Seems like simple economics to me. Wages go up, number of workers/available hours goes down to balance it out.
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Apple Retail Stores Seeing Significant Layoffs of Recent Hires?
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Yes, and supposedly the employment cycle in retail. This article has no sources at all, so I'm left wondering about that.
You're right, not all of the employees are qualified to do that. You have to be a Mobile Certified Tech to do ANYTHING that is AppleCare related, including adding AppleCare +. The only time a Specialist can add it to the phone is at the time of purchase. Know what you are talking about before spouting off Complete and Utter Crap.
And why might that be? Sure it may be the rules handed from above, but do they make any sense? To add AC+ all that is required is an examination of the exterior of the phone. Anyone can inspect it for damage, you don't need to be certified to spot a cracked screen or backplate.
This is all about the state of the global economy or, more accurately, the design of the banking system.
Friends in all sorts of businesses have reported the business is falling off a cliff in recent months. Bars and restaurants seem relatively quiet on weekends. Yes, even Apple Stores aren't immune like they were a couple of years back.
In my own work, while regular cash cow clients are giving me 'enough' work to pay the bills, I'm getting may be a few new enquiries a week. A year ago I'd have dozens and dozens.
So I think this is Apple merely seeing the writing on the wall and making the cuts early.
The trouble is governments and central bankers have done the most insane things to stop the full effects of the 2007/8 credit crunch feeding through - kicking the can further down the road. I'm no uncritical pro-capitalist but if we'd just let things crash properly and arrested not subsided the bankers we'd probably be coming out of the doldrums just now.
Friends in all sorts of businesses have reported the business is falling off a cliff in recent months. Bars and restaurants seem relatively quiet on weekends. Yes, even Apple Stores aren't immune like they were a couple of years back.
In my own work, while regular cash cow clients are giving me 'enough' work to pay the bills, I'm getting may be a few new enquiries a week. A year ago I'd have dozens and dozens.
So I think this is Apple merely seeing the writing on the wall and making the cuts early.
The trouble is governments and central bankers have done the most insane things to stop the full effects of the 2007/8 credit crunch feeding through - kicking the can further down the road. I'm no uncritical pro-capitalist but if we'd just let things crash properly and arrested not subsided the bankers we'd probably be coming out of the doldrums just now.
I agree entirely!!! Having had a job in Apple Stores before I can say, 80% of the staff don't give a crap about customer service...they steal from the stores (I never witnessed as much theft in any job in my life as I witnessed in this particular store, police were there to question staff almost every week- normally on Sunday mornings they were brought in) , are lazy and don't know much about Apple products in general. They are just there to fill the shop floor up. The reason I ended my job there was only due to the fact, no matter how shiny and well laid out the store is, it's a retail job...get sales first, customer service second! It's amazing the amount of customers who walk away disappointed with a Specialists service. The recruitment process is very simply flawed. Training is computer based and never actually checked by management, so there are a high proportion of staff who, on paper, look like they have completed their training (RetailMe) but in actually fact, they haven't got a clue how to process certain transactions or service related tasks....so they just pass it on to another staff member....then they go back to selling accessories- coasting along!
In addition, it's very hard to find good staff in the UK, a lot of young people come from deprived backgrounds, are uneducated and, well, just plain "chavvy".
Favouritism is rife amongst the older serving staff members so these "new starts" don't really get the full assistance they need.
I am glad I left and opened my own business, which may be small, but has 100% customer service satisfaction rates - nobody leaves the premises less than 100% satisfied. Compared to a few years ago - Apple staff are nowhere near good enough for a big profile store like this! The gap between Pc World, Currys and Apple stores is closing fast in relation to how well staff know products - be as wary of all of them as you can be!
Two days training induction which actually does not involve any use of POS or customer service is hardly elaborate or time consuming! In fact, the training is bare bones....on day one, you grab an iPod touch for payments and are thrown on to the shop floor with zero knowledge of the system. I would say that training is totally inadequate for this size of company. The only pull is the Apple tshirt and the lanyard around your neck so staff can go " oh, I work for Apple". ...they may as well work at Boots or Superdrug as the salary is almost the same for less ********....at least there you dont have to high five people or clap every half hour like Apple staff seem to love doing. It's all false and fake. (Jesus the clapping was the word thing).
This maybe a sign that they are about to clean up the stores and cut out the experimental crap. For the last couple of years Apple stores have offered up possibly the worst shopping experience in the USA! Seriously bad experience to be honest. Frankly it is a complete disaster if you walk in trying to buy a couple of accessories.
Apple stores need an express checkout lane instead of the current foolishness. This has been a long standing issue and has more to do with stupidity than the number of employees.
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Considering the current experience at Apple stores sucks I'm not sure I agree with this attitude. Apple needs to clean up the mess at the stores that has evolved over the last couple of years.
Apple stores need an express checkout lane instead of the current foolishness. This has been a long standing issue and has more to do with stupidity than the number of employees.
Exactly! Frankly I really don't like going to Apples local store, things that should be simple to accomplish are a complete cluster f(@&.
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Considering the current experience at Apple stores sucks I'm not sure I agree with this attitude. Apple needs to clean up the mess at the stores that has evolved over the last couple of years.
They killing so many Hong Kong Apple store who helping they become who they are. Maybe this is top of their up swing and now on the way down. Don't thinking too many retailers going to trusting Apple after what they doing so Apple is on their own. If they wil have to having a hit with iPhone 5 or they going to nose diving into the Hong Kong harbor. I so worry they building such nice business but forgetting people who got them there.
