New apple employees get only 10 PTO days. Even with these 3 extra holidays during, they get 13 days per year. Nothing to feel bad about for the rest of the world. Most people in US get at least 15 PTO days in the corporate world.
side discussion - i think the PTO nonsense is a scam to be honest, dressed up as a "good deal" by HR people with fancy brochures and company letter heads.
for a salaried professional, 2 + 2 has been the standard for a while. 2 weeks vacation, 2 weeks sick = 4 weeks. in in terms of working days, that's 20 days off. then after 3-5 yrs or so, the company will increase you to 3 weeks vacation. then after 10-15 yrs the company will increase you to 4 weeks. sick leave typically stays at 2 weeks regardless.
companies, mainly for-profit hospital networks, are changing the differentiation between types of leave even for salaried employees and merging them into PTO and reducing the total number of days. HR says this is a "good deal" b/c now employees can choose how they want to use their leave, whereas before employees were throwing away sick days every year. no one that i know, who has a family with kids ever throws away sick days. in fact, there aren't enough sick days as is and many employees have to use vacation time to take care of their family and in some cases themselves. unless you're a single healthy person or maybe married without kids, expect to blow through your 2 weeks of sick leave easily. for the company to then reduce the overall number of days, is a scam dressed up as a good deal
anyways back to Apple. with how successful Apple is and how much cash they have, it's beyond me why they can't be near the top of the best places to work list along with Google, Whole Foods, etc. sure, Apple doesn't "have to" do anything - they are a for-profit company and their main goal is to make a profit. IMO - they have not only reached that goal, but they have surpassed that goal exponentially. they have the reputation for their products, so i think it would be beneficial to develop a reputation as a great place to work. whether it's the stores or corporate positions either in management or engineering, you tend not to hear favorable things from people who work there with regards to work/life balance and benefits packages when compared to comparable companies in the industry and of that size. you also hear every so often of these horror stories that go on at Apple Retail stores behind the scenes - stuff that would never go on at Whole Foods. if Whole Foods can turn a profit off of food (thin margins), pay their employees w/ 0 experience at $12/hr starting in my area, yet still maintain excellent employee work satisfaction...well there is no reason why Apple cannot do the same and why they feel it's beneficial to pay their non-commissioned employees with 0 experience at a starting hourly wage of $8.15 in my area. this is actually less than the non-commissioned employees at Best Buy in some cases selling the exact same products
