Apple Gifts Employees Custom Incase Backpacks for the Holidays

[Lankyman]

I would hate to work for any company that treated it's workforce in such a cheesy way.

Mind you the other side of the coin is that here in the UK the BBC are doing an Exposé on how Apple treats it's manufacturing workforce in the Far East this coming Thursday. From the clips I've seen it makes for uncomfortable viewing.

 

[Nunyabinez]

Maybe managers get bonuses, but for most retail staff, there is sweet FA. Sure you can give Apple some of your hard earned cash to by Apple products at a reduction, but that hardly puts extra food on the table for Christmas.

So, why don't they get managerial jobs? Could it be because they don't have the training, skill and experience?

That's what retail is. If you don't want to work in retail get some training and experience. I was unhappy with my salary, so I went and got and MBA, worked my way into a management job with Intel and then went back and got a Ph.D. All while I had kids. If you want to get ahead in life you have to make sacrifices and work hard. THEN you get paid lots of money. That's how it works and that's how it should work.

 

[Tsuchiya]

It's a nice gesture...though I'm sure Apple employees would have appreciated an extra couple of days off around Christmas and New Years instead.

Just sayin'

 

[CrazyForApple]

The people that are selling them are probably the janitors. lol

 

[Laai]

I'm from Germany. If you work for a german company (and by german, I mean a company that usually originated from Germany based on german ideas of social justice), you would get (as an employee - even the lowest level/retail/or similar) a 13th salary, "Christmass money" (anything raging from a full salary to a few hundred Euros) and "vacation money" (same as Christmass money - this goes on top of your paid vacation leave of 25-30 days per year of course).

And if you have a really good company (i.e. most german car manufactures, Siemens and such), you would get a "participation on winnings". This means, that if the company does good, you get a part of the winnings. VW, Audi, Porsche payed around 9000€ per employee in 2014.

Apple gave it's retail employees 0 of those benefits.

Even german equivalents of BestBuy/Radio Shack (here something like Saturn), did give out much better benefits to its employees than Apple ever did.

Apple is underpaying it's retail employees - plain and simple (at least in Germany by german standards).

FYI: I'm not guessing on the benefits - these are 100% real facts. Many of my friends work for Apple in different retail stores across Germany.

 

[Piggie]

I understand the reactions of some people... to expect something MUCH better. But the problem is the *expecting*... whatever happened to just being thankful for a gift? Why does it have to have a certain monetary value attached to it? If you don't like the backpack for yourself, then pass it along to someone that could use it, who needs it. Walk down to your local homeless shelter and make someone's Christmas extra special. Isn't that what this season is about? Giving, not getting?

The problem is that a small gift can often be worse than no gift.
It becomes an insult.

If you work hard all year, make the company lots of money, and yes, you do get your salary for doing you work of course.
Then the boss comes round, says happy christmas, thanks for all the effort, have a cookie or a mince pie, then that can be seen as an insult as that's all he thinks you are worth, one mince pie.

It would be better just giving a card with a thank you, than to give an insulting gift.

 

[NY Guitarist]

It's the thought that counts.

 

[Piggie]

So, why don't they get managerial jobs? Could it be because they don't have the training, skill and experience?

That's what retail is. If you don't want to work in retail get some training and experience. I was unhappy with my salary, so I went and got and MBA, worked my way into a management job with Intel and then went back and got a Ph.D. All while I had kids. If you want to get ahead in life you have to make sacrifices and work hard. THEN you get paid lots of money. That's how it works and that's how it should work.

That's not how the world works or can every work.
So everyone works equally hard, studies hard and makes the same sacrifices.
So everyone would be a manager?

It cannot be that way, irrespective of you or your effort

 

[AFEPPL]

No.

Where did I say or imply that Apple is any different than anyone? I don't recall even mentioning or alluding to Apple. Someone said MSFT treats their employees very well and I chimed in that they do -- but you have to consider that a LOT of their workforce isn't considered FTE. So while they may be great to their employees, there's a caveat there. I wasn't being comparative (directly or indirectly) to anything really.

Why is everyone always so combative, accusatory, and hostile on these forums? Did I miss part of the user agreement here that you have to be condescending in EVERY post? Apparently I've been posting wrong around here...

Good luck in real life! I'm sure you'll make it pretty dang far.

I've already made it (thats to be comedic rather than combative)..
it wasn't a pop, more of a comment on the general practices of large corporates.

Having worked as a contractor for many of the large tech companies, I've been on the other side of that coin. But consider this, the contractors are "generally" paid better in pretty much all cases vs an FTEs position. It never used to bother me and the bonuses for xmas are simply tokens in most cases. Which personally i think is good - its a little thankyou for the effort. Of late we've been getting extra holidays and i like that more than the token gift. Why use contracts, I'm sure you know, you seem smart enough - its done for a multitude of reasons. One is to do with the share holders and what is reported as the number of FTEs in the reports, but also because some functions are outsourced or off shored.

 

[Xiroteus]

That's not how the world works or can every work.
So everyone works equally hard, studies hard and makes the same sacrifices.
So everyone would be a manager?

It cannot be that way, irrespective of you or your effort

Thinking the same thing and why there needs to be more jobs that pay athe least somewhat of a living wage. Nothing is set up for every person be be on top.

 

[gnasher729]

So you expect them to give something?! That's why employees are paid a salary funnily enough.

