i'm not sure any of that alleviates waiting for hours with an appointment to see someone who has no idea there was a software update released today that bricks ipads.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Introduces Major Retail Changes, Including New Pro-Level Positions and Credo
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
As an officer in a publicly traded company, her salary is published. Looks to be pretty much the same as every other SVP in the company.
No disrespect to my friends who work at the Genius Bar, but that's an entry-level IT support position in the regular world, at least in my area, IMO. It's not an engineer/analyst position -- these folks are not designing/implementing/supporting systems. They're fixing broken software/hardware, and the escalate stuff up to the engineers and analysts. And for what it is, Apple pays more than what most other companies around here do for that kind of work. Apple also offers extremely flexible schedules for everyone including Geniuses, which is something that's great for folks in college, and something they're not likely to find doing IT for a normal "9-to-5" business.
IMO, Apple doesn't plan these to be "forever jobs". Most are a pretty cool way to get some experience on the resume (usually when going through college). I've seen more than a few college kids that were Creatives and Geniuses at the store I worked at begrudgingly move on to traditional careers in IT, with their "in" actually having been the experience they got from the Apple Store. And for the folks that do want a career path within Apple retail, there are management positions that pay more.
In a sense, yes and yes. Anything she implements has the potential to impact 30,000 employees (and their productivity), for better or for worse. She's singularly responsible and accountable for that. And FWIW, they regularly solicited for ideas from frontline people when I worked there. So I wouldn't assume that things she does aren't without input from the frontline that she's responsible for.
What I see her doing here is trying to help frontline people by creating more growth potential within the retail stores, which includes salary growth. This is probably directly from input from the front line. So if your point is that the more experienced people (Geniuses/Creatives) are underpaid because while they're paid well for "retail", but they're actually doing a different kind of work (IT support), and she's rolling out something to directly help with that point, what's the issue with her?
The creedo (cheesy poem) came from when Ron Johnson was the SVP of Retail. From what I see that changed, very little of the cheese is from her.Granted, the cheesy poem would have been more difficult.
Last edited:
o Technical Expert: An all-new customer support position in between Technical Specialist and Genius. These employees will be able to provide mobile repairs, a task previously limited to Geniuses, and troubleshooting for software and products like the Apple Watch and Apple TV. The position will help reduce Genius Bar/Grove and service wait times.
I feel like someone needs to tell whoever made this "change" about the Family Room Specialist position? Because I haven't had a Genius fix my mobile device in approximately 5 years.
So, if you're right about that, not only their suppliers have to tighten their belts, but Apple is also looking for savings in the 'no-longer-a-store' retail locations. All this to keep the shareholders happy until those rumored cars start rolling off the assembly line, years from now.....? Tim might need a miracle.
Gonna need to brush up on the new titles next time I visit the "store" for some assistance
This stinks of Angela Ahrendts. There will be a catwalk up the middle of the stores soon
I like cats.
This stinks of Angela Ahrendts. There will be a catwalk up the middle of the stores soon
Well, congrats on your sexism, but in reality most successful ventures have a mission and vision statement so the people working there have a clear idea of what the goals are in working with the organization. When I studied Library Science we learned to craft them. We have them in Retail too. I like this one from Apple, it's very dynamic.
I like your version. Laser-focused and easier for employees to understand and implement. Oh yeah, and you mention the customer! Business 101.
Apple's tiresomely long-winded "credo", OTOH, can easily be interpreted against the customer's best interests. The very first line, for example, doesn't specify whose lives are to be "enriched". So one could cynically misinterpret it to mean just the executives' lives - if one was in a bad mood that day.
[doublepost=1471832407][/doublepost]
No. It's dreadful.
Corporate pablum at it's worst.
I'm a retail employee and I'll explain this. 10-20% of devices I see every day have liquid damage that causes a large number of completely different issues. I can't tell you how many times I spend half an hour trying to troubleshoot a problem only to check the liquid contact indicator and realize it's red, always of course after a customer tells me with certainty that it has never touched water. So yes, I always check the liquid contact indicator before starting an interaction because it takes 15 seconds and tells me a lot of information both about what causes the problem, and what the solution is going to be.
Liquid contact indicators are hardly even touched in training and there is no pressure from the top, at least not at my store, to find ways to deny service. To be candid with you, the managers at stores are typically quite overwhelmed and will defer to the judgement calls of specialists. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to bat for customers to get their out of warranty device serviced for free or at a lower rate, and there is almost never any pushback. I have plenty of criticisms of Apple, even as an employee, but I felt the need to make an account to dispel the notion that checking for liquid has anything to do with a goal to increase revenue or deny service.
And for the record, employees should attempt to troubleshoot to the best of their ability even after a device has water damage. But there's really not much that can be done past attempting a DFU.
Just to clarify.
