Apple Inc in the past week laid off a lot of its contract-based recruiters, part of a push to rein in the tech giant’s hiring and spending, people with knowledge of the matter said.
About 100 contract workers were let go in a rare move for the world’s most valuable company, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. The recruiters were responsible for hiring new employees for Apple and the cuts underscore that a slowdown is under way at the company.
Workers laid off were told the cuts were made due to changes in Apple’s current business needs.
Photo: REUTERS
Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook confirmed during an Apple earnings conference call on July 28 that the company would be more “deliberate” in its spending — even as it keeps investing in some areas.
“We believe in investing through the downturn,” Cook told analysts. “And so we’ll continue to hire people and invest in areas, but we are being more deliberate in doing so in recognition of the realities of the environment.”
Apple is still retaining recruiters who are full-time employees, and not all of its contractors were fired as part of the move.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the decision.
The move to lay off workers is unusual for the Cupertino, California-based technology giant, which employs more than 150,000 people.
However, it is far from alone in taking such a step.
In the past few months, Meta Platforms Inc, Tesla Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Oracle Corp have all eliminated jobs in the face of a tech spending slowdown.
Terminated contractors were told they would receive pay and medical benefits for two weeks. When they were laid off, employee badges were disabled and workers were told they would need to e-mail a list of their belongings if they wanted those items to be returned. Recruiters were let go across many regions, including at Apple’s offices in Texas and Singapore.
Like many other companies, Apple employs contract workers for tasks such as technical support and customer service. It also uses contractors for localizing products and improving its Maps service. Contract workers typically receive fewer benefits than full-time workers and have fewer protections.
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