Starbucks will switch to weekly pay as workers want more frequent compensation

Starbucks will pay its employees, called “partners,” on a weekly basis beginning in August, the coffee chain recently announced.

The move from biweekly to weekly pay is part of a broader set of changes to Starbucks’s compensation program that includes merit bonuses of up to $1,200 annually, as well as additional options for customers to tip baristas. Starbucks is in the midst of a turnaround strategy that it says will prioritize improving employee experience, but has also included stores closures and layoffs.

In a memo to employees, Starbucks Chief People Officer Sara Kelly said the chain made the decision to pay workers on a weekly basis after hearing “that getting paid sooner would help.” From August on, “you’ll get the money you earn, faster,” she said.

Under pressure. Starbucks’s decision represents a departure from the norm, as most US employers pay workers on a biweekly basis, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2023.

But it speaks to a common anxiety among workers as inflation and cost-of-living rates remain high. Workers’ hourly wages grew by just 0.2% in March, the slowest rate in five years, and higher inflation is expected to dampen those earnings even further, HR Brew recently reported. As of 2025, nearly one-quarter of US households were living paycheck to paycheck, i.e., spending more than 95% of their earnings on necessities, according to Bank of America.

In light of such trends, “employees are looking for more cash flow to meet their immediate needs,” Megan Nail, SVP of NFP’s total rewards practice, said. “That is why employers are looking at more frequent pay as an option,” especially if they have a high share of hourly workers.

Earned-wage access (EWA) or on-demand pay programs may also appeal to HR teams looking to support workers who feel squeezed by the current economic environment, Nail said. Such programs allow employees to access a portion of their earnings before payday, and may help them make “more informed decisions and transform how they navigate financial demands,” Andrew Brandman, chief operating officer with EWA provider DailyPay, said via email.

Offering EWA helped Dayforce foster trust among its employee base, Chief People Officer Amy Cappellanti-Wolf told HR Brew last year. She added that this approach was less burdensome than cutting an out-of-cycle paycheck.

Administrative considerations. HR teams will need to take into account how switching to weekly pay would work from an administrative perspective if their organizations make this decision. When pay frequency changes, so do payroll schedules, deductions, and shift premiums, ADP noted in a 2023 explainer.