zone

This is so stupid... stop making it sound like the company is going out of business. A sales decline of an amazing number is still amazing! Apple make a larger profit in 1 quarter than most companies out there. Stop trying to manipulate the stock...

I think the real issue is who cares? Amazon makes almost not profit on these sales. Since there is no real eco system not sure if it really matters. I cheeped out and bought a fire tablet for my son who is 5 and it broke within 4 months, Never dropped, never mistreated. Got a refund and Amazon didn't even want the tablet back? Guess they are not really worth anything...

dewme said:

I know it doesn't serve as an excuse, but the vast majority of publicly held companies completely cheap-out on all employee related discretionary expenses. I remember a time when companies held all-employee holiday parties, bosses took employees out to dinner (with their partners) for major service anniversaries, companies held periodic all-employee meetings with food and drinks, summer picnics, profit sharing, gift cards at Christmas, etc. All companies like to brag about "our people are our greatest asset." But this is really just a PR facade, total load of BS, and inside the boardroom it literally translates to "our human capital is our largest expense" and they take every measure to minimize this expense. They nip and prune benefits with the slightest little provocation, occasionally slash and burn, move job functions to lower cost locations, and do whatever they can to keep the human capital outlay as low as possible. Then they wonder why 70% of employees are not highly engaged in their job functions. Really!? From a directly observable perspective times have never been worse for employees and the 2008 crash took away any last little semblance of humanity and compassion for far too many companies. Everything that could be cut was cut and for the most part it never came back even when the market recovered. It's just like taxes, once the beneficiary gets used to the increased cash inflow from the tax or employee benefit reduction the tax/policy will never be rescinded. 

I would have loved to get the t-shirt. It beats the hell out of nothing, not even a "Happy Holidays to Our Human Capital Units" email.

Your right but it doesn't make it RIGHT. Look at Apple's profits. Its not like their not making money. I understand they don't owe the employees anything and they are public company responsible to the shareholders like me but I think its bad business to go this route. I believe its was over $50 Billion in profit for 2015 (we will see this year). Think about that! Are these retail employees responsible for any of this? Should they not be included in the success at some point. Should they not be rewarded? FYI don't say Apple not doing well. We all know that's BS...

I find that almost all of us here are employees to some extent and we can't even be giving to others. We are so brained washed into this line of thinking. Your attacking your own people? This is why we except low pay, almost no time off, maybe no health insurance? I mean how much money does Apple really need? Also Apple generated this with a very small workforce so this point is even more crazy. 

The thing is almost everyone here does not have first hand knowledge and experience of what is going on. While Apple retail is most likely better retail experience that any other with all the benefits they do get the simple fact is that they do earn it. Its a hard job and anyone who thinks its easy is out of touch. A T-Shirt is not the appropriate gift period! I have a small business myself and I would never give my people a T-Shirt for the holidays. Come on? This is really simple to understand... and yes a set of air pods WHEN all customers demand has been meet would of been nice. Their cost has to at least half of the retail price not to mention the tax write off and people seeing the younger crowd using them. Everyone wins and thats the point. 

Also stop with if they don't like it leave crap, or its retail. So what your really saying its ok to take advantage of people and look down on them because of what? If you believe this your pathetic and part of the problem. Man I would hate to see how your treat people who are not in the same position as you. You probably one of these people who doesn't buy life insurance because when you die who cares what happens to your family. If it doesn't effect you then who cares right?

altivec88 said:

apple jockey said:

Or how about, "Thank you for the TShirt and the Apple Credo". Also, "thank you for reminding me that I work for a wonderful company, with good ethics and that cares about all its employees. Thanks for all the other perks I get throughout the year. And, Apple I understand that you can't get extravagant with the gifts, considering you have tens of thousands of employees and a fiduciary responsibility to the investor/owners.
And, especially, thanks for the job!".

that would be my approach. 

although I understand what you are trying to say and in general I agree with you but this yet again shows how disconnected Tim Cook is. 

The point of giving a gift is to show appreciation and how much they value you. Giving something that cost you a few cents to make in China is more of a slap in the face than anything. It would be the equivalent of your boss stopping you in the hall and giving you a penny and words of wisdom (don't eat yellow snow) then expecting you to be oh so appreciative.  I would rather them say "sorry, we aren't giving out Christmas bonuses any more" then this read between the lines message they just doled out to their employees.

I agree... he is out of touch with his employees and always has been (so was Steve) and this why Apple never gets high marks as the should as an employer. With what seems to be unlimited resources maybe one reason why Apple suffers in all that it does is that the does not attract or keep the best employeess because of the working environment. Its not horrible but could be so much better. Other than the prestige which there is some (not an easy job to get on any level as some might think) once that wears off well you start to think.

If you want to be treated well this is not the place to work (retail is worse but corporate is not as good as other silicon valley techs). This is coming from someone who worked for Apple. What does T me is so many here slam the retail staff? They work so hard and most do an excellent job for low pay and no job opportunities because they believe in this company. Apple takes advantage of this sometimes but as customers now and someone who own lots of stock they DO need to be appreciated more and this is not the way to go about it. 

Its really a top down issue and a management issue. There are so many stories of selfish, legendary upper management at Apple especially in retail. There HR and internal propaganda are legendary and they run a very tight ship (if you don't comply you will suffer). Its like working for an good old boys club wrapped up in a fancy wrapper. All the glitz distracts you that Apple run like an most old fashion companies...

Here is one on the retail level from day long age. Apple had at the time large HDTV's use for the Apple TV display (this was back when TV's like that where 2K or more). They decided to raffle them off to employees and in one instance in Ohio a level senior management person who ran a region of stores included himself in the drawing. Guess what he won them both! He should of never even put himself in the drawing in the first place. Totally greed! His major salary was enough for him and this was an low level employees gift. This was not intended for someone like that but it was allowed (management did nothing and looked the other way, no one complained because this is and how its always been). My point this is exactly what the problem is. Its about respect and this T-shirt thing is very much in line with whats is describe above. 

Apple needs to purge their old ways and create a culture of real giving. Start with your own people are then work outward. Don't act like you change lives when you can't even change the lives of the people who facilitate your success in the first place. T-Shirts are not an proper gift for the holidays. No gift should be given then. How about just thanks... employees are not stupid and they will see through your attempt to seem generous.