Apple reduces raises given to retail employees after weak iPhone quarter::The smartphone market and general economy have slowed down post-pandemic, and Apple is reacting with a lower raise for employees in 2023 versus 2022.

  • Tosti@feddit.nl
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    10 months ago

    So retail employees pay for the visionless design, weak execution, poor advertising, etc. etc.

    It seems like the pain should start at the top.

    • jonne
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      10 months ago

      Yeah, they’re punishing the people that have the least influence on this outcome. And as you said, the people that are responsible for only doing incremental improvements on the product are already paid more as a baseline and probably got a bigger raise too.

      • Ignisnex@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Two years ago, they were “essential”, and the idea of them getting any kind of benefit to prevent harm was unthinkable. Shafted at both ends of the spectrum.

          • Ignisnex@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            My dude, essential is an antonym for expendable. Literally opposites. By definitions of both words, something cannot by both expendable and essential. But logic aside, calling a person essential to the point of denying their own safety to perform their job, but saying they can be replaced at any minute is frankly cruel.

            • ShittyRedditWasBetter@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              You can call it cruel, it doesn’t change the reality that there are plenty of jobs that are important but easily replaceable.

              Yes, it’s important to have groceries available. No it’s not hard to find anyone to stand at a register or stock all day. Put another way, your role is essential. You are not.

    • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I think Apple gave extra high raises last year due to elevated inflation. It’s lower this year because they’ve reverted to “normal” sized percentage increases.

        • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Last year the raises were abnormally high because Apple was trying to adjust for high inflation. This year, they’re just back to normal increases. The article makes it sound like this is some kind of pay cut, but it’s actually just that the raises aren’t abnormally high like they were last year. Seems like the article is trying to create some clickbait.

          • Tosti@feddit.nl
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            10 months ago

            So the raises for Execs, Devs, Designers etc where also lowered?

            From the article it seems like there are a lot of other reasons too (like reduced unionization drive etc.)

            • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              This is my understanding from reading tech social media. Tim Cook also took a 40% pay cut earlier this year. But, people on here would rather be mad about something.

              • Tosti@feddit.nl
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                10 months ago

                Ah yes, you are correct:

                Apple chief executive Tim Cook will see his annual pay package slashed by more than 40% this year. The technology giant says Mr Cook requested the cut after criticism from shareholders.

                Apple’s compensation committee awarded him a total “target compensation” of $49m (£45.1m) for 2023.
                Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64258289

                I personally think this is pure lip service. Someone making 100 Million a year taking a 49% pay-cut. But you are correct, he did take a pay-cut. But I would argue this does not hurt him in any way, especially not in comparison to line workers at the bottom of his company. In addition to this, there are a lot of high managers below him that also have direct influence on the course of the company, did they also take this paycut?

                Mr Cook’s pay was 1,447 times more than the wage of an average Apple employee.
                Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64258289

                This excludes the workers at Foxconn and other manufacturing giants that work solely for apple and are compensated even worse.

                • cricket97@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  He’s running quite literally one of the biggest companies in the world. People who are able to do that deserve top dollar. 1447 times is really not that crazy given his relative economic impact

  • OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The most valuable company in history with a market cap of $2.96 TRILLION dollars is screwing their employees to save an otherwise negligible amount of cash? Steve Jobs would be proud.

    • johnthedoe@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      At least when Jobs was being a tyrant there was proper innovation. Really try and remember the shit they put out at his prime. Shit was timeless. And all still had acceptable pricing relatively speaking.

      • cricket97@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yeah but the landscape for technological innovation is much shallower nowadays. Of course innovation was present in an age when home computers and mobile phones were on the rise. Although I do think their VR headset is relatively innovative.

        • sheogorath@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          I think Steve Jobs will definitely jump on the AI train and push to make AI as one of Apple’s main focus. As we all know, he’s the one who pushed for the acquisition of the company who made Siri.

          • aleq@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I think we’d all be quite shocked if Steve Jobs did that. But Apple might.

  • cooopsspace
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    10 months ago

    Executives will get higher than inflation bonuses year on year and employees suffer because of the executives raises and lack of innovation.

  • Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I love how the title is that they’re lowering raises after a bad quarter, but then say that they’re going back to their normal raise structure they have always had and that 2022 was a higher than normal raise year because they raised the minimum wage by 10% on top of higher raises due to higher inflation.

    They didn’t lower the minimum raise retail employees can get, they just lowered the maximum raise they could.

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        My company laid people off, froze everyone’s pay, announced _no raises or promotions this year _, and ceased all hiring and business travel.

        Fuck, I would have loved a 10% raise.

          • scarabic@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I’ve been trying for months. The hiring market is terrible right now. Very few jobs and many many laid off folks vying for them.

            My only point: don’t shit on a 10% raise.

    • Cordoro@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The other important part here is that inflation is lower this year than last. So the extra high raises last year may have helped keep up but aren’t needed as much.

      As far as I can tell there’s no direct relationship between iPhone sales and the change in raises. If anything I’d expect low sales to lead to layoffs or closing stores.

  • Psiczar@aussie.zone
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    10 months ago

    Of course the last quarter was weaker, a new iPhone is about to drop, people are waiting for that. Penalising retail employees is harsh given they can’t do much it.