Case Study: Starbucks achieves a 56% reduction in early turnover and doubles hiring capacity with SmartRecruiters (integrated with Sapia.ai)

Finding baristas who stay longer at Starbucks

Starbucks Australia faced a rapid growth and hiring challenge after bringing recruitment in-house: a lean team needed to scale hiring for dozens of stores (with plans for monthly openings) but was hampered by manual CV screening, slow first contact, a candidate experience that didn’t reflect the brand, and high early turnover despite training investments.

By integrating Sapia.ai’s chat-based AI interviewer with SmartRecruiters, Starbucks automated shortlisting and candidate workflows—five-question chat interviews with personalized feedback, automated branded communications, video interviews, self-scheduling and digital offers. The change doubled recruitment volumes, saved roughly 1,900 hours per month in CV screening, delivered a 56% reduction in early turnover, achieved a 9.1/10 candidate satisfaction score, and surfaced strong hires (including candidates with great soft skills) previously missed by manual screening.

Starbucks

Rose Phillips

Head of Partner Resources