In recent months, it has been heard how many companies in the technology sector are carrying out massive layoffs. Companies like Amazon, Google, Meta or Microsoft have made headlines for making record cuts in their workforces. But what is happening with Apple? Why aren’t you carrying out mass layoffs like your competition is?
Two Key Reasons Apple Isn’t Layoffs
The 2020 pandemic marked a before and after in almost everything. And in the case of technology companies, teleworking is here to stay. But the “recruitment binges” by technology companies also come into play during the pandemic. This “binge” is explained by a Bloomberg report, which shows that Apple was the company that had “a more cautious approach” when hiring staff on your staff.
“Many tech companies admit they overhired during the pandemic,” the report explains, “Now they are dealing with the consequences. Zoom Technologies Inc., one of the biggest beneficiaries of the pandemic, just announced this week that it is cutting 15% of its jobs. The role that Apple adopted in terms of the growth of its workforce has been significantly less than that of its competition, if we take into account that Amazon or Meta have (almost) doubled their workforce.
The staff employed by Apple increased only 20% between 2020 and 2022. Alphabet, meanwhile, 60%. Amazon, as we have said before, almost doubles it. And in the most extreme case we have Salesforce, whose workforce increased by 104%. More than double. And if the other companies are making layoffs, Apple has now created a new job, the “Director of People” (Chief People Officer, its official name in English). Until now, human resources tasks were carried out by Deirdre O’Brien, who until now had the official position of “Senior Vice President Retail + People”. In other words, he was in charge of the sales and personnel side simultaneously.
From now on, O’Brien will continue to be in charge only of the sales part, while, according to reports 9to5Mac, Carol Surface will be the new “Chief People Oficer”. Surface was the executive vice president in charge of human resources at the medical device company Medtronic.
The value of Apple as a company
In January 2022, Forbes reported that Apple had become the first company whose value amounted to three trillion dollars (it is not the American “billions”, but the Spanish “billion”. A Spanish trillion equals one million million). . Although at the moment it is no longer worth that exact 3 billion, It continues to be one of the companies that currently has the most value. But this data, by itself, can be decontextualized.
In the face of mass layoffs, Apple knows its worth. And also, he knows very well about performance and efficiency. It is one of the most valuable companies, it was the one that hired the fewest employees, and even so, it is the one that has generated the most income per additional employee. As the Bloomberg report reports, the difference between Apple’s performance compared to its competition is impressive. Even the performance per employee has been higher in the period of the pandemic, and not before. Apple, once again, surprises us and go backwards agains of the industry.