Apple begins laying off people from its retail team, here's everything you need to know

By Ankita ChakravartiAfter dodging layoffs for quite some time, Apple has finally begun laying off employees. The latest piece of information reveals that Apple has began laying off employees from its retail team. According to reports from Bloomberg and Business Insider, the cuts are expected to be on a “massively smaller scale” than those seen by other big tech companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, but still significant for Apple. To recall, Google had fired close to 12,000 employees, Amazon leading the charts with 27,000, followed by Meta that laid off close to 21,000 employees and Microsoft around 10,000.

The Bloomberg reports states that Apple has taken the step to improve its operations. The layoffs have not been done to cut costs. Although it is currently unclear how many people will be affected, both outlets suggest that the layoffs are being pitched internally. The affected employees are from the division responsible for building and maintaining Apple’s retail stores.

The company is offering up to four months of severance pay for those who cannot find new positions within Apple after being given until the end of the week to apply for alternative roles. These are the first reported layoffs of full-time employees at Apple since the pandemic started.

Apple has traditionally stood apart from other big tech companies by avoiding major job cuts. CEO Tim Cook has previously said that layoffs are a “last resort” for the company. However, Apple has been reducing costs in other ways, including laying off contractors, leaving some positions unfilled, slowing down hiring, delaying bonuses, reducing travel budgets, and pushing back projects.

This news comes at a time when many other tech companies have announced significant job cuts in response to economic pressures caused by the pandemic. Despite the relatively small scale of Apple’s layoffs, the company can no longer claim to have never resorted to cutting jobs.

On a related note, Cook even took a huge pay cut in order to cut costs. “Mr Cook’s 2023 target total compensation is $49 million, a reduction of over 40% from his 2022 target total compensation. Taking into consideration Apple’s comparative size, scope, and performance, the Compensation Committee also intends to position Mr Cook’s annual target compensation between the 80th and 90th percentiles relative to our primary peer group for future years,” Apple noted in the proxy statement filing.