Apple to move away from security contractors, hire guards as full-time employees
Following months of pressure from service workers advocacy groups, Apple is set to end its reliance on external security vendors and will begin hiring security personnel as full-time employees, entitling them to many of the same benefits granted to other Apple workers.
"We will be hiring a large number of full-time people to handle our day-to-day security needs," an Apple spokesperson told the San Jose Mercury News. "We hope that virtually all of these positions will be filled by employees from our current security vendor and we're working closely with them on this process."
While it remains unclear what the move will mean for those workers' salaries, they will reportedly be eligible to receive Apple-provided benefits including full health insurance, retirement contributions, and parental leave. A relatively small cost to Apple, the world's largest company, access to such benefits would be a significant boost for security personnel who are often classed as part-time employees despite working de facto full-time jobs.
For now, it appears that the change only affects those working security at Apple's corporate campuses in the U.S. There is no word on when, or if, the policy will trickle down to Apple's security activities at its retail stores or corporate locations outside the country.
Apple, along with a number of other Silicon Valley companies, has been under pressure to improve working conditions for the thousands of contractors that provide ancillary services, such as security, for those firms. Late last week, shuttle bus drivers working for Compass Transportation, which holds contracts with Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga, voted for representation from the Teamsters union to aid in their own fight for higher wages.
"We will be hiring a large number of full-time people to handle our day-to-day security needs," an Apple spokesperson told the San Jose Mercury News. "We hope that virtually all of these positions will be filled by employees from our current security vendor and we're working closely with them on this process."
While it remains unclear what the move will mean for those workers' salaries, they will reportedly be eligible to receive Apple-provided benefits including full health insurance, retirement contributions, and parental leave. A relatively small cost to Apple, the world's largest company, access to such benefits would be a significant boost for security personnel who are often classed as part-time employees despite working de facto full-time jobs.
For now, it appears that the change only affects those working security at Apple's corporate campuses in the U.S. There is no word on when, or if, the policy will trickle down to Apple's security activities at its retail stores or corporate locations outside the country.
Apple, along with a number of other Silicon Valley companies, has been under pressure to improve working conditions for the thousands of contractors that provide ancillary services, such as security, for those firms. Late last week, shuttle bus drivers working for Compass Transportation, which holds contracts with Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga, voted for representation from the Teamsters union to aid in their own fight for higher wages.
Comments
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Kudos to Apple on this. Most companies move in exactly the opposite direction - trying to offload employees onto third parties.
Between 1998 and 2002, I worked for a large well-known media company that resided in a large NYC midtown office tower. During the time I was there and after I left, there was a lot of company restructuring and divisions sold and the building became less than full.
A few years later I was downtown at the now defunct J&R Music and someone on the street called my name and said hello. The person looked familiar but I couldn't place him. It turned out he was a former security guard at the building, but he worked for a third-party security company, not the company who owned the building who I worked for. When divisions moved out of the building, he was laid-off. In the interim, his mother passed away (who he was living with) and he was now homeless. That really shook me. I couldn't believe that this person, who was essentially working for one of the top corporations in the world (even though it was via a private security firm) was left homeless.
For those of us who do okay, I don't think we realize how many people in the U.S. are living right on the edge.
Having the security employees work directly for Apple would eliminate most situations like that.
Good move.
How will Apple keep the Apple Watch secure in their shops? I wonder if they will only sell the gold one in existing jewellers, rather than risk having it stolen from their own stores.
For now, it appears that the change only affects those working security at Apple's corporate campuses in the U.S. There is no word on when, or if, the policy will trickle down to Apple's security activities at its retail stores or corporate locations outside the country.
I would expect the data centers will be protected by full time employees as well, if not already.
Smart move. Then they can fire anyone that doesn't meet their standards. No red tape in the way, and the potential for more secrecy control. Hard to do that when there's an intermediate company in the way managing the staff.
