Apple is conducting job cuts for a small number of employees within its corporate retail teams. This marks the company's first known internal job cut since last year after facing a belt-tightening restructure.
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Apple employees chat in a store in Hong Kong on March 15, 2022.
Apple Job Cuts
Selected positions from Apple's corporate retail teams are allegedly affected by the company's recent job cuts as a restructuring in a streamlining effort. Bloomberg reported that these teams are related to the development and preservation of Apple Stores all over the world, which are responsible for the construction, upkeep, and other facilities.
No specific numbers of positions were revealed by the publication's source regarding how many will be removed, however, "it is likely very small." Employees were also told that the changes aim to improve stores globally.
Apple will provide support to affected workers and will be given a chance to reapply for several positions, similar to their previous jobs. Employees who will not be rehired will get as much as four months of salary as assistance for them to look for another job.
Aside from the corporate retail teams, some management roles are also planned to eliminate in the company, but Apple Insider reported that any manager released from the company could be retired as an individual contributor with much lesser compensation.
Despite this detailed information revealed via an internal source, a representative from the company declined to comment.
Apple had approximately 164,000 employees in September and since then, the company did not expand its workforce as quickly as other companies.
9To5Mac reported that Apple has been more cautious about mass-hiring applicants to avoid potential setbacks in the company, like layoffs and massive cost-cutting. Only last year when Apple suspended hiring outside Research and Development as they see increasing the workforce can be unnecessary, given the economic environment.
Streamlining Effort
This report suggests that this move is another strategy from Apple to cut costs that will stave off the need for layoffs. The company positions itself to conduct this move as a streamlining effort, rather than layoffs.
As per Reuters' report, the massive cuts from the companies come due to the rising interest rates that have sparked a series of mass job cuts and layoffs across corporate in the United States in recent months.
Other Companies' Job Cuts
Several roles were eliminated by different companies that were labeled as unnecessary in these trying times, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other firms that overhired employees during the pandemic when the market is thriving.
In fact, Meta platforms announced that it would also cut jobs this year, affecting 10,000 employees. They has been experiencing a slowdown in revenue, especially in advertising as the company shifted its focus to Metaverse. This makes them the first tech giant to announce a second round of layoffs.
Related Article: Apple's New Cost-cutting Efforts Include Delayed Bonuses, Hiring Freeze