Having said that not only is the sentiment nice but they have around 85,000 full time employees which means that they have spent near on a million bucks (based on your $10 a bag) which they certainly didn't have to

And remember, it's a Christmas gift, not a bonus. I'd say if the Apple employees in my local shopping centre all get one of these backpacks, then they probably get more than 90% of the employees there.

Laai: In Germany, when you negotiate for a new job, you don't ask about your monthly salary, you ask about your annual salary.

 

[blacktape242]

"thats all????" says the non apple employees.

you get what you get (that you even know about) stop being the entitled
advocate for no reason. You people are never content.

I think those are a great gift idea!

 

[Rogifan]

I would hate to work for any company that treated it's workforce in such a cheesy way.

Mind you the other side of the coin is that here in the UK the BBC are doing an Exposé on how Apple treats it's manufacturing workforce in the Far East this coming Thursday. From the clips I've seen it makes for uncomfortable viewing.

Not like the BBC would have an agenda or anything.

 

[RoastingPig]

corporate employees got them too. I went over to moms house and she had one.

 

[_Refurbished_]

I worked for Disney, a similar company to Apple. We got a Toy Story 3 Blu Ray one year. Other years we got a Christmas pin. Please, stop all the hating. Apple pays their employees very well. People are delusional to think they should give retail employees iPads as a Christmas gift...

 

[Rogifan]

Isn't it possible the teams inside Apple do their own thing? For example, Jony Ive's design team does a black tie dinner at Quince in San Francisco. Looking at Quince's menu their 9 course tasting menu is $190 + $135 for wine paring. How do we know but other teams inside Apple don't do their own thing outside of the company gift?

 

[Alimar]

I want one! But then again, I want everything!

 

[zoozx]

I want what Cook and Ivy got from Apple.

Same here, man that is a Lame gift. Sucks
I'd rather have a case of good beer. Bigfoot !

Or hand me a 50 spot. Or a $75 credit to apple store, or

50 U2 DVD's i can Burn & rid the planet.

 

[scoobydoo99]

Yes, well....put in the time and effort that Cook and Ivy do and you'll get your chance. Until then, just keep your hand out waiting for handouts...

really? the old "they work hard for the money" line? there is no direct relationship between the work that multimillionaire corporate execs do and the obscene remuneration they receive.

c'mon.

it's a matter of privilege protecting and expanding its domain.

 

[Nunyabinez]

That's not how the world works or can every work.
So everyone works equally hard, studies hard and makes the same sacrifices.
So everyone would be a manager?

It cannot be that way, irrespective of you or your effort

So, if you don't have the horsepower what should we do? Life isn't fair. LeBron James gets millions because he hit the basketball genetic lottery. Obviously he also works really, really hard, but if you can't do something that's sad for you. There are plenty of guys who worked as hard and aren't playing in the NBA. And so, they aren't making millions.

And the reality is, that everybody doesn't work hard and if for some reason they did, we would have to figure out how to choose the most outstanding and it would be those who have the greatest natural ability.

But what studies do show, is that hard work can largely compensate for lack of natural ability. However, when you have natural ability and work hard, no one's gonna beat you.

So you can go to your job at an Apple store and cry that all you got was a crummy backpack, or you can try to make something out of your life. I think it's an easy choice.

 

[scoobydoo99]

So, why don't they get managerial jobs? Could it be because they don't have the training, skill and experience?

That's what retail is. If you don't want to work in retail get some training and experience. I was unhappy with my salary, so I went and got and MBA, worked my way into a management job with Intel and then went back and got a Ph.D. All while I had kids. If you want to get ahead in life you have to make sacrifices and work hard. THEN you get paid lots of money. That's how it works and that's how it should work.

so you got the highest education you can, and you're still not (i assume) making $50 million + per year? why is that? is it because you are lazy and you don't want to work hard enough to get ahead? why don't you go out there and get that for yourself and your family? all it takes is hard work.

 

[doelcm82]

The problem is that a small gift can often be worse than no gift.
It becomes an insult.

If you work hard all year, make the company lots of money, and yes, you do get your salary for doing you work of course.
Then the boss comes round, says happy christmas, thanks for all the effort, have a cookie or a mince pie, then that can be seen as an insult as that's all he thinks you are worth, one mince pie.

It would be better just giving a card with a thank you, than to give an insulting gift.

The company I work for has given me at various times, a sweatshirt, a blanket, a windbreaker, a stuffed toy in the form of the company mascot.

It never occurred to me to be insulted by this. Now that I hear your side, I think I was right to not be insulted.

If they had given each employee a $300 gift card, then people here would have complained that they should put that money into something else (a cure for cancer, or fixing the street names and POIs in Appleton Indiana). Perhaps you wouldn't have been one of those people. But you'd have been considered fundamentally wrong by them. No matter what Apple does, some people feel insulted. This time, it was you who chose to feel insulted.

 

[charlituna]

I wonder if Apple will give every employee an Watch when it launches next year. That would be a much cooler gift.

Likely not. That whole thing stopped with the original iPhone after several states passed laws that such gifts are now considered income and has to be taxed

And they want to give everyone the same thing

 

[acctman]

really... ? they just slapped a logo on it and people are wanting this. this is like taking a $10 32gb USB key, and putting a Apple logo on it and suddenly its worth $100 and desirable. come on now...

 

[charlituna]

Most big firms, like Apple, offer a year end bonus based on sales, performance, and meeting objectives.

To the store managers yes. To the staff, Apple doesn't.