Apple Plummets to Lowest Ranking Ever in Glassdoor's Annual List of Best Places to Work

[shareef777]

Apple is the very definition of why trickle down economics doesn’t work. Most profitable and valuable company on the planet yet the employees are not well supported and they’ll only bring cash to the US when it costs them close to nothing (and even then they’ll hoard it away to buy out and stifle competition).

 

[69Mustang]

So much ignorance here, bring things like foreign taxation into this subject and other things like the "open" work spaces in a building that isn't open yet. I'd bet my shiny new iPhone X that the drop was precipitated largely by a retail workforce that most of these other companies do not have. That creates a very large pool of potentially less-than thrilled employees, dealing downright rude customers daily, in which many will feel "undervalued" because they think they deserve better and not realizing its not the job that sucks- its some of the clients. Work in retail for a month and you'll either see this, or be this.

Look at the companies at 4, 6, 41, 49, 51, 53, 61, 64, 70-73, 75, and 79-81. They all have retail workforce components. I probably missed others in there as well. Every issue you mentioned exists for all those companies.

@iJon Lot's of companies have retail.

 

[jonnyb098]

Is Glassdoor that important? I’ve nevet used it. Do many people here use it?

Yes, its very important. Ive used it many times and found it very helpful. Shocks me how many dont even know about it.

We've had people interview here who have cited glass door during discussions.

 

[AmazingRobie]

The truth can no longer be hidden with upper management stock cash out/secret bulk inventory purchases to pad quarter record profits or marketing PR. Most of the management staff needs replaced including Jon Ive, Tim Cook, and that guy with the weird smile that they keep making people have lunch with. Also, mark my words, they're gonna bring that one guy who got muscled out that liked skeuomorphisms. Its too early to look up details. Apologies.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Oh this. So much this. The people who designed "open workplaces" should be forced to work in it 24/7 to see how it feels.

Actually, they would be fine. The people that design these workspaces are management folks. It is the perfect working environment for them. It is sort of like having a fish design your home.

 

[Stella]

Oh, we have permanent seats in our office. oh god - having to change seats every day - ugh. PITA!

Definitely - Open Office YMMV.

each to their won of course, though fighting for a seat each day is such a waste of time or me. Also means that your team, that you are suppose to work with can be spread. Never found open office and hot desking to work, from my experience

 

[Bacillus]

A lot of Apple employees hated Steve. Cook is actually a more "likable" CEO.

That's exactly where the trouble begins.
Let underperforming VP's slip away is where the rotting in the organisation starts.
This trend takes a while to also affect the lower ranks, but results are unmistaken now.

 

[citysnaps]

Trying to enforce a PC culture does not bring out the best in your workforce.

I still believe you get the best out of people if they fight what they believe in, even if that results in debates that are perceived at conflict, as long as its constructive, you get better products.

Curious...

What kind of "PC culture" are Apple employees subjected to every day in the workplace? Detail and specifics would be great, especially with respect to enforcement.

 

[DVNIEL]

Those two in the picture are looking at the internal careers page at Apple. Laughing that transferring to a different department makes no difference in their unhappiness.

 

[jonnyb098]

Absolutely. Gives an initial impression of a company. Bearing in mind, people post to air their grievances more than praise. As long as you are aware of that.

I get the impression that Apple don't have a particularly good balance of work / life. Work isn't my life, and I value companies that recognize that employees absolutely need that balance.

Burnt out employees aren't productive or happy employees, and doesn't tend to a great working environment.

While true many people go on glass door to complain. If you start seeing patterns emerge in reviews its very clear where the company's issues are. Thats what I find most helpful.

For example if everyone complains about work/life balance for a particular company , then its clear they expect 50-60 hour work weeks out of their employees. Or if theres a corporate culture problem. That kind of info is very helpful.

 

[citysnaps]

It would be nice to know how Apple's ranking is driven by Apple Store retail employees compared to non-Apple Store employees.

The last I remember, is that Apple Store employees make up about 50% of the roughly 120,000 Apple employee total.

