Starbucks to Match 401(k) Contributions

Starbucks has gotten a lot of high grades as of late in terms of employee benefits. Those benefits apparently just got better as Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz announced that the company would start matching 401(k) retirement contributions.

The announcement by Shultz, which came via a memo, said: “Our progress over these past few months has given us the opportunity to fund the company discretionary match for the 2009 plan year. Make no mistake, we remain humbled by the uncertain economic environment and know we have a long journey ahead.”

Earlier this year, most industry experts believed that Starbucks wouldn’t be able to match the contributions due to economic hardships brought on by the financial downturn around the globe.

Starbucks already offers health insurance to any of its employees that work at least 20 hours per week in addition to a number of other perks. In total, Starbucks is estimated to have more than 160,000 employees around the world. The matching of retirement contributions will only affect the company’s workers in the United States.

Starbucks (Image: Flickr)