Apple's slower hiring allows it to avoid wave of big tech layoffs

Posted:
in General Discussion
Apple has managed to avoid joining the wave of mass layoffs at other tech giants, with its slower rate of hiring allowing it to avoid issues that Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon have run into with high employee headcounts.

Apple has, so far, avoided announcing mass layoffs.
Apple has, so far, avoided announcing mass layoffs.


Following Meta's 11,000 job cut warning in November, the layoffs at tech giants has seen thousands go out of work. Microsoft is axing 10,000 employees, Google's doing the same for 12,000 employees, and Amazon's set to lay off 18,000.

In a profile in the Wall Street Journal, it is proposed that Apple has yet to join the rest of the group with a major layoffs round, due to a combination of a resilient business and a slower rate of hiring.

From September 2019 to September 2022, Apple's headcount grew 20% to 164,000 full-time employees. By comparison, rivals turned up the heat on hiring, with Microsoft swelling by 53%, Alphabet by 57%, and Meta by 94% during the same general period.

Apple isn't immune to the market, with its December quarter thought to be rougher than usual due to manufacturing issues in China. Meanwhile, in its retail channels outside of Apple Stores, such as at Best Buy locations, non-seasonal employees are being given a thirty-day notice about their rights relating to a layoff.

As for its more direct workforce, there is still an expectation that Apple will try to reduce its headcount. According to senior research analyst Tom Forte of D.A. Davidson & Co, reductions could be made simply through employee attrition, namely not replacing workers who decide to leave.

There is also the possibility that Apple could make cuts or changes to employee perks. It already doesn't provide free lunches to employees located on its corporate campus, something offered by Google and Meta to their workforces, but other benefit areas could face cost-reductions.

The last time Apple performed a mass layoff was in 1997, at the time of co-founder Steve Jobs' return to the organization. At that time, approximately 4,100 employees were axed to cut costs.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    Low performing retail stores need to have layoffs to save cost
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 15
    XedXed Posts: 2,540member
    Madbum said:
    Low performing retail stores need to have layoffs to save cost
    Which Apple retail stores have such poor sales that they can't afford to keep the lights on? I bet even the least profitable Apple Store has more revenue and profit than nearly any other retail chain has at its best retail outlet.
    edited January 2023 macseekerbaconstangmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobradoozydozenronnFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 3 of 15
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,105member
    Where did I read "Slow and steady wins the race"?
    watto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 4 of 15
    did i miss something? i thought they recently had a ton of layoffs in their “channel retail” sector and i could’ve sworn appleinsider reported on it…

    for reference:
    https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/01/20/layoffs-in-some-of-apples-retail-channels-have-begun
    watto_cobrawilliamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 15
    did i miss something? i thought they recently had a ton of layoffs in their “channel retail” sector and i could’ve sworn appleinsider reported on it…

    for reference:
    https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/01/20/layoffs-in-some-of-apples-retail-channels-have-begun
    Maybe you missed the first paragraph of your linked article and the reference within this one to Best Buy location non-essential staff receiving 30-day notices?

    So yeah looks like you missed something.
    watto_cobradoozydozenronnFileMakerFellerwilliamlondon
  • Reply 6 of 15
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,049member
    Xed said:
    Madbum said:
    Low performing retail stores need to have layoffs to save cost
    Which Apple retail stores have such poor sales that they can't afford to keep the lights on? I bet even the least profitable Apple Store has more revenue and profit than nearly any other retail chain has at its best retail outlet.

    You will lose that bet.

    No way do any retail Apple Store have more revenue or profit than a Walmart or a Costco or a Target or a Home Depot or a Best Buy or a  Lucky's or a CVS and probably many other retailers. Not even in a good sales year.

    What you needed to win the bet hands down, was to exclude "revenue" and include "per square ft" after "profit". Then that is a sure bet. But in no way does "most profit per sq ft" means that an Apple Store have more revenue and profit than nearly any other retailers. Unless the average Apple Store is at least the size of a Costco. In which case, all the Apple Stores might add more than a trillion dollars of market cap, by themselves.