This is Apple's response to the vast amount of employees leaving due to lack of movement within the company. They know they need to pay people more so instead of doing so, they created a few other positions to either maintain the great people that they have who would otherwise leave. As well as attract to current employees other positions which they can try to obtain. This allows them to pay a very limited amount of people a living wage and create more false hope throughout its staff. Another move by the great Angela who brings all the wrong things to the company.
This is Apple's response to the vast amount of employees leaving due to lack of movement within the company. They know they need to pay people more so instead of doing so, they created a few other positions to either maintain the great people that they have who would otherwise leave. As well as attract to current employees other positions which they can try to obtain. This allows them to pay a very limited amount of people a living wage and create more false hope throughout its staff. Another move by the great Angela who brings all the wrong things to the company.
You are free to disparage the many men and women who currently run Apple retail stores-, but even though folks come and go, and over the past fifteen years, their retail leadership team has consisted of almost a thousand people, including the managers at each of their approx 500 stores, (who undoubtedly had the most input over the new job classifications in their stores), and including Tim Cook himself who oversaw inventory at the stores, Jony Ive who has played a major role in design, etc. Fortunately, Angela Ahrendts has continued the astounding success and in the past two years she has been the SVP over Retail, the stores have done even better--witness last year under her leadership as Apple increased its sales per square foot to an even higher level as it remained number one in the entire world by an huge margin.
Anytime a liquid indicator is added to a product, it is added to save money. It is there to save Apple money from fixing something caused by intentional damage. Why else put it there? And based on this AppleCare document, I can safely reach the conclusion that it is there exclusively to save Apple money and deny customer repairs. I worked for Apple in AppleCare support and I can tell you from experience Apple is very interested in denying service for intentional damage.
"Horrible" I'm Sorry, where did I label it's service ias anything ....let alone horrible?
What I stated is that due to popularity, and limited Apple stores , say a city like London, it's very difficult to meet the demand of people making appointments.
The booking system is very easy to use, getting a slot is very very difficult. Supply / demand.
giving out awards on a forum , be it daily or monthly , comes across a little as patronising
I opened the third Apple Store and there are very, very, VERY few members of leadership left at Apple, if any.
Since at least 2009, the message for employees who wanted to advance was "Quit and get manager experience elsewhere, then reapply." That's not a healthy philosophy for any retail establishment.
How is it any different to the current setup? It was called Back of House, Red Zone, Family Room. Didn't seem to do too much damage.
And they also already had a credo, it also is just an update. So, in short, your Apple Store experience shouldn't be any different to watch it was yesterday.
Of course, how many would you expect to still be there 15 years later? Since you left, Apple leadership at the highest level, e.g., Tim Cook/Steve Jobs et al, and those leading the actual stores, and everyone in between, has continued to build the revenue and success of the stores to unparalleled levels in the retail industry.
A team effort from a great retail team beyond any doubt. You should be proud of the role you played in getting it started so others could take the ball and run with it. Congrats!
After reading that credo, I threw up in my mouth.
Funny thing is, there's a whole lot of reasons beyond just posessing general knowledge that leads to promotion.
"Horrible" I'm Sorry, where did I label it's service ias anything ....let alone horrible?
What I stated is that due to popularity, and limited Apple stores , say a city like London, it's very difficult to meet the demand of people making appointments.
The booking system is very easy to use, getting a slot is very very difficult. Supply / demand.
giving out awards on a forum , be it daily or monthly , comes across a little as patronising
Your quote: "Apple stores around me are horrible when it comes any kind of support without a scheduled appointment."
Yes, because every last one of them believes that they aren't being exploited, they are simply not millionaires yet.
I miss the first few years of Apple retail when I worked there. We wore the black shirts with theh white logo and didn't have all this ******** to deal with. We just helped customers and sold them on the Apple experience instead of having to worry about crap like "Product Zone" and "Backstage" in addition to all these stupid employee titles.
I've got no issue with Angela, other than she was brought in to fix things. I don't know her work. And the whole issue of retail pay is probably beyond Angela's job jurisdiction. What I mean by fixing things is to bring it back to the good old days when the Apple Stores were innovative (at that time) by letting and welcoming customers to play with the products for as long as they wanted and the salespeople weren't pushy. They were also knowledgable Apple fans. We'll have to wait and see, but her idea of reconfiguring job titles and zones doesn't sound innovative enough. A manager making $50k could have thought of that. Apple could have saved $950k.
Other posters, some who had worked at Apple, said the problem is the low pay. If that's the solution why does Apple follow the crowd by adhering to the low retail pay scale? Other posts talk about Apple losing good people because of the low pay.
I find it odd, that the workers in the front lines, the ones directly responsible for sales, are the lowest paid in retail. They are the "front door" to your business. It doesn't work that way in other industries like stockbrokers or real estate.
Back in the very old days customer service reps answering phone calls to take orders would work long boring 8 hour shifts with low pay. They are the only ones representing the company, other than a slick catalog. Why not break it up for them so they don't sound so tired and unenthusiastic?? Well, now I'm going a bit off tangent . . .
