Why People Are Leaving Apple

Depending on who you listen to, Apple is either in the fight of their lives to preserve the company culture, the culture that created everything from the iMac to the iPod to the iPhone to… you get the idea

Or, they’re busy screwing up return-to-work so badly that there may soon be no company left to culture, at least in any meaningful way

As usual, a ton of the coverage is sensationalized, because absolutely everyone is compelled to have an opinion on absolutely everything, loudly and immediately. Like me, obviously. But let's see if we can’t just add a slice of nuance to this discussion

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James Hillhouse, Rick Vink, John Malkin, Ryan Parman, Paco Arango, Chad Potts, Shashank, Richard Urbano, Rod Gray, Daniel Pasco, Mark Lussier, Martin Perry, Christopher Wiggins, Dude, Jon Wheeler, Josef, Frederick Lakes Jr., Aziz Rahman, Sven Jasper

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[nolongerusingthisaccount]

“Doomed” seems more than a smidge clickbaity.

[tysonboy]

I know they screwed me, haven’t bought an apple product in 4 years. And I was DEEP into the ecosystem. But you learn to live without them🙂

[jeremyf]

Some of the resistance to working from home is coming from lower-level managers. Working from home provides the opportunity to prove to HR & upper management that you don’t need to be supervised & motivated to be productive. That’s not good for lower management who often justify their jobs by convincing the execs that if it wasn’t for their micro-managing everything that the business would fail.

[stephanemckeown]

The problems that Apple has, other companies have. People are getting older, younger workers try not to emulate their older peers that said they wished they didn't work as much and enjoy life a little bit more. Time have changed and companies need to adjust to this new reality. We also do not feel as much "vibe" as much as we did when something new came our way. Time to reconnect physically with people!

[downup]

As an “essential” blue collar worker I can’t even remember how many people that could work from home came to my place of business, utilized the services we provided, and then as soon as our business was completed would complain about us being open and spreading COVID! OMG it was so maddening! The nerve some of these people had. As if I wanted to be out in the middle of it constantly exposed to it all. But with a family to feed I had no choice. Of the well over 250 employees at my company I’m one of a very small and ever shrinking group of employees that has been literally surrounded by and not come down with COVID despite being tested at least 20 times in twoish years. The nerve some people had to ask for my service and then give me crap for it was just so insulting. It really started to make me hate people. I don’t know if this was a widespread issue or merely local to me but man was it insulting.

[nuyou]

What makes me laugh is every year the same people claim Apple's doomed. It's like they forget Android tech companies suffer from the same, if not worse restraints. 😂🤦‍♂

[tringuyen]

I had a meeting at the Apple campus one time. The Apple cafeteria is amazing! Would I sell my soul to Apple just for the food? I got to think about that for awhile…

[dansanger]

I'm so glad I got out of the tech industry around the time they started moving from private offices to open offices. I hate open offices.

[sharrietech]

Great piece Rene! My daughter is a Software Engineer at IBM. They are not encouraging their employees (in that division) to return to work. In fact, they keep giving her raises. They don't want to lose their good people, and she's as happy as a clam!

[marcochavane]

From what I've seen, there is a substantial amount of cognitive dissonance between Executive Management, and street level/mid level employees.

Nothing is too big to fail.

[needk]

Many years ago in the 90's many people were predicting the total failure of Apple. I sure wish I bought a pile of shares of stock back then. But even then, they had about $1billion in the bank, while most other large corporations had debt. I never once felt Apple was going to fail, and I guess I was right. I just wish I bought that stock.... damn!

[apresthus]

As a software engineer that is deep into the Apple eco system I´d love to work within the company, but their refusal to accept remote work is an absolute no go for me, and I am sure for many many other devs. Hopefully they see the light at some point.

[alokeparvati]

Hmm not sure I agree. Is this sensationalising a normal problem of a successful company?

[DavidMalcolm]

I feel like people who work on physical projects (actually design the iPhone) it makes sense to have them there. But if it's somebody who just works on fixing bugs in Final Cut Pro or doing HR work I can't see why they'd need to be in the office given the plagues of covid and traffic.

I can understand saying execs need to be here. But I can't understand saying the minions need to gather for us to feel powerful managing.

[TheCentristChad]

Give a bonus to anyone willing to go to the office. See if they really want to work from home

[thedogk]

Who the fuck doesn't support work from home?

[thatoneyoutubecomment]

Bro needs to simplify, difficult to comprehend so many big words so frequently

[matthewstott]

Apple seems to be miffed that they spent $5B with a capital 'B' on that new Apple Park campus and few wish to return to work. They hadn't even moved everyone into the building pre-pandemic. Apple isn't the only one struggling to return to traditional office work. Employee surveys from office workforces are clearly stating that people have adapted to remote working and they simply do not wish to return to the 9 to 5 daily grind including the painful commute. Many have learned to balance work and personal life and adopted flex-time and find they have a lot more personal time. They also find they have been more productive working at home in a quiet comfortable environment. Many companies have witnessed a marked improvement in productivity. The workers don't want to go back to the way things were. If they do, it would be on a part-time hybrid basis for human contact and collaboration face-to-face reasons. Companies are re-evaluating their real estate, many have reduced their foot prints and are now recruiting from anywhere instead of core cities where the talent used to be found.

[richardc]

One of those videos just to have an ad in them

[Aliessil]

This is such a blind, braindead stance by Apple. Companies could get away with this in the past, when nearly all companies were just as shortsighted, but those days are gone. Plenty of companies have realised they can thrive when their employees are out of sight, away from the constant distractions and over-stimulation of a busy, noisy, open-plan office. At the same time, employees are starting to realise that while some of them thrive in the office, surrounded by colleagues, they don't necessarily want it ALL the time - they've got used to the flexibility and everything which comes from working remotely. Then there are all those people who realised they hate working in an office, who thrive in solitude, peace and quiet.

In taking this stance, there will be people who Apple really want to hire, who won't even bother applying for such a draconian position. On top of that, there will be the constant albeit gradual brain-drain as people leave and move to more flexible working conditions. Apple might get away with it for a while, along with the other big-name companies which look really good on a CV, but most lesser companies would have to be insane to follow them.

Sorry Apple, but it turns out that new office was bad money - don't throw good money after it. Cut your losses and let your staff work remotely whenever possible. That's how you'll keep/attract top talent in the long run.