After managing to avoid major job cuts while other big tech companies were slashing tens of thousands of jobs, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has reportedly begun tracking employees’ on-site attendance through badge records and is giving “escalating warnings” to team members who don’t show up in person, according to Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer.
Schiffer also said that there are reports that failing to comply with the company’s on-site attendance requirement “could result in termination,” but this doesn’t appear to be a company-wide policy.
A recent Bloomberg report supports this claim — it mentions that as part of the company’s measures to cut costs, managers are mores strictly enforcing office attendance. Employees are reportedly expected to be in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and some believe that this could be used by the company to fire employees who don’t meet the requirement.
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Instances of firings based on standard reasons (such as non-compliance, presumably) are also up as opposed to mass layoffs. The tech giant also quietly let go of contract workers in the past few months.
The list of cost-cutting measures includes a hiring pause on some teams (a limit for others), not filling newly-vacated positions, and tightening its wallet on travel and other forms of spending.
The company has largely avoided mass layoffs because it managed to temper hiring during the pandemic hypergrowth season in the first place. Among its peers, Apple added the least number of employees during the pandemic.
The move to strictly enforce on-site attendance could also be one of the ways the company intends to keep its workforce efficient (a la Elon Musk’s Twitter), especially for projects that require close and constant coordination.
Apple last traded at $158.45 on the Nasdaq, up 26% year to date.
Information for this briefing was found via Zoë Schiffer, Bloomberg, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
