Apple Laying Off Some Corporate Retail Employees

Apple is planning to cut a small number of corporate retail employees that are on its development and preservation teams, reports Bloomberg. The employees that are part of the downsizing handle the construction and upkeep of Apple retail locations worldwide.

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It is not clear how many positions Apple is eliminating, but Bloomberg says the cuts are "likely very small." Still, this is the first known report of Apple culling its internal workforce to cut spending. Back in June 2022, the company laid off up to 100 contractors that handled recruiting, but contractors are not full-time workers. Apple has also cut engineers and security guards that held contracting roles.

Apple told employees that these are not layoffs, but streamlining, and that the changes are aimed at improving the upkeep of stores globally. Those who were cut have the option to reapply for positions similar to their prior job, and those who do not take on a new role could get up to four months of pay.

Apple in November paused hiring for most jobs outside of research and development, and in March of this year, Apple expanded the hiring freeze. For many teams, Apple has halted hiring, and when employees leave, positions are being left open. Slowing hiring has allowed Apple to avoid the widespread layoffs that other tech companies have announced in recent months.

Twitter has eliminated thousands of employees following the takeover by Elon Musk, and last month, Facebook announced plans to lay off approximately 10,000 employees. Microsoft cut its AI ethics team in March following several prior layoff events, and Google parent company Alphabet laid off 12,000 employees in January.

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Top Rated Comments

rpmurray Avatar
33 months ago

Apple told employees that these are not layoffs, but terminations (AKA firing).
Fixed this for you.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ion-X Avatar
33 months ago
Apple: Makes $30 billion in profit every quarter

Also Apple: Here let’s fire some people making $30 an hour! That’ll really move the needle.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Saturnine Avatar
33 months ago
I find it quite sad that a company with $20B in cash, another $180B in investments and assets, which made a profit of $30B in the last quarter alone feels the need to lay off some of its lower earning employees.

I understand that all areas of a business should be individually profitable and that this is the nature of doing business, but there’s just something about it that feels morally wrong. Gotta keep that share price high and squeeze out a few more million in profit rather than keep relatively low-earning Josh from Ohio and hundreds of others in a job.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
33 months ago
Tim Cook's like "If I gotta take a pay cut ('https://www.macrumors.com/2023/01/12/tim-cook-taking-pay-cut-in-2023/'), then I'm gonna fire some people."
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
7149041 Avatar
33 months ago

What is "corporate retail"?
My guess is "corporate retail employee" is someone working for the Apple corporation on running the stores, where a "retail employee" would be a person simply working at an Apple Store.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LeeW Avatar
33 months ago
Even Apple has to think about spending. Google, FaceBook, Twitter, and others shouldn't have hired the numbers they did in the first place.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)