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

[barkomatic]

Organizations of all types are in love with the open office design. It allows them to cram more people into a smaller space which results in cheaper real estate costs.

They always sell it to employees as "improving collaboration", a "transparent work environment" blah blah blah. Some people don't mind, but most don't like it.

 

[Baymowe335]

You deserve to be a Chinese farmer's son in your next life.

There is no question opportunities are different for everyone and unfair. I won the genetic lottery just being born in America. I've actually traveled the world a good amount to appreciate this fact.

What I'm telling you is that's fact is not Apple's job to fix.

 

[bandalay]

Glassdoor.com reviews are also interesting…

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/glassdoor.com

Some typical reviews…

"Glassdoor is the most biased company review app there is. Several companies I follow have negative reviews taken down as quickly as they're posted, while the obviously fake positive reviews remain. #fraud"

"Glassdoor allows anyone to post anything anonymously. A competitor or disgruntled former employee can post lies and cause real harm without impunity. The employer has no real recourse, because Glassdoor hides behind legal immunity and will fight tooth and nail to prevent the employer from finding out who is behind the defamatory posts. There should be an employer class action..."

 

[JamesMay82]

I remember I applied to work for Apple at their UK head office and they required I had a College education which I don't have.. Which is hypocritical considering it was founded by a college drop out..

 

[albebaubles]

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);\

Agree 100%. -- no way does every employee agree with Cook's political views.

 

[bdkennedy1]

The open planning setup is what really puts me off the HQ. Its terrible in practice, my opinion.

We have one department at my company that's open air and they are constantly goofing around because it's too easy to turn their chair and just join in and they get loud. It's like Wallstreet. I used to sit in there and had to demand I be moved to a different room because I couldn't concentrate on my work.

 

[mi7chy]

All the signs of a sinking ship.

 

[macs4nw]

These rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, even when they are good.

"Proprietary algorithm" is code for "we don't know and take our best guess to represent the voices of thousands of people."

I wonder if preoccupation with the big move might also have been a factor in some way, and perhaps apprehension about the radically new cubicle-less work environment?

 

[NathanWind]

Over the course of three decades Apple grew to be the company it is today without concern for "diversity".

If this phenomenal growth isn't enough to prove the lack of value in "diversity", then this headline certainly is.

 

[69Mustang]

I should have expanded, my fault- Its not about just having a retail component, as those are primarily retail organizations and do not have as much operational diversity, and also not nearly as expansive in numbers as Apple. Apple would now be more similar to a department store than to Lululemon, being that the smallest Apple store will have many more employees than the largest Lululemon. How many people go into a store to complain about yoga pants? Ever overhear someone complain about phone signal or storage?

I'm just saying that despite a several spot drop in the rankings, this does not at all equate to Apple suddenly becoming a bad place to work. Its all about perspective and if you compared that same perspective, year over year, you likely will not see a commensurate drop.

Two things. 1. As I said in an earlier post, any company in the Top 100 is considered a good workplace according to the Glassdoor ranking. But is still sounds like you're trying to excuse Apple's ranking by saying Apple has some special or different retail issues that others don't. They don't. 2. Your focus on customer complaints ignores the many other aspects of the retail job and it's satisfaction level for the employee. It's not necessary to try to explain the score relative to retail. Apple's ranking rises and falls relative to the other company's rankings. Apple could have hypothetically scored an 88 every year from 2009 forward. Depending on the year, that 88 could have them ranked as high as #10 or as low as #84. As you said, it's all about perspective. Their possible retail issues have nothing to do with it.

 

[Baymowe335]

Come on Apple - get it together.

Yes, their primary goal should be being at the top of Glassdoor's list.

 

[Azwilly]

Too much ‘political correctness’, open work areas, intolerance of opposing views....formula for low morale.

 

[bandalay]

From what I've read Apple's new HQ has a combination of open and enclosed pod workspaces - both configurable.

 

[Bacillus]

There is no question opportunities are different for everyone and unfair. I won the genetic lottery just being born in America. I've actually traveled the world a good amount to appreciate this fact.

