Job losses in Apple Stores: part-time or lay-off ?
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We were telling you last week about the record financial results of the Cupertino firm. However, behind appearances that showed Apple as strong when facing the crisis, we didn’t know that the company has cut on jobs. Indeed, 10% of Apple Stores staff, i.e. 1 600 permanent contracts, that would have been cut.
However, before crying foul like some of our colleagues, we would have liked to know whether this decrease in full-time jobs from 15 600 to 14 000 workers has implied lay-offs or part-time jobs. Indeed, chances are that the crisis, combined with the post-Christmas off-peak period, have led to less working hours for Apple Store employees.
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Of course, the company top management did not wish to comment about this, and refer to the 10-Q form provided by Apple to the SEC, the US stock exchange surveillance organization. Going deeper in the matter, it appears that this phenomenon of job cuts after the end-of-year celebrations is not new for Apple. In this case, should we really cry foul ?
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Apple is slowing down on Apple Stores openings
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Other indicator of the crisis: the frequency of Apple Stores openings. While 50 outlets had been opened in 2008, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer, was announcing earlier this year that only 25 new stores would open in 2009, half of which outside the US.
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