 

[djlythium]

Psh, Face is the 1st?! What does is say about a society when working for an international social media corporation that sells your personal info for their own profit is considered the best place to work?

Heck, no. Screw that kool-aid.

 

[Tonewheel]

No more free lattes and bean bag chairs? The kids rebelled!

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

This may not be due to negative changes at Apple. It's just as likely that other businesses have just gotten really good.

 

[69Mustang]

It would be nice to know how Apple's ranking is driven by Apple Store employees compared to non-Apple Store employees.

The last I remember, is that Apple Store employees make up about 50% of the roughly 120,000 employee total.

Probably similarly to all the other companies with retail employees.

Psh, Face is the 1st?! What does is say about a society when working for an international social media corporation that sells your personal info for their own profit is considered the best place to work?

Heck, no. Screw that kool-aid.

How they treat their employees has nothing to do with what they do. There's no correlation.

 

[MH01]

Curious...

What kind of "PC culture" are Apple employees subjected to every day in the workplace? Detail and specifics would be great, especially with respect to enforcement.

I've already clarified this .

I'm referring to scott forstall, im sure you are aware of his removal , and how tim did not know how to deal with him , this flows down the ranks .

My opinion scott forstall was a great asset , though Tim wanted peace and Harmony as the mechanism . I believe that people willing to fight for what they believe in provides better products - they are passionate and better product owners .
[doublepost=1512576260][/doublepost]

Oh, we have permanent seats in our office. oh god - having to change seats every day - ugh. PITA!

Definitely - Open Office YMMV.

Got you. In which case I understand .

At the BBC we had open office + hot desking - was hell.

 

[Jax44]

Given that most of their employees are staff at the retail stores, I don't think this really says anything about the engineering opportunities.

I wonder if this is Corporate only, or includes Apple Retail.
I wonder if for Amazon if it is Corporate only, or includes their warehouse workers.

On the open workspace issue at the new campus, isn’t it designed to have cubicles also, that can be easily moved to open areas?.

 

[Baymowe335]

True, however they stuck by him. I bet everyone dislikes Musk as well...but know he will lead the way.

Tesla has a lot to prove. They haven't even turned a profit yet. Apple is on a different planet.

Musk is a billionaire and a great salesman. If Tesla goes away, he'll still be fine.
[doublepost=1512576565][/doublepost]

Your perspective seems slightly restricted by formalities.
Look at the socio-economic impact of this form of cooperation on a global scale.

To me, it's just business. Apple can't be accountable for social problems or the larger economy. The jobs they create in China are actually some of the most sought after because the workers actually get paid.

 

[thadoggfather]

Part of being a staunch globalist that Tim is, means that you want the quality of life degraded, and eventual de population in effect so elites can literally rule the world and us cockroaches are decimated from taking up space and sucking up oxygen while passing it off as PC eco friendly and “to make the world a better place” (Silicon Valley jabs in the show, anyone?)

Consider roll out phase 1 successful of making the most recognized company in the world, hell on earth to work at with all his agenda pushing taking top priority. Apple is aspiring towards Amazon status, work ya down to the bone and then toss ya.

Increasingly, not only will executives absorb all the cash flow and stock options comparatively, but they’ll be the sole ones having a blast with ear to ear grins and no one else, including even leaving people with highly paid specialized technical positions in the cold

Weeeeee

 

[citysnaps]

I've already clarified this .

I'm referring to scott forstall, im sure you are aware of his removal , and how tim did not know how to deal with him , this flows down the ranks .

My opinion scott forstall was a great asset , though Tim wanted peace and Harmony as the mechanism . I believe that people willing to fight for what they believe in provides better products - they are passionate and better product owners .

I do remember Forstall, and the back-to-back disasters he was responsible for. Specifically the release of Apple Maps, and, Siri on iOS.

 

[MH01]

In practice, those who espouse "Tolerance", are quite intolerant to anyone who disagrees with them.

