If you’ve been for a shot of your favourite hot beverage recently in a Starbucks throughout most of the US you may have found that the barista tried to engage with you about race relations or you noticed the sticker placed on your cup. The company’s Race Together initiative, while seemingly with the best intentions, has been criticized for being a bad idea or potentially legally risky. Writing in the Huffington Post business commentator Sanjay Sanhoee calls the idea “misguided and fraught with challenges” while Edward Harold, a partner at Fisher & Phillips told Corporate Counsel that he advises clients to “try to keep political discussions out of the workplace.” The risk, he says, is that baristas do not know what opinion they will be met with and that could lead to conflict. There is also the possibility of the initiative breaching workers’ rights. Overall it seems that as more businesses seek to tackle issues to be socially responsible there is, as is often the case, a careful risk assessment needed to mitigate legal or reputational consequences.
