Apple's Tim Cook drops to 96th place on list of CEOs most popular with workers
Apple CEO Tim Cook has tumbled from 53rd to just 96th on Glassdoor's annual list of the 100 most popular CEOs as rated by their employees.
The drop is the steepest among any technology executive on the list. Anonymous reviews by Apple workers cited high stress, a strict chain of command, and the company's notorious culture of secrecy as problems, a Glassdoor spokesperson told Business Insider.
Apple engineers and designers are often under intense pressure to work overtime as the company races towards hardware launches and software updates. Frequently they're forced to participate in Sunday conference calls, when other people would be unwinding before the weekday.
The company's emphasis on secrecy -- meant to shield designs from competitors and surprise the public -- is so extensive that staff will sometimes work under literal shrouds, and may not even be fully aware of the product they're developing until it's announced, a famous example being the original iPad.
Despite this year's dip, Cook nevertheless received approval in 91 percent of submitted reviews, a reflection of what it takes to get on Glassdoor's top CEOs list.
The highest Cook has ever placed is 8th in 2016, with 96 percent approval.
Financially Apple has flourished under the CEO, regularly setting new revenue records even with occasional setbacks. He has sometimes been criticized, however, for depending too heavily on the iPhone and not being innovative enough. He has also been politically divisive -- conservatives may complain about his stance on issues like immigration, racial diversity, and LGBT rights, while liberals have been upset about his willingness to exploit tax cuts and loopholes. Both aisles have sometimes accused Cook of looking the other way when it comes to rights abuses in China and other authoritarian markets it sells in.
The drop is the steepest among any technology executive on the list. Anonymous reviews by Apple workers cited high stress, a strict chain of command, and the company's notorious culture of secrecy as problems, a Glassdoor spokesperson told Business Insider.
Apple engineers and designers are often under intense pressure to work overtime as the company races towards hardware launches and software updates. Frequently they're forced to participate in Sunday conference calls, when other people would be unwinding before the weekday.
The company's emphasis on secrecy -- meant to shield designs from competitors and surprise the public -- is so extensive that staff will sometimes work under literal shrouds, and may not even be fully aware of the product they're developing until it's announced, a famous example being the original iPad.
Despite this year's dip, Cook nevertheless received approval in 91 percent of submitted reviews, a reflection of what it takes to get on Glassdoor's top CEOs list.
The highest Cook has ever placed is 8th in 2016, with 96 percent approval.
Financially Apple has flourished under the CEO, regularly setting new revenue records even with occasional setbacks. He has sometimes been criticized, however, for depending too heavily on the iPhone and not being innovative enough. He has also been politically divisive -- conservatives may complain about his stance on issues like immigration, racial diversity, and LGBT rights, while liberals have been upset about his willingness to exploit tax cuts and loopholes. Both aisles have sometimes accused Cook of looking the other way when it comes to rights abuses in China and other authoritarian markets it sells in.
Comments
Tbe folk who are happy will just be happy.
I didn't see Bezos in the Top 100, but I wouldn't expect to with this recent report.
I’ve seem many reports that suggest Amazon is seen as having a very aggressive, in-your-face workplace culture.
No wonder Tim Cook falls in staff ranking as under his “leadership” Apple has for all practical purposes
• Gutted the Mac Pro product line
• Gutted the Mac mini product line
• Gutted the Displays product line
• Gutted the Networking peripherals product line
• Gutted macOS server
• Crippled iWorks to the extent the 09 version still have more features
• Handled the MacBook Pro product mix particularly bad in terms of performance vs thinness.
• Increased the pressure on staff to deliver yearly major releases of not one operating system like under Steve Jobs, but now 4. This has both lead to an increase in issues and reduced quality, but it also draining on the developer community where particularly Indie developers with limited resources struggle to keep up.
It must be very discouraging to for long term staff to see the very foundation the company was built on, being decimated in this manner. It is also not a very encouraging picture for long term customers.
At the same time he and the company is spending a lot of time virtue signaling climate change, GLBT, internal US politics and this fantastic building they are working so hard on.
Particularly the consequence of the virtue signaling can be draining on staff both because staff may not necessarily at the personal level subscribe to the views of Tim Cook, yet they are being put in a position to defend them on behalf of the company.
For international staff company virtue signaling may be even more draining because the employee could work in a country that largely have resolved these issues up to decades ago, or they are completely taboo at the other end of the scale. They also can make the company seem fruity and less serious in the eyes of many customers and potential customers. Yet the employee is forced to front the official company profile.
Anyway on Glassdoor’s website it has Apple’s CEO rating at 93%, so where is this number coming from?
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Apple-Reviews-E1138.htm
B You mean those long term customers who still use OS 9 on their ancient but still serviceable Macs?
C) You may be half right on the virtue signaling.
All in all, though, a sad and nonsensical first post from a disgruntled desktop pc luddite chained to the past and unwilling to adapt or move to where the world is headed in terms of personal technology.
Apple would rather spend repatriated cash on dividends than employee raises and bonuses.
Sure they give their employees stock grants, but they are minuscule and have 5 year handcuffs before they vest. Meanwhile the board gets a huge stock bonus that vests next year. There is no one on the board that really needs the money, but there are a lot of employees who could use a fraction of that money to make their lives easier and help focus on making great products instead of worrying balancing their income between just surviving and thriving.
Apple has always been a "skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been" company. Like a few others have mentioned, Apple has abandoned MANY former product lines, that, in hindsight, was the absolute right thing to do. The moves of the company now is just another example of skating to where the puck is going, and not being concerned at supporting the legacy crowd that will just weigh them down.
No better example of this than MS, having to support so much legacy crap, it just bogs their already buggy, crappy products down even further.