Apple Expands Employee Benefit Programs in Health and Wellness, Education, and Philanthropy

[greytmom]

As for providing on-site doctors... I think that's a great benefit as well but the cynical side of me wonders if Apple is doing this to increase employee productivity. If I don't need to take an hour out of my work day in order to drive to a doctor/dentist/etc, then that's an hour devoted to working.

And that's a good thing. It's a win-win on both sides if you ask me - easy access to medical care that doesn't require an employee to schlep all over town.

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Is that a reduction? In most other countries that would be considered a pretty poor offer. I'm not even sure that it meets the statutory minimum.

Nope, not a reduction. Family Medical Leave Act grants up to 12 weeks (not paid) in a rolling calendar year. In this case, Apple is allowing up to 18 weeks.

 

[BvizioN]

You American snob. These countries among other EU countries are far more human friendly than you could ever imagine.

Yeah, try to full Americans with that. And before you go any further, I grew up on these places.

 

[rdlink]

You American snob. These countries among other EU countries are far more human friendly than you could ever imagine.

By "human friendly," you mean socialistic to the point of overburdening the people who actually create wealth, and thereby crippling the economy? Or providing such a depressing socialistic society as to eliminate any form of individual ambition or initiative?

 

[nws0291]

Don't assume. It may not be unless specifically stated to be.
In most places it is not. What you get is you keep your job and apply for state disability insurance.
It would be nice to hear from the people inside who saw the actual policy.

It's paid. You can then use your PTO. If you want to remain longer you can request a leave of absence. That is unpaid but a job is secured once you return at within the specified time frame. Your exact position may not be available but a similar one will be.

 

[Mr Fusion]

By "human friendly," you mean socialistic to the point of overburdening the people who actually create wealth, and thereby crippling the economy? Or providing such a depressing socialistic society as to eliminate any form of individual ambition or initiative?

Yeah they're really depressed in Europe. Not having to worry about retirement, going broke from medical bills, housing, food... It's a living nightmare.

Oh... Those same countries offer up to TWO YEARS FULL SALARIED LEAVE for new mothers. God it's frightening... MAKE IT STOP!!!!

 

[rdlink]

The increase in parental leave is great! I can't wrap my head around why all companies (above a certain size and/or revenue threshold) aren't required to provide more parental leave in the US. Enabling parents to properly take care of their newborns not only is the right thing to do (from a medical POV), but I think it would foster greater company loyalty as well.

As for providing on-site doctors... I think that's a great benefit as well but the cynical side of me wonders if Apple is doing this to increase employee productivity. If I don't need to take an hour out of my work day in order to drive to a doctor/dentist/etc, then that's an hour devoted to working.

And what, exactly is wrong with enhancing employee productivity? I'm not sure when it became "cynical" to want your employees available for more of their workday. At the end of the day Apple is a company. Like any other. And they are trying to run a business. It's okay (and quite lucrative, usually) to be humane. But the mission is to be profitable and thrive.

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Yeah they're really depressed in Europe. Not having to worry about retirement, going broke from medical bills, housing, food... It's a living nightmare.

And when your governments have nothing left to give the little piggies when they walk up to the troughs, what will you do then? Someone has to pay for this stuff. Governments are not perpetual motion machines. In fact, they're quite the opposite. Every dollar spent on a government run or sponsored program usually ends up being mostly wasted.

 

[cr2]

You are better.

Last week my company gave me a pen to borrow

My company fired many people just before their stock grants were due. To make it worse, they reduced the salary by 15% for many and then again by 10%. Idea is that the most people leave instead of them having to pay severance.

We were made to pay for our own phone bills for a long time even though more than 50% of the calls are work related!

It is nice to see some companies treat their employees well. That is why I go out of the way to buy at COSTCO

 

[Mr Fusion]

And when your governments have nothing left to give the little piggies when they walk up to the troughs, what will you do then? Someone has to pay for this stuff. Governments are not perpetual motion machines. In fact, they're quite the opposite. Every dollar spent on a government run or sponsored program usually ends up being mostly wasted.

