One of the words making the most headlines in the tech industry lately is “layoffs.” And it is not for less, cumulatively the technological sector has had to reduce the workforce by several hundred thousand people. While companies like Facebook, Google or Amazon lead the number of marches, Apple has not fired anyone.
Apple’s strategy for hiring and, where appropriate, firing employees and equipment, she is very cautious. This has been confirmed by Tim Cook in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, after announcing the company’s financial results.
A 5% drop in profits, but no layoffs
Laying off part of the staff is a resource widely used to make up the financial results that large companies they have to communicate quarterly to shareholders and the public. Faced with a situation in which costs skyrocket and losses accumulate, failing to pay thousands of salaries has a certain effect on the final numbers.
Apple reported yesterday the financial results for the last quarter of 2022. Among the difficulties in the supply chain, inflation and the global economic climate, the results showed a 5% decrease in profits compared to the previous year. Attention, not a loss of 5%, but the amount of profits has decreased by 5% to stand at 34,000 million of dollars.
Asked about the situation at Apple, Tim Cook replied that Apple, in effect, has had to make changes in both spending and hiring. According to Apple’s CEO, the company is “managing costs much more tightly and reducing hiring in some areas while continuing to hire in others.”
Going a little further, Tim Cook has stated that layoffs “are the last resort”. He comments that “you can never say never. But we prefer to manage costs in another way as much as possible”. A strategy that has not prevented financial results that may be less attractive for Wall Street than expected, but that will undoubtedly facilitate the recruitment work when it comes to attracting talent to the company.
At a time when all companies are facing layoffs, we can look back on how bad Steve Jobs had it when he had to make layoffs while seeing that there are other ways to weather the economic storm. A move by Apple that may not be attracting enough attention, but which is a great example of a high regard for the teams that make the devices possible that we enjoy every day.