araquen

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araquen
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  • Former Apple retail head Ahrendts says worker retention hit almost 89% under her watch

    araquenaraquen
    Ahrendts is trying to spin this. I have a number of friends in retail, and the complaints about check-out, and GB are pretty accurate. She just surrounded herself with "yes men" and now can't handle that she didn't actually pay any attention to the details.

     And let's not forget the fact that the customer surveys are structured like any old hack company (only top marks are a pass, and anything 4 or under is a fail, even if the question was about APPLE or a product and not the rep, and they get dinged if you don't fill out the survey at all--and the employees are not allowed to even mention the surveys, so you just have to know to fill it out and give top marks so the associate who helped you doesn't lose their job for something they can't control at all). However, I am not an employee (nor was I) so I'll mention it, because its a bogus system, unbecoming of the kind of company Apple purports itself to be. Apple literally pays no attention to criticisms about itself in those surveys, so all you're doing is making the specialist/Genius/Creative's life miserable. You're effectively punching down. If you want to punch up regarding an APPLE policy, write directly to Tim Cook. He does read the emails. 

    I'm also very skeptical of Deirdre O'Brien. All you need to do is check Glassdoors and see that Apple's HR is not in a good place. The most common complaints were "ineffective" and "unresponsive." If she's where the buck stops for HR, and this is what HR is like, I can't imagine she's going to do a better job as the Retail lead. Not when she's the one who decided to use customer surveys as the primary and nigh sole method of evaluating employee performance which, as we mentioned, is a broken model, one in which anyone with half a brain knows companies use to justify firing staff without having to jump DOL concerns.

    Ultimately, the problem is that Tim Cook is not a visionary, and he knows it. But he doesn't hire visionary people either. Apple Retail management is the best 1997 has to offer, and all Ahrendts did was make it exclusive. Cook needs someone who can look at retail and say "how can I reimagine this for the 21st century, both for the consumer and for the retail staff, who are not only 18 year olds putting themselves through college and looking for high paying careers afterwards, but also working adults seeking to support a family, where stupid-crazy, volatile work schedules and unpredictability is antithetical to the kind of lifestyle Cook seems to keep implying Apple wants for everyone - everyone but their own staff, it seems.

    And Apple wonders why there are efforts to unionize.

    The only reason Apple is an adequate place to work as far as retail is because of the health benefits. Beyond that, Today's Apple Retail culture is actually worse than it was under Jobs and Johnson.
    FileMakerFellerhammeroftruthbyronl

  • Apple Watch can detect early signs of diabetes with 85% accuracy, study finds

    araquenaraquen
    I am fairly critical of the eHeart Study. 

    They classified me as having COPD because I used to have chronic bronchitis, which was brought on by a dust allergen (the bronchitis immediately cleared up when I took an antihistamine. Pretty sure COPD doesn't work that way). I haven't had bronchitis in years since I started working from home. This is not symptomatic of COPD at all. Nor do I smoke or have emphysema. It's not even a condition my own doctor diagnosed or considers me a risk factor for. 

    When I told the eHeart Study people of the error, they told me they "couldn't fix it" but to tell any surveys I do not have the condition. This is stupid. For one thing, as a consequence, I will NOT be asked to join any non-COPD related studies. I will also no qualify for any COPD related studies. Effectively, they categorized me out of the program.

    When I told them I wanted to leave the program BECAUSE they have no process to correct a mis-"diagnosis" they never responded. And there is no opt-out in the app. Once you're in, you're in forever. 

    So I uninstalled the app and whenever the eHeart Study people send me an email I unsubscribe. 

    But if they are completely unwilling to fix bad data, and have no desire to make sure that they're accurately collecting data to begin with, I can't see how this study can be in any way effective.
    airnerdSpamSandwich