What I'm telling you is that's fact is not Apple's job to fix.

Apparently, Tim Cook advertising Apple's high morality on every occasion and subject, thinks (or pretends...) different.

 

[Michael Goff]

So many people proclaiming the doom of Apple today. Oh no, if only they were on the top of some list made by some company I’ve never heard of.

Returning my X now, Apple is likely gone before the new year.

 

[falainber]

Yeah, I imagine all the mistakes they’ve made in their software lately don’t help, either.

Conversely, the decreasing quality of Apple software might be reflecting the fact that the best engineers do not want to work for them anymore.

 

[3NV7]

What they should do is have both kinds of work environments, and place the people who work best in a certain environment in the right one.

Hey - we'll have none of this so-called "common sense" around here.

My perception is that the "open workspace" fad (which seemed to gain traction in the early 2000's) was a response to the supposed loss of productivity due to web surfing.

 

[gsurf123]

All surveys are jaded by angry people. Happy people usually don't bother to provide input to surveys.

 

[curtvaughan]

Organizations of all types are in love with the open office design. It allows them to cram more people into a smaller space which results in cheaper real estate costs.

They always sell it to employees as "improving collaboration", a "transparent work environment" blah blah blah. Some people don't mind, but most don't like it.

Extroverted, more socially minded people don't seem to mind it. I always preferred a private office for getting "brain work" done - coding, debugging, writing documentation, personal consulting with clientele etc. I didn't mind working with other engineers and technicians on hardware issues with servers and the like. The main advantage of "open offices" from a managerial viewpoint is in keeping tabs on employees whom you don't trust, and in fostering competition among employees keeping tabs on each other. It can have a real negative affect on morale, especially among engineers and technical specialists.

 

[travelsheep]

When you had drunk sex with a co-worker after a work related party and you have to look at each other every day because suddenly you're basically in the same room every day.

 

[falainber]

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

Do you know of any other web site where people share their opinions about their employers? I don't. So, Glassdoor might not be very accurate but it has to be the most accurate (by virtue of being the sole source of this information).

 

[Michael Goff]

Do you know of any other web site where people share their opinions about their employers? I don't. So, Glassdoor might not be very accurate but it has to be the most accurate (by virtue of being the sole source of this information).

If it’s not accurate, it’s not important. It doesn’t matter if it’s the only site. Bad information is worse than none.

 

[Blaze4G]

The company I work for is #6 on the Fortune 500. We do over $200B in revenues in a year. The only free stuff we get is tea and coffee in the break room. We don’t get free snacks or meals and if we want Starbucks we pay for it. Is it just a Silicon Valley thing to expect all this free stuff from the company you work for?

My previous company that made 200 million in revenues last year gave us free green juices, bottled water, protein bars, fruits such as apples, avocados, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, free nuts, coffee, tea.

We also got vegetable and fruit platters, bagels once a week.

Not that I expect this at every company but I would expect a big company like Apple to have at least free coffee, water and snacks like protein bars / granola bars (doesn't have to be an assortment).

I am working in a government job now so I am surely not expecting any of this now lol.

 

[Jerus]

Most of you talk about the Engineers but thins about all the people on the shop floor. Did they not use to get really good christmas gift but then suddenly last year only got a T-shirt and a motivational quote? Small things like that matter.

 

[kazmac]

Glassdoor has been quite helpful in my job hunt insofar as salaries and getting an idea of work place environment, so that saved me from applying to a job I would have been a shoe-in for due to low pay and abusive supervisors.

As far as Apple, between the rumblings of folks on the Mac team being concerned about the future of the Mac, the software coding mistakes and other such things, it is unfortunate that the brass are not taking a more proactive interest in the tech that made them so popular. Retail is tough, I have dealt with some wonderful and awful people at the Apple stores in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue has righted the ship as far as retail employees (much better than a year ago), but retail is absolutely no joke.

Retail employees have to work very hard and put up with a lot of crap both from the public and sometimes internally.