Pleasant decor and friendly employees make most Apple stores seem bright and cheery. Behind the scenes, though, some stores are not as congenial as they seem, according to a report from In These Times.
Three Apple employees have come forward with a not-so-happy tale of what it is like to work at an Apple retail store. One worker complains about disparate pay with newly hired workers making more than experienced workers. When a few employees approached management about this issue, they were told “money shouldn’t be an issue when you’re employed at Apple” and their time at Apple “should be looked at as an experience.”
Other workers describe Apple’s tactic to keep health care costs low by defining full-time employees as those who work 40 hours per week and have open availability to work any day needed. If you have a restricted schedule, you are not considered full-time even if you put in a full 40 hours each week. Part-Timers are offered health benefits but the workers claim these plans are more costly than their full-time counterparts. Work schedules are inflexible and stores are often understaffed during prime hours.
The word union was mentioned, but the three employees avoided the word like the plague. The mere mention of it could cost them their job. Even if the workers are unhappy, they are reluctant to band together against Apple. The one exception is Cory Moll, who is working to unionize Apple’s 30,000-strong work force starting with the store in which he works.
When reading this, keep in mind that these are the experiences of three employees. It is by no means a reflection of every Apple store across the world. There are 29,997 employees whose voices have yet to be heard.
Some Apple Store employees unhappy with work conditions originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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