Starbucks will require its corporate workforce to be on site at least four days a week starting the week of 29 September, tightening a hybrid-work policy introduced two years ago. The new mandate, outlined in a memo from Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol, raises the minimum in-office presence to Monday through Thursday from the current three-day requirement. The policy covers staff at the company’s Seattle and Toronto support centres as well as its North American regional hubs. All corporate “people leaders” working remotely have 12 months to relocate to either Seattle or Toronto, and those who decline can take a one-time voluntary exit package. Individual contributors are not required to move, but future hiring and internal transfers will be limited to those locations. Niccol said the shift is intended to speed decision-making and strengthen culture as the coffee chain works through a broader turnaround after five consecutive quarters of same-store sales declines. Starbucks employs roughly 16,000 corporate support workers worldwide. The move places Starbucks among a growing group of large employers—including Amazon and AT&T—rolling back pandemic-era remote-work flexibility in favour of more time in the office.