musk told Twitter employees that remote work would no longer be allowed.
Starbucks said the thrice-a-week policy to come into work was a requirement for all support employees, after several of them failed to meet the previous "minimum promise" of one day a week in office.
The policy change also applies to region-based support partners within commuting distance of a regional office. For regional staff, the third day would be one when all partners were in the office together, according to the coffee chain giant.