Apple and Tim Cook Fare Well in Survey of Best Places to Work

[Cruzer442]

For many people straight out of school, this sort of environment can be very appealing. They get to work on stuff they like to do anyway, the free perks are better than anything they could get themselves (food, game room, etc), and the majority of their friends and relationships happen through their work environment. Since they don't really have much of a "normal" life yet (no family, etc), work _is_ their life. It's a bit like still being in college, but getting paid.

Eventually, most of these kids hit 30 and start a family, develop priorities outside work, and so on, and realize they need to move on. But there's always a fresh crop of smart 21 year olds ready to take their place.

At first that was my thought too. Who want to live at work. But if you took me fresh from getting my BSEE and I could work at Apple 80 hours a week AND get paid hell yeah I'd take it.

 

[joec1101]

I've never even heard of some of those companies on that list

And Microsoft didn't even make it into the top 50? I kinda find that hard to believe

When I read comments about how companies like Bain drive people into madness (which sounds *very* plausible in the current corporate world), I really question the reliability and accuracy of these types of "surveys".

 

[thekev]

That's very interesting. I don't understand the 24 hours thing, that's just ridiculous, who would want a job like that? Where I work, they are huge on personal time and making sure people are able to be home with their families as much as possible, since that's a really big deal to everyone. When I hear about huge long days every day and people just living at work, it's such a ridiculous turn off and I don't see how anyone can have a normal life and participate in that sort of thing.

There are a lot of places where hours can be absolutely insane at times, so if that is the accepted situation, it's a positive thing that they'd at least attempt to create a pleasant environment.

For the future of Apple, it is worrying that Tim Cook has scored as highly. I imagine that Jobs was a bit of a nightmare to work for in comparison but the company has done not too badly. Will the company lose its drive and ambition with a "nice guy" at the helm?

You don't need an evil dictator boss to have a good working environment. Really this could turn into a good thing for the company overall. There are a ton of things that could drive a company downhill, but I don't actually think that having a less vindictive CEO is one of them.

At first that was my thought too. Who want to live at work. But if you took me fresh from getting my BSEE and I could work at Apple 80 hours a week AND get paid hell yeah I'd take it.

That schedule may not be entirely realistic of what employees put in year round. There are peak times for any business so a lot of these anecdotal numbers tend to reflect the busiest times.

I've never even heard of some of those companies on that list

And Microsoft didn't even make it into the top 50? I kinda find that hard to believe

When I read comments about how companies like Bain drive people into madness (which sounds *very* plausible in the current corporate world), I really question the reliability and accuracy of these types of "surveys".

Now you've made me wonder about their method of data collection and analysis. It's impossible to put together a perfectly linear scale from such a large matrix of data anyway, so there's a chance of some kind of bias.

 

[WasAppleRetail]

Maybe AT HQ BUT NOT AT RETAIL STORES!!

Apple Head Office may be an awesome place to work.....

...but apple retail is terrible form my own personal experience.

Have just left after working for a year. They employ the best of the best which they like to remind you every day. The company philosophy is that “At Apple, our most important resource, our soul, is our people." .... this is just propaganda which is planted into the heads of everyone there. With constant videos from The Mothership detailing how well the company is doing to egg you on to keep you in this made up bubble. They expect the best of you with no pressure selling policies but managers hold lots of pressure on Staff to SELL SELL SELL MAC's APPLE CARE AND ONETOONE TRAINING. If you don't sell 60% apple care and 40% onetoone then there's something wrong. I personally beat the targets set to me with false promises of promotion..... but no reward and I MEAN NOTHING in return! They also remind you that you could have it worse working in other retail stores but 90% plus of the staff I worked with had degrees and qualifications that make them much much better that just retail employees.... Alas I couldn't take the BS anymore so I left....

 

[eye]

Apple Head Office may be an awesome place to work.....

...but apple retail is terrible form my own personal experience.

Have just left after working for a year. They employ the best of the best which they like to remind you every day. The company philosophy is that “At Apple, our most important resource, our soul, is our people." .... this is just propaganda which is planted into the heads of everyone there. With constant videos from The Mothership detailing how well the company is doing to egg you on to keep you in this made up bubble. They expect the best of you with no pressure selling policies but managers hold lots of pressure on Staff to SELL SELL SELL MAC's APPLE CARE AND ONETOONE TRAINING. If you don't sell 60% apple care and 40% onetoone then there's something wrong. I personally beat the targets set to me with false promises of promotion..... but no reward and I MEAN NOTHING in return! They also remind you that you could have it worse working in other retail stores but 90% plus of the staff I worked with had degrees and qualifications that make them much much better that just retail employees.... Alas I couldn't take the BS anymore so I left....

A degree is pretty meaningless nowadays. It doesn't make one overqualified for retail one bit.