Apple cutting costs with bonus payment changes, hiring freeze
Apple's efforts to cut costs has led it to extend its hiring freeze into more areas, a report claims, as well as making changes to how it doles out promotions and bonuses to employees.

Apple Park
While other major names in tech are performing mass layoffs, such as Meta's massive offloading of staff, Apple has tried to minimize how many people it lets go. Though it has worked so far, the iPhone maker seems to be preparing to take more steps to reduce its outlay.
According to a number of people with knowledge of the situation speaking to Bloomberg, Apple is expanding its cost-cutting efforts in a number of ways.
One way to streamline finances that the company plans is to cut down on the number of times a year it performs bonus payouts from twice a year to just once. While this will vary between divisions, the trend will be eliminating the April payment in favor of just an October one.
Despite reducing the number of payment instances, employees are still expected to get their full bonus entitlement for the year.
Along with bonus changes, Apple is also going to refine its existing policies over a hiring freeze. Apple has already been slowing down its hiring practices since 2022, with the company deciding to leave positions unfilled when employees exit to reduce the headcount.
Under Tuesday's report, it seems the policy will now apply to more areas of the company, and therefore more jobs.
At the time of the November reports, an Apple spokesperson insisted the company was continuing to hire but was taking a "very deliberate approach in some parts of the business."
Read on AppleInsider

Apple Park
While other major names in tech are performing mass layoffs, such as Meta's massive offloading of staff, Apple has tried to minimize how many people it lets go. Though it has worked so far, the iPhone maker seems to be preparing to take more steps to reduce its outlay.
According to a number of people with knowledge of the situation speaking to Bloomberg, Apple is expanding its cost-cutting efforts in a number of ways.
One way to streamline finances that the company plans is to cut down on the number of times a year it performs bonus payouts from twice a year to just once. While this will vary between divisions, the trend will be eliminating the April payment in favor of just an October one.
Despite reducing the number of payment instances, employees are still expected to get their full bonus entitlement for the year.
Along with bonus changes, Apple is also going to refine its existing policies over a hiring freeze. Apple has already been slowing down its hiring practices since 2022, with the company deciding to leave positions unfilled when employees exit to reduce the headcount.
Under Tuesday's report, it seems the policy will now apply to more areas of the company, and therefore more jobs.
At the time of the November reports, an Apple spokesperson insisted the company was continuing to hire but was taking a "very deliberate approach in some parts of the business."
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Also, your mention of the '70s and '80s excluded the true "ALL TIME" high, which is therefore "misinformation," if you really want me to split hairs. Inflation was in fact at all time high of 23.70% in June of 1920. But that was prior to even my birth, so I don't often dwell on that. We tend to dwell on facts as they pertain to events that happened in our lifetimes. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Should Rogue01 have used words other than "all time"? Perhaps, but everything is crystal in retrospect, right? Fact is that too many younger people are overly sensitive and don't use their brains well. They pop off at the slightest little insignificant thing.
When Rogue01, posted what he did, I knew what he meant. In 2022, inflation reached 8.5%, its highest rate since 1982. So it was obvious to people like me, with our thinking cap firmly in place, that he was saying, "inflation is the highest it's been in a very long time." It probably is the highest it's been in his lifetime (although not in mine, as I was born in 1971). Is that peak in 2022 an ALL TIME high? Well, no, but that really does miss his point. Again, this is why thinking caps are important.
People are too sensitive about writing the English language so perfectly that a blood sucking lawyer would get his kicks off it. I personally, don't think humanity needs to go that far. Besides, this is only a forum. Any perceived "misinformation" isn't going to alter the course of the planet. So when you see a T hasn't been crossed to your liking, or an "i" that hasn't been dotted, consider the friendlier approach of just saying nothing at all. That's what prefer to do.
At a macro level this move by Apple tells us that they are being very proactive around managing expenses while maintaining their ability to execute at the levels they feel are necessary to meet their goals. Mass layoffs may bump up the stock price in the short term, but they usually degrade the company’s ability to execute in the longer term, at least in cases where the company was operating efficiently and effectively.
I believe Tim Cook believes he has Apple operating efficiently and effectively so he doesn’t want to upset the balance or give up on growth. Contrast this with Twitter and Meta, whose “leaders” obviously feel that their companies are neither efficient nor effective so they jettisoned everything and everyone they see as unnecessary for survival. Growth isn’t even on the table for them at this point. Will their moves come back to haunt them? Twitter and Meta aren’t nearly as diversified as Apple when it comes products, services, and wide ranging innovation, so perhaps their Kamikaze-like moves will pay off in the long run. At the very least their negative growth and plunging value will open up opportunities for quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year improvements from what will be their new baselines.
I'm also randomly speculating and retrospect I doubt Apple pays enough in bonuses to have a tremendous impact on the quarter. My guess is they are moving them for some other reason.