What are you talking about? Contractors are actually more preferred than employees when it comes to "firing" them. Firing an employee involves way more red tape.
Apple doesn't do unions.
You're not grasping the reality here. The Union requirement allows Apple to hire folks with Union benefits, ala Apple corporate benefits, they would never receive from private contractors.
Most of these contractors would quickly adopt a temp agent model approach and screw the staff.
Apple has no interest in securing their properties with staffing having no incentive to protect it. Building an in-house staff as corporate protection for IP and employees, as a regular Apple employee is a huge leap in benefits and salaries for these security personnel. They also have a huge set of by-laws and training to undergo to realize that they may be security, but they aren't law enforcement, and they sure as hell won't be ordering existing staff around like the Gestapo.
What are you talking about? Contractors are actually more preferred than employees when it comes to "firing" them. Firing an employee involves way more red tape.
Maybe I'm not familiar with the arrangement. Typically, if a company hires a security company, they don't have much say in who does that actual work. They don't interview the individuals like they would when hiring personnel directly. They can't say "we don't want him". That's all I meant by the red tape. Maybe I meant barriers to the ideal staff.
Good move, but there are others - cooks, cleaners etc... Do they deserve less recognition? The realities of service provision by outside contractors is that they tend to be given on tight tenders without many of the Recipients benefits
Corporations seem to grapple with core competencies. Do you want your IT in-house or outsourced? Advantages to either. Security guards? I'd prefer company-hired guards, but whatever.
Corporations seem to grapple with core competencies. Do you want your IT in-house or outsourced? Advantages to either. Security guards? I'd prefer company-hired guards, but whatever.
I think that there is no right or wrong answer - depends entirely on the company structure and business operate etc. I'm just giving a shout out to the fact that security isn't the only outsourced part. I mean, they probably have in-house accounting firms seconded etc. do they get ? advantages? Probably not. Look at the way other companies such as Microsoft have contract staff working with them for many years on end with different passes etc but essentially indistinguishable from their better remunerated colleagues. I think Microsoft even got taken to court over that. It's an endless sliding scale from one end of outsource to in-house. I worked at the European Parliament - a relatively locked-down environment - a couple of years back. They brought security in house after a serious incident involving a gun getting into the building without passing through metal detectors etc.. Did it change anything? I don't know. Anyway, all this to say, you have a point, and I'm not sure I had one other than the fact that it's never clear cut on whether one should or should not in-house things.
Just keep in mind that the same principles don't apply to Apple's smaller facilities, particularly retail outlets. There, it makes more sense to depend on those they're renting from or to contract out the work to local vendors.
For the record, I've worked in security for a staffing agency. The agency had a high turnover in their office staff and often newcomers would forget that specific assignments 'belonged' to me. I only kept that part-time work because those who worked for the museum we were contracting with insisted they wanted me. Contracting doesn't always mean the one doing the contracting is exploiting a worker.
How they will train their new security staff.
Good move, but there are others - cooks, cleaners etc... Do they deserve less recognition? The realities of service provision by outside contractors is that they tend to be given on tight tenders without many of the Recipients benefits
Some of them may already be internal. Cooks is one possible example. I know Google hires their Chef's and cafeteria staff directly. I would suspect Apple's Cafe Macs to be staffed by Apple employees given that there is certainly a trend for this specific job to not be outsourced, but I do not know.
?I fully support this effort by Apple on corporate HQ security.
Google also employs their own security staff rather than outsourcing, having made the change last year. So Apple copying Google again I see. /s
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/03/google-to-make-security-guards-as-employees-rather-than-contractors/
At stores and other spread out facilities it makes more sense for efficiency to go with a contractor: get bundled with the rest of the mall or street or whatever.
Good move.
How will Apple keep the Apple Watch secure in their shops? I wonder if they will only sell the gold one in existing jewellers, rather than risk having it stolen from their own stores.
Apple's been having custom-designed safes retrofitted to all Apple Stores over the past few months.