    Another sure bet might be that Apple Store have one of the highest profit margin among retailers. Most retailers are doing good with a profit margin of 5% to 10% and very good at 15%. Apple don't reveal their Apple Store numbers but most analyst figure that Apple Store profit margin is above 15% and one of the highest among retailers.
    edited January 2023 watto_cobrabaconstangFileMakerFellerwilliamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 15
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,276member
    Bizarre that Meta hired so many people. Bizarre that so many people wanted to work at Meta.
    watto_cobrabaconstangsconosciutoFileMakerFellerwilliamlondon
  • Reply 8 of 15
    That, and they probably also need whoever is staying to get stuff out the door. I mean taking teams from one department to another to get something done sounds like they could use a lot more people, or better management. Meanwhile other products suffer again.
    watto_cobrawilliamlondon
  • Reply 9 of 15
    I suggest another explanation : contrary to other companies, people hired by Apple work on carefully planned projects, with well defined market potential.....
    watto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 10 of 15
    XedXed Posts: 2,540member
    davidw said:
    Xed said:
    Madbum said:
    Low performing retail stores need to have layoffs to save cost
    Which Apple retail stores have such poor sales that they can't afford to keep the lights on? I bet even the least profitable Apple Store has more revenue and profit than nearly any other retail chain has at its best retail outlet.

    You will lose that bet.

    No way do any retail Apple Store have more revenue or profit than a Walmart or a Costco or a Target or a Home Depot or a Best Buy or a  Lucky's or a CVS and probably many other retailers. Not even in a good sales year.

    What you needed to win the bet hands down, was to exclude "revenue" and include "per square ft" after "profit". Then that is a sure bet. But in no way does "most profit per sq ft" means that an Apple Store have more revenue and profit than nearly any other retailers. Unless the average Apple Store is at least the size of a Costco. In which case, all the Apple Stores might add more than a trillion dollars of market cap, by themselves.

    Another sure bet might be that Apple Store have one of the highest profit margin among retailers. Most retailers are doing good with a profit margin of 5% to 10% and very good at 15%. Apple don't reveal their Apple Store numbers but most analyst figure that Apple Store profit margin is above 15% and one of the highest among retailers.
    My mistake for not including it, but I did mean to include the metric per sq feet.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/29/here-are-the-retailers-that-make-the-most-money-per-square-foot-on-their-real-estate.html
    edited January 2023 watto_cobradoozydozenronnFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 11 of 15
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,356member
    I think some of the large companies involved in these mass layoffs could have achieved similar reductions much more quietly through normal attrition over a somewhat longer period of time. Announcing a mass layoff and sloughing off of ancillary projects that haven’t crossed the chasm achieves a much more positive response from Wall Street.

    The big question here is whether these layoffs are on the leading edge of a crisis or the end result of a protracted crisis.
    watto_cobraronnFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 12 of 15
    mSakmSak Posts: 22member
    Rather than viewing human as "losses and costs", how about we view them as investments? That when days are not as sunny, cutting cost doesn't mean cutting some humans out of the picture. Capitalism has a yucky way to treating human beings like inanimate objects: take when you want, throw away when you want. With climate change, we too are learning that there is a cost in taking and throwing away as if the only "cost" to think about is the immediacy when there is a whole period of the future ahead that will have consequences. In fact, one should go so far as to argue that human beings LIKE animate or living things, and inanimate things (like minerals) are not just there to take willy nilly. We have to think long term not just grab madly and then throw away without thought.

    Is capitalism day-by-day looking like a long and tired way of doing things that we should be abandoning? Yeah, I say so.
    edited January 2023 muthuk_vanalingamronnFileMakerFellerwilliamlondon
  • Reply 13 of 15
    XedXed Posts: 2,540member
    mSak said:
    Rather than viewing human as "losses and costs", how about we view them as investments? That when days are not as sunny, cutting cost doesn't mean cutting some humans out of the picture. Capitalism has a yucky way to treating human beings like inanimate objects: take when you want, throw away when you want. With climate change, we too are learning that there is a cost in taking and throwing away as if the only "cost" to think about is the immediacy when there is a whole period of the future ahead that will have consequences. In fact, one should go so far as to argue that human beings LIKE animate or living things, and inanimate things (like minerals) are not just there to take willy nilly. We have to think long term not just grab madly and then throw away without thought.

    Is capitalism day-by-day looking like a long and tired way of doing things that we should be abandoning? Yeah, I say so.
    Investments always come with a cost.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 14 of 15
    Madbum said:
    Low performing retail stores need to have layoffs to save cost
    Goddamn, why hasn't anybody at Apple thought of this before? Tim Cook must be busting down your door with a fat contract by now! How many shares did he offer you in the bonus package?
    edited January 2023 ronnFileMakerFellerwilliamlondon
  • Reply 15 of 15
    The sobering part for me is remembering that I grew up in a town with less than 10,000 people. Those numbers are staggering.
Sign In or Register to comment.