Apple's retail layoffs misstated?

Stephen Withers
Monday, 27 April 2009 07:20

Business IT - Technology

If Apple had cut its retail employees hours by 10 percent across the board, the result would have been close to the 1600 FTE reduction.

At the other extreme, Apple would have needed to sack 8000 people working one day per week to achieve that FTE cut.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. Apple is continuing to open stores, which suggests full-time staff numbers are up. You need a certain number of people just to keep the doors open.

But average revenue per store is down, and the company may be responding to that by adjusting the number of staff during particular shifts to meet (falling) customer demand.

And don't overlook the possibility that the previous filing could have included staff taken on just for the holiday season.

As a general rule, employers prefer to cut staff numbers in tough times rather than hours as that can leave to flow-on savings. For example, if your payroll is outsourced the bill from the service provider will fall with the number of employees.

But this time around businesses seem to have realised that slashing staff numbers doesn't leave an organisation well placed when the recovery comes.

While there have been plenty of examples of substantial job losses, we're seeing many cases of workforces agreeing to various combinations of pay cuts, reduced hours, mandatory use of paid leave, and even taking unpaid leave.

And what's this about Steve Jobs' private jet? See page 3.