The recently announced CEO of Starbucks, Brian Niccol, is said to be traveling about 1,600 kilometers from his home in Newport Beach, California, to the firm’s headquarters in Seattle on a business jet.
Critics on social media have noted what they see as a discrepancy between the company’s public stance on environmental issues and the health of its senior executives.
Mr Niccol is expected to take over the leadership of the world’s largest coffee shop on September 9.
Starbucks did not respond to BBC requests for comment.
Mr. Nicol job offer he said he would not be “required to move to the company’s headquarters”, but added: “You agree to travel from your place of residence to the company’s headquarters… as needed to carry out your duties and responsibilities”.
The document states that you will be eligible to use the company’s aircraft for “business-related travel” and “travel within [his] city of residence and headquarters of the company”.
Starbucks also said it would set up a small remote office in Newport Beach for Mr Niccol to use when he works from California.
Starbucks has hybrid work policy that means employees must be in the office at least three days a week.
The company did not confirm whether the same rules would apply to Mr Niccol or whether he working in a new remote office in California would meet those requirements.
The terms of his employment caused a stir on social media.
“That’s great… great luxury for top talent! But I hope we don’t see more ‘sustainability’ and ‘environmental’ related ‘ads’ from @starbucks? *Wink*,” said another X user.
“Starbucks’ new CEO is ‘very good’ 1,000 miles to Seattle on a private jet to work, so don’t be rude to that waitress who gave you a plastic straw when you didn’t want one,” Said another.
The topic of where people work has been debated in recent years, with companies in many industries fighting to allow remote working practices that exploded during the coronavirus crisis to continue.
Some sectors, such as banking, have signaled early that they will expect workers to return to the office full time, while others, usually in the technology industry, have said they will allow remote work indefinitely. Many places have chosen to merge.
Others focus on how much Mr Niccol will earn in his new job.
“How come we never talk about CEO pay when we talk about inflation?” former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich posted.
Under the terms of his offer, Mr Niccol’s annual pay will be $1.6m (£1.2m). On top of that he could get a performance-related bonus of up to $7.2m and up to $23m a year in Starbucks dividends.
A report published by the United Nations in 2021 showed that the richest 1% of the world’s population produced double the carbon emissions of the poorest 50%.
Starbucks announced this month when Mr Niccol will replace Laxman Narasimhan as CEO.
The announcement comes as the coffee chain looks to be developing flagging sales.
Mr Niccol had led Mexican fast-food chain Chipotle since 2018, helping it recover from a crisis after a food poisoning outbreak.
During his tenure the company’s sales doubled and its shares rose from less than $7 each to more than $50.
Chipotle also opened nearly 1,000 new stores and introduced new food processing technology.
In recent months, it has been seen as a trend in the restaurant industry, where many businesses have reported that customers are cutting back on spending.