When your company charges a fair price, pays a fair wage and executives don't earn ludicrous salaries compared to the rest of the company, you'd be surprised what can be paid for.

If you stopped hating on your government and tried changing it for the better, perhaps it won't be so wasteful? Just a thought...

 

[rGiskard]

The increase in parental leave is great! I can't wrap my head around why all companies (above a certain size and/or revenue threshold) aren't required to provide more parental leave in the US. Enabling parents to properly take care of their newborns not only is the right thing to do (from a medical POV), but I think it would foster greater company loyalty as well.

As for providing on-site doctors... I think that's a great benefit as well but the cynical side of me wonders if Apple is doing this to increase employee productivity. If I don't need to take an hour out of my work day in order to drive to a doctor/dentist/etc, then that's an hour devoted to working.

Agree wholeheartedly, except for the cynical part. I fully expect Apple provides the wellness benefits to increase productivity, but health is even more valuable to the workers personally. It's one of those areas where an enlightened company's self-interest benefits the workers as well.

 

[simonmet]

This article at 9to5Mac certainly doesn't paint the picture of a company that performs well in the wellness category. It's a report about senior execs but I fully expect the pressures they suffer to work their way down the ladder as work is delegated and offloaded. I wonder if this announcement is in any way related to that report. Of course you could argue that senior execs accept that kind of workload and stress when they accept multi-million dollar salaries. I'm not sure if I would but I've never been offered so it's a moot point!

My impression however is that if execs are expected to be available 24/7 and work 16/18-hour days that can't be good for Apple. There's a hell of a lot of research on overwork and fatigue and its impact on performance, temperament and decision-making. There's a reason why pilots have enforced breaks and caps.

If Cook sleeps 4-5 hours a night then I don't think that's something he or anyone should boast about. It's unhealthy and it's likely to contribute to poor management.

 

[rdlink]

When your company charges a fair price, pays a fair wage and executives don't earn ludicrous salaries compared to the rest of the company, you'd be surprised what can be paid for.

If you stopped hating on your government and tried changing it for the better, perhaps it won't be so wasteful? Just a thought...

Yeah, there's always a little more. Don't have to pay for it yourself. Share the burden. It'll be fine...

http://online.wsj.com/articles/greeces-coalition-government-to-seek-vote-of-confidence-1412187617

http://online.wsj.com/articles/ital...-dilemma-for-european-central-bank-1412110302

Silly, socialist rabbit...

 

[ericinboston]

fantastic.

parental leave needs to be expanded. especially for fathers. should make it law.

I, as well as any dad in the USA, agree with you. In 2007 my tech employer (based in California) gave me 2 weeks while an extremely high % of USA companies would give 0-1 week. Now in 2014, my current tech employer (based in NY) still only gives 1 week in the USA.

Although the Even Steven side of me says that moms and dads should get 100% identical time off, my personal belief is that 6-8 weeks for dads should be USA Federal law.

 

[Will do good]

You American snob. These countries among other EU countries are far more human friendly than you could ever imagine.

He didn't say those were not friendly countries, they are just broke.

 

[lawrencewinkler]

And that's why their economies are in such a mess. I shudder to think what the world would be like if we all followed the work ethic of EU countries. Btw, on CNBC they just said it's looking like Europe is heading back into recession.

But I'll shut up now since this is getting way OT

Yes. Because they were dumber than the US and actually implemented economy killing austerity measures there. Every country is being managed by bankers and Thatcherites. The destruction of basic civic life in the UK by Thatcher and clones was the key reason for Scotland attempting to break away. Scotland got concessions so they could continue to be somewhat isolated by Thatcher clones.

 

[rish]

Agree wholeheartedly, except for the cynical part. I fully expect Apple provides the wellness benefits to increase productivity, but health is even more valuable to the workers personally. It's one of those areas where an enlightened company's self-interest benefits the workers as well.

You think it will lessen the risk of the close succession of fails?

 

[thomas.j]

Apple paid more taxes last year than any other company in the USA. They were audited and found to be following every tax law. How can you say they aren't paying their fair share?

