More dividends for shareholders, less investment in employees

Starbucks reported Q4 and fiscal 2017 earnings Thursday.  The webcast of the earnings call is available here until December 2nd.  On the call, Starbucks executives announced an increase in dividends for shareholders, while also ensuring them that investments in employee wages will be lower in 2018.  From what I am learning, this is unfortunately all too common a practice when companies see revenue growth slowing down.