New Apple retail chief makes "mistake" in firing staff, hires them back

[DainBramaged]

Apple is reversing changes to the formula used to calculate staffing levels at its retail stores, according to a Dow Jones news report. An experiment using new formulas had apparently led to wide-ranging layoffs and cuts in assigned hours. However, Apple's new retail chief John Browett said the company "messed up" implementing the changes in the first place, and is hiring new staff to keep its stores prepared for a potential flood of customers next month.

Earlier this week it came to light that Apple Stores had been cutting staff hours, especially for part-time staff, and laying off many recent new hires. The changes came after Browett, the new SVP of retail, implemented a popular 25 percent pay raise for Apple Store employees when he took over for former SVP of retail Ron Johnson. Speculation suggested the changes were made to offset the increased costs of the higher pay.

That speculation seemed plausible given a recent New York Times article that suggested that Apple's army of retail employees were underpaid given the company's decidedly spectacular financial performance of late. Blog ifoAppleStore also cited sources that claimed Browett was—against advice to the contrary—trying to increase the retail division's profit margin by having all stores running "leaner."

The news comes shortly after a source close to Ars revealed that there was a company-wide wave of firings last week. The incident was related to employees taking advantage of stocks of replacement refurbished iPhone 4 models, which Apple had quietly begun replacing with iPhone 4S units. It seems Genius Bar staff were encouraging other employees, including managers, to claim their own personal iPhone 4 was malfunctioning, which a Genius would swap for a "free" upgrade to an iPhone 4S. Staff involved in such "trade-ups" were summarily shown the door.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/08/new-apple-retail-chief-makes-mistake-in-firing-staff-hires-them-back/

The iEconomy
Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/business/apple-store-workers-loyal-but-short-on-pay.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1

[trumad]

1. Jesus

A formula?

New Chief should be handed his walking papers.

[obamanut2012]

4. Almost all big corps do that -- "selling cost"

Why do you think Wal-Mart always has bad lines? They do theirs HOURLY, and have to send cashiers home, even if it'll get busy later.

This guy wasn't getting that Apple stores aren't Wal-Mart, and if customers don't have people to help them and answer questions, they'll leave and shop at Best Buy or Amazon instead.

[corkhead]

2. I think they would send those jobs to China if they could

[cbdo2007]

3. I think Apple has peaked.

Probably won't be a very popular opinion but I'm getting the impression they are in a decline since Jobs death.

[discopants]

7. check back in a few weeks...

and see if the new iPhone and mini-iPad release indicate that Apple has "peaked"

[Egnever]

8. Apple peaked 3 years ago

There has been nothing innovative from then since the original Iphone. Everything since then has been basic predictable upgrades.

I cant really fault them for it except for the fact that the company apparently learned nothing from their competition with Microsoft back years ago. They simply can not compete against an operating system that opens itself to everyone for innovation.
Android now owns something in the range of 67% of the mobile market. Apple sits around 16%. They are still making butloads of profit but I dont see that continuing for much longer with things like the new nexus7 tablet being offered at $200 people are not going to pay $500 for a tablet for much longer.

[discopants]

9. so, we'll just ignore the entire tablet market

iPad was released in 2010 and changed almost everything in the direction of personal computing.

"Predictible upgrades" has produced the new retina MacBook and Apple's ready to change the landscape of hi def TV too. Love them or hate them, Apple continues to build on Jobs' legacy.

Also, Apple's trading today above $645, an all time high.

[DainBramaged]

5. Not a creature was stiring not even a mouse chewing an apple

[progressivebydesign]

6. nice to remind American workers that they are worthless and nothing more than a formula.

it's like that at all the corporate stores and banks now. You go in and it's desserted staff-wise, but packed with angry customers in line. And they say "sorry, but the staffing is calculated by corporate."