Well, the EU commission believes that the tax deal Apple has with Ireland and how it was implemented may by unacceptable (http://news.sky.com/story/1344646/eu-probe-slams-ireland-over-apple-tax-deals). If they come to the conclusion that this is the case I feel one is entitled to say that Apple did not pay its fair share.

 

[paul4339]

Germany (the anchor of europe) - 14 weeks
Ireland - 26 weeks
Denmark - 52 weeks
China - 14 weeks
Norway - 56 weeks
Australia - 18 weeks
Canada - 35-50 weeks

Whether the country is in good or bad economic shape, they still have a variety of different parental leave programs... So cannot see parental leave having that big a correlation on whether a country is broke or not.

And from my last visits, Canada, Australia, German companies still hire women... alot of women.

Whether a country is broke or not maybe has more to do with corruption, poor banking policy and governance, and tax policies.

.

 

[Rogifan]

This article at 9to5Mac certainly doesn't paint the picture of a company that performs well in the wellness category. It's a report about senior execs but I fully expect the pressures they suffer to work their way down the ladder as work is delegated and offloaded. I wonder if this announcement is in any way related to that report. Of course you could argue that senior execs accept that kind of workload and stress when they accept multi-million dollar salaries. I'm not sure if I would but I've never been offered so it's a moot point!

My impression however is that if execs are expected to be available 24/7 and work 16/18-hour days that can't be good for Apple. There's a hell of a lot of research on overwork and fatigue and its impact on performance, temperament and decision-making. There's a reason why pilots have enforced breaks and caps.

If Cook sleeps 4-5 hours a night then I don't think that's something he or anyone should boast about. It's unhealthy and it's likely to contribute to poor management.

You should actually listen to the Debug podcast where this information was taken from. It was a fascinating podcast, most of it dealing with Apple during Steve Jobs tenure as CEO. iMore's Rene Ritchie runs the podcast and he was quite annoyed that all some (like BI and 9to5Mac) got out of it was Apple works it's employees hard. That was NOT the point of the podcast at all and it was more fond reminiscing by former employees than 'Apple's a sweat shop that forces you to be on call 24/7'. Of course the former doesn't generate clicks like the latter does.

 

[nocturnum]

Yeah, try to full Americans with that. And before you go any further, I grew up on these places.

I assume you grew up in Albania, where they have two major streets named after Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in their old and newly acquired capital (a gift from daddy America). Doesn't that beautifully connect with your comment?

 

[zin]

By "human friendly," you mean socialistic to the point of overburdening the people who actually create wealth, and thereby crippling the economy? Or providing such a depressing socialistic society as to eliminate any form of individual ambition or initiative?

I really don't think you know what that word means.

And when your governments have nothing left to give the little piggies when they walk up to the troughs, what will you do then? Someone has to pay for this stuff. Governments are not perpetual motion machines. In fact, they're quite the opposite. Every dollar spent on a government run or sponsored program usually ends up being mostly wasted.

It's clear that at this point you made no effort towards meaningful debate.

 

[omenatarhuri]

I wish they had more R&D activities in Europe.

 

[asmodeo1]

By "human friendly," you mean socialistic to the point of overburdening the people who actually create wealth, and thereby crippling the economy? Or providing such a depressing socialistic society as to eliminate any form of individual ambition or initiative?

Are you from the past? Watch out, a comunist is behind you.

 

[BvizioN]

I assume you grew up in Albania, where they have two major streets named after Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in their old and newly acquired capital (a gift from daddy America). Doesn't that beautifully connect with your comment?

That's where I was born, I grew up in Greece and spend around 10 years in Italy. So yes, you can bull **** Americans about how humane these countries are but not me.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Apple will also derive knowledge from having a co located corporate doctor's office. New software, hardware can be tested while the daily operations will give insight int how to improve a doctors workflow and efficiency by leveraging all kinds of future Idevices.

 

[Tech198]

oh man.. Apple, u lucky dogs ..

slaves, waiting on you hand and foot.