Perks of a Coffee Career
When I started out as a barista at Starbucks in 2006, I made $8.75/hour plus tips (and we were lucky when we could get $2/hour for our tip pool!). I didn’t think much about the sustainability of hourly wages, even when I became the person setting those rates. For many business owners, it’s more about what you think you can afford to pay people rather than what the employee can afford to make and still pay all their bills.
In recent years, there’s been a push to raise the minimum wage to $15, though here in Georgia the minimum wage still stands at $7.25/hour, with tipped workers still having a legal minimum wage of $2.13/hour (which, technically, baristas could be categorized as). The longer I’ve been a business owner, the more I’ve come to thinking about hourly wages more comprehensively… Can my lowest-level employees pay all their bills? Does their hourly wage force them to get a second job? Are benefits only for committed, salaried managers? How does our starting wage affect our employee retention?
I’ve always told my employees at Taproom that they would get higher wages and better benefits incrementally, as our business gets established over the years and we can afford to pay for it. As I’ve fulfilled those promises, we’ve seen baristas go from an average hourly wage (including tips) of around $14/hour to a current average of at least $22/hour. While I’m pleased with the progress, I’m still dissatisfied with the lack of comprehensive benefits available to my employees at all levels.
The SCA and Barista Guild recently ran a webinar series on “Livelihoods in Coffee”, in which they explained and discussed issues surrounding living wages in the coffee industry. That led me to some personal research to better understand living wages and my role and responsibility as a business owner. After they were featured in the webinar, I reached out to Living Wage For US and found out about their upcoming launch of a certification process for employers who pay living wages to all their employees.
Living Wage estimates for our county, from livingwageforus.org
I had a phone call with the CEO for Living Wage For US, was impressed with their research and initiative, and I’m now pursuing Living Wage Employer certifications for both Taproom and Opo, to hopefully be included in the initial cohort of 100 companies that will be part of the certification launch in November.
What does this mean for our employees’ pay and benefits? More than just committing to a minimum Living Wage, I’ve been encouraged to think beyond hourly pay and to intentionally examine every possible benefit for employees of my companies, from beginner baristas to senior management.
Opo Coffee has official company values of Positivity, Respect, and Honor. We’d be hypocritical if we superficially state those values but then don’t seek to comprehensively better the lives of our employees through generous wages, benefits, and employment standards. So, here’s where we’re headed in our commitments:
Generous, competitive starting hourly wages for employees in any position. Along with additional benefits, we will strive to maintain “Tier II” Living Wage certification through Living Wage for US.
Employees working 20 hours or more participate in a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)
Employees can contribute to a 401k, with employer matching up to a certain %
PTO accrual, paid breaks, paid volunteer hours
Monthly “fitness benefit” and “book benefit”
Shift schedule issued 3-4 weeks in advance, approve the vast majority of schedule requests off
No “doubles” or “clopens” as a rule
Every hourly employee experiences a “weekend” of two days in a row off in the regular shift schedule
Paid maternity/paternity leave for salaried employees or for hourly employees at a certain level of tenure
I want to state all of this even before Opo launches so that I can be held accountable to these commitments. Taproom is also progressing towards having all the same commitments - just this month we are transitioning from having a “health insurance stipend” to a more substantial, official HRA.
I would hope that all of this effort contributes to happier, healthier, more sustainable employment for anyone who comes through the ranks of Taproom or Opo. I would hope that each of my employees can work one great job and manage to pay bills, save for retirement, go to the doctor, be prepared for emergencies, pay off debt, purchase a home, support a family, and thrive in whatever ways they’re individually led in their lives. I’d love if it also means that people stick with us for years and years, wanting to be part of our company culture and community, and provided for in a way that doesn’t just check off the boxes of minimum standards but goes above and beyond to honor every person and give them dignity in their work.