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Starbucks to help Chinese employees pay for aging parents' health care

April 11, 2017

Starbucks, known in the U.S. as a champion for employee rights and welfare, is working toward the same reputation in China. The company announced today that as of June 1, 2017, it will offer a critical illness insurance plan for the parents of its eligible full-time employees in company-operated stores across mainland China, according to a news release.

The Starbucks China Parent Care Program will benefit more than 10,000 parents of its Chinese employees, said Howard Schultz, executive chairman, Starbucks Coffee Company, who made the announcement alongside Belinda Wong, CEO, Starbucks China, at a Starbucks Partner Family Forum in Beijing.

"Our core purpose and reason for being has always been driven by a set of beliefs steeped in humanity and I’m extremely proud to be able to support our Chinese partners and their parents through the Parent Care Program," he said in a company press release. "Supporting critical illnesses for aging parents exemplifies what we believe is our responsibility as a global public company and honors the family values deeply rooted in the Chinese culture."

Addressing a key concern of employees

In 2010, the company introduced Starbucks Caring Unites Partners Fund in China to provide financial assistance to employees and their families in times of need. An analysis of the C.U.P Fund requests over the past seven years, as well as conversations with partners revealed that more than 70 percent of Chinese partners were concerned about the health of their parents as they age. Those who were single, making up 80 percent of retail partners in China, were specifically concerned about their financial ability to provide for their parents’ long-term care should a critical illness occur.

"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," Wong said in a company news release. "Starbucks' success in China is directly attributed to the passion and dedication of our partners as well as the unwavering support from their family."

How it works

The Starbucks China Parent Care Program, created in collaboration with an insurer in the country to complement the China Social Medical Insurance Program, leverages Starbucks' employee base in China to create a tailored program to alleviate health care and treatment costs associated with a critical illness for its partners, said Jiang Chongguang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Insurance Society of China.

"The active participation by the private sector is critical to China’s efforts to further enhance the social security system to support our aging population," he said in the release.  Starbucks has responded positively to the government's call to elevate the commercial health insurance industry, our social security network and to promote a 'Healthy China.' It is also a firm demonstration of Starbucks' social responsibility efforts to give back to the community in a meaningful manner."