https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tech-layoffs-yes-theres-a-better-way-to-fire-people-is-big-tech-doing-it-no-way-151409888.html
4 replies (most recent on top)
Best approach is to reduce salaries instead of layoffs. Salary reduction will also help decrease Fed's goal of lowering inflation without anyone losing their job. Salary reduction will also account for recent change in demand/supply of developers
Apple's approach scales. Apples to apples in order of magnitude for Corporate - Apple has over half (soon 65-70%) of the Corporate employees that Amazon has, which were being targeted in the 27000 layoffs. Non-Corporate, lower paid employees are a separate easy- to-replace group -- why compare that to Apple? You're confusing the two. Amazon is still hiring in warehouses, but not in Corporate.
I am not sure that comparing Amazon against Apple is comparing apples to apples. Volume and scope of products sold is so much larger amazon. Amazon needed more people than apple to handle pandemic induced demand.
Apple has an even better approach!
- Slow to hire. While many tech employers went on a pandemic hiring spree, Apple kept its hiring at a slow and steady pace. In fact, the company added fewer employees than its big tech rivals while generating more revenue per new hire than its peers, according to data from Bloomberg. From 2020 to 2022, Apple’s headcount increased by 20%, while Alphabet grew its workforce by 60%, and Amazon nearly doubled its headcount.
- Quick to freeze. Apple's leadership decided to freeze hiring in certain business areas, specifically cutting back on outside research and development. The employer also halted backfilling roles when employees leave and let go of some contract workers.
- Fortifying HR. The company announced in February that it would hire Carol Surface as its first-ever chief people officer to strengthen its HR practice. Apple's retail chief Deirdre O’Brien led HR before the announcement. The reshuffle is viewed by many as an effort to lend more heft to talent management as the company expands its global retail footprint and faces unionization efforts.
In addition to curtailing talent acquisition efforts and building up its people practice, Apple is reducing business travel and delaying employee bonuses. CEO Tim Cook will also take a pay cut of about 40% this year, which he reportedly requested. Altogether, the moves make for a true “doing more with less” strategy.
“Apple is frugal by nature,”