Really? My nearest is Bluewater and that is nowhere near as busy as the two in central London. Haven't actually bought anything there since December '08, but everytime I go to browse I am approached within a few minutes.
Made the make an appointment at the Covent Garden one a while back on a Friday afternoon, as it's closed to work. God that was a mistake.
This very true and same thing happening in Hong Kong. They have so many small retailing stores who loving their customers then Apple opening a huge store in Hong Kong and these small stores losing their shirts. Apple forgetting who help them become so big and now depending on their name and not the people. If one day you see these shining stores close then Apple is going to go like Blackberry for great to good God what happening to me?
This is why I go to BestBuy. I can reserve and pay online, go to the store and be out in five minutes.
Last time I reserved an iPhone online to pick up at the Apple store, I waited to be helped nearly thirty minutes. When I did go to the Apple store other times, it was usually in the last thirty minutes before closing on a Monday when the store is all but deserted.
Yeah, with a population of 22,699 millions that seems feasible..... oh, and their high wages go into an 8 bucks sandwich or a $450,000 1 bedroom flat in Sydney....... how about Singapore?
Imo
So those who say this before a statement 'IMHO' or 'To be honest', does this mean the rest of the time you are talking crap?
In the UK Bath store they have cut down the staf recently and the waiting time to buy anything is taking a lot longer than it used to do, the wifi in that store is terrible so the app doesn't work fast enough and the 3G connectivity via O2 mobile is none existant which is ironic seeing as the O2 retail store is next to the Apple store.
Apple get your act together as the Apple experience isn't working these days!
So those who say this before a statement 'IMHO' or 'To be honest', does this mean the rest of the time you are talking crap?
In the UK Bath store they have cut down the staf recently and the waiting time to buy anything is taking a lot longer than it used to do, the wifi in that store is terrible so the app doesn't work fast enough and the 3G connectivity via O2 mobile is none existant which is ironic seeing as the O2 retail store is next to the Apple store.
Apple get your act together as the Apple experience isn't working these days!
Just pointing out that it's not a two day training induction. It's one or two weeks, and then months of interviews and administrative nonsense just leading up to thatsecurity checks, contracts, these types of things.
Reading the first three pages of this thread have been insightful into people's "what if this happened" thoughts but I fee,l like some on this thread, we have no deinitive idea if this is actually happening.
I could be wrong, but at the moment, all news regarding this points back to this article in Macrumors, which as others have mentioned, gives us no real truth. I know it's called Macrumors but this rumor is a bit much to start with no clarity to back it up.
CFS
I could be wrong, but at the moment, all news regarding this points back to this article in Macrumors, which as others have mentioned, gives us no real truth. I know it's called Macrumors but this rumor is a bit much to start with no clarity to back it up.
CFS
Stock was up $8 yesterday and closed at $630. Things seem to be going just find at ole apple headquarters. I would not bet on never seeing a iPhone 12. This company is here to stay, which will be quite apparent when the iPhone 5/new iPhone/iPhone 6 arrives. (I totally lost track of what people think it will be called)
Honestly, I'm not surprised.
Recently left in April and keeping an ear out on my colleagues from our store; hours are getting reduced and there were a lot of resignations and new people popping up.
Sad to see this, but it's not as though Apple has an infinite pool of money to accommodate salary increases AND new hires. Each store has a budget and we're seeing this cap now globally.
Welcome to retail.
Recently left in April and keeping an ear out on my colleagues from our store; hours are getting reduced and there were a lot of resignations and new people popping up.
Sad to see this, but it's not as though Apple has an infinite pool of money to accommodate salary increases AND new hires. Each store has a budget and we're seeing this cap now globally.
Welcome to retail.
For all of its problems, the uk apple store experience is still something very different to other tech stores on the high street.
I'd agree that improvements are due, but have been concerned since the dixons ceo started that we may see a decline in the service offered. This seems like the thin end of the wedge to me, and typical dixons, where you have very few, unmotivated, poorly presented staff with a significant lack of knowledge. And furthermore, a shocking attitude towards returns and general customer service.
This is what dixons/pcworld/currys in the uk offer, and the service at apple stores was always a refreshing change.
I am surprised that the debate has included very little reference to the fact that apple has a new retail guy, that this is his typical strategy, and that apple stores are begining to become news worthy for the wrong reasons.
As far as I'm concerned, apple will have employed this guy to make these decisions/implement new strategies, and from the start he was a very poor choice.
This is the debate i'd like to hear peoples opinions on.
Hey man, all I got to say to that is:
If it takes super special training and certification to physically look at a phone for less than 2 minutes, and the employee can't be trusted to do even that much without special training, I wouldn't want to work there.
Mock me for my rant all you like but I still say it isn't logical to have people working in a store on the floor who can't multi-task. When I go into my cell phone carrier and there are only 2 people behind the desk, I expect them to be able to provide full service. I am not saying floor/cashier personnel should be technician trained, but if they can't even provide basic inspection, no wonder Apple is laying off people.
You are incorrect. Two days induction is standard before starting on the shop floor/ back of house.
Not here in Australia, they pay no more than any other retailer of a similar merchandise.
In fact I've applied several times for advertised Apple positions having worked in Retail Management and used all things Mac since the beginning, but at one stage was told I am "too old for their demographics" (I'm almost 40)
Apple's products are great, but their business is no better than any other retailer out there.
Not in Australia...where I worked for apple for 5 years and spent 3 years organising core training—which is the country the original person was talking about. There were a few times it was a two day induction, but most times it was at least a week and usually more than that.