Earlier this week, there were reports that Apple Stores in the UK, US, and Canada were receiving layoffs and/or hourly reductions. Now, we’re hearing that this was a mistake due testing of a new staffing formula.
Ian Sherr, Nasdaq:
Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) retail boss told employees that the company made mistakes with its staffing levels, leading to news reports that the company was cutting employees, according to two people familiar with the matter. In a communication with store leadership teams, senior vice president of retail, John Browett, who took the reins of Apple’s retail stores in April, said that the company had been trying a new staffing formula for its retail stores, leading some employees to see their hourly shifts cut and retail locations to be understaffed. This happened for a few weeks before the company decided to revert to its older system, hoping to rectify the problem. He instructed leadership teams to tell employees, “We messed up,” according to two people who were aware of the communication, which also stressed that while shift schedules were affected, no one was laid off. He also wanted employees to know that it was hiring new staff, these people said.
While the actual reason behind the upheaval may never be known, it is quite clear that Apple realized what they were doing was a big morale buster, and they righted the ship. We hope all the Apple Store employees out there made it through this bump in the road without any major issues. More importantly, we hope that upper management will think long and hard before doing anything like this again.
So, were you worried about your job? If you’re an Apple Store employee, take a moment to tell us about your experience over email, on Twitter, or in the comment section below this post. We want to hear from you.
Source: Nasdaq