If Tim could manage to get Apple OUT OF POLITICS (much like Jobs did); and instead of focusing on all that energy on product development, perfecting the OS, and creating better support and environment than the competition, they would not only improve their sales, but accelerate the growth across the market. Then focus on supporting the Mac Pro, which was a very well received, expensive desktop; and take the Mac Mini back to the 2012 design - so people have the option to increase the DDR3 RAM, add a second hard drive. The 2012 i5/i7 Mac Mini can easily be modified to be much more powerful than the top of the line 2015 Model - and this is ridiculous.

I've said it in a few replies scott forstall was an asset. Removing him to appease other directors has got Apple "peace" at that level, and has killed innovation in my opinion .

 

[thadoggfather]

I do remember Forstall, and the disasters he was responsible for. Specifically the release of Apple Maps, and, Siri on iOS.

Lol

Siri still sucks. And maps is one of many stock apps I lob into a folder

[?] I Bug anyone? MacOS Sierra root bug?

Dec2 boot loop bug? To name a few recent ones



Forstall was doomed to fall on the chopping block for political reasons, and they eventually found their justification (IMO)

 

[itguy06]

True, however they stuck by him. I bet everyone dislikes Musk as well...but know he will lead the way.

I think Musk is more a con man than a leader....

 

[MH01]

I do remember Forstall, and the disasters he was responsible for. Specifically the release of Apple Maps, and, Siri on iOS.

You don't . Cause if you actually believe it was all his fault , and he was was the fall guy, you are ignoring the facts - sorry .

Anyway , so we don't get off topic , I'm referring to his removal . Under jobs conflict resulted in innovation and great products .

 

[guzhogi]

I was surprised to learn that his work phone was an old scrappy iPhone 5C, and that workers at Apple are never prioritized for getting the latest gear to do their work on.

We headed over to Café Macs where I was again surprised to see that every worker had to pay for a simple coffee, as if it would have been a commercial café. I would have expected free snacks, drinks, coffee and meals for working at such a successful company and I don't understand the nickel-and-diming here. I know that the work culture in the US is a bit different than where I'm from (Sweden), but it really tarnished my idea of Apple as a "magical/amazing" place to work at. It felt very cold and big-corporate. In contrast, I've visited the Spotify HQ here in Stockholm and you have access to free coffee, snacks, nuts, protein bars, catered meals, salads, sandwiches, drinks, sodas, energy drinks, etc 24/7 at no charge, you get the latest mid-high specced Macbook Pro and iPhone Plus/X, etc.

I don't understand why the wealthiest company in the world can't supply proper tools and coffee & snacks to the people on which their success is built on. Maybe these are silly remarks. But it really gave me the feeling that working at Apple is not a very great experience and that you're not really cared for as an employee.

That's pretty bad. While I get that Apple's a for-profit business, but this is ridiculous. They make billions in profits every year. They could at least allow free coffee, snacks & early/prioritized access to new products. I work in 2 schools. At one, people sign up to brings snacks into the lounge everyday. At my other school, every Friday, 4-5 staff members sign up to bring breakfast for everybody (every week it's a different group of 4-5 staff). There are bagels or donuts, cheese & crackers, cooked egg dishes, a little bit of everything. Plus, the Parent Teacher Organizations/Associations occasionally offer lunch (or dinner if it's during parent/teacher conferences) for the staff a few times a year. While a school is way smaller than the HQ for a large, multinational corporation, I just wonder if people do that at Apple?

Oh this. So much this. The people who designed "open workplaces" should be forced to work in it 24/7 to see how it feels.

I work in a school district. One of the middle schools (grades 6-8) was designed with an "Open Concept" where there's a central "commons" on the first floor where there are presentations as well as lunch for the students with classrooms surrounding it. On the second floor, we have a library with classrooms surrounding it. Whenever there's a presentation in either place, it gets pretty loud for the surrounding classrooms. It was pretty bad. However, I could see how open concepts can work in some cases, if implemented properly and with the right people.