'Behavioural change requires time': Starbucks closes U.S. stores for anti-bias training

As more than 8,000 Starbucks outlets across the U.S. close their doors today to allow workers to undergo racial bias training, diversity experts say they hope the coffee chain's commitment to taking a long-term approach to learning can set the standard for employers looking to better educate their staff about bias in the workplace.

The coffee giant's decision to offer the training comes after an incident last month at a Philadelphia location that saw an employee call police after two black men sat down at a table without ordering anything. The pair — who had arrived early for a business meeting — were ultimately handcuffed and led out of the café, and videos of the arrests were widely shared on social media, stoking national outrage over racial profiling.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson quickly apologized to Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, and promised to take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again, including today's cross-country training for the company's 175,000 U.S. employees

(Canadian stores will follow suit on the afternoon of June 11.)

"We are here to make Starbucks a place where everyone — everyone — feels welcome," Johnson said in a video released last week to preview the training curriculum.

The preview also contains a message from rapper and activist Common, who will lend some star power to the day, and one from Starbucks' founder Howard Schultz.

Employees will spend the rest of the four-hour session listening to diversity consultants from the Perception Institute, as well as reflecting on their own personal stories of bias, the company said, calling the training "a first step," not a solution.

While Starbucks' swift response after the Philadelphia incident has shone a spotlight on anti-bias training, the company is not alone in its efforts. 

Across North America, employers and organizations are scrambling to provide employees with diversity training, typically designed to educate people about implicit biases and stereotypes, including acknowledgement of their own.

Some large retailers, including Walmart and Target, say they already offer some form of unconscious bias training. In Canada, such training is being rolled out to some hospitals, school boards and police forces — even city halls.

Taking a long-term approach

"Trainings can raise awareness around topics; trainings can also provide strategies and tools," said Shakil Choudhury, a Toronto-based consultant who has been conducting diversity training for about 25 years.

"But ultimately we're looking for behaviour change, not just 'Wow, this was a great training,'" he said. "Behavioural change requires time."

Even the most well-crafted, one-day sessions can only do so much, said Choudhury. 

He said his most effective programs have been with companies that have held multiple training sessions spread out over the course of a year, giving him the chance to track the impact his teaching is having.

And a paper published in the Harvard Business Review — titled "Why diversity programs fail" — found that the positive effects of diversity training "rarely last beyond a day or two."

Choudhury also argues that comparing programs — and their results — can be difficult, as there are no industry-wide standards outlining what diversity training should look like and what actually works.

"There are lots of critics saying diversity training might not work. Well, my question is: 'What diversity training? Because there's no systematic training," he said.

'Stereotype rebound'

Others who study such training, like Sonia Kang, caution it can lead to "stereotype rebound" — when stereotyping and discrimination actually increases after training.

Kang said she sees potential in what Starbucks has laid out, but noted there are often unintended consequences to diversity training in the workplace.

"If you tell people not to think about a white bear, they basically can't think of anything other than a white bear. The mere act of suppression leads to a heightened activation of whatever concept you're trying to suppress," said Kang, who teaches organizational behaviour and HR management at the University of Toronto.

Diversity training can also lead to a backlash, she said, "because people feel like they're being coerced into it."

In order for such training to be successful, Kang suggests that participants need to "buy into the end goal" and fully understand the intended outcome.

For Starbucks, that includes the recognition that today's training is aimed at setting the foundation for a long-term effort, which the company says will play out "in the coming weeks, months and years."

It's an attempt that Choudhury says "certainly feels hopeful."

"But I'm not willing to give [Starbucks] a gold star until I see what those next steps are," he said.