Why Aren’t We Hearing About Layoffs At Apple?

It is that unfortunate season of layoffs, where many multinational companies rethink their spending while recent startups either dwindle away or question their business models.

This season has been brutal for most, with some startups losing two-thirds of their workforce, and the profitable Big Tech giants also reducing their head count. 

However, there has been an outlier. Even after the likes of Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, and Google have let go of some of their employees, Apple, so far, has not announced any such layoffs.

While their revenues from services and growth for Q4-2022 are expected to take a hit, the company remains oblivious to the phenomenon of mass layoffs. 

A plausible reason was reported recently by the Wall Street Journal. As per the report, Apple, between September 2019 and September 2022 grew its workforce by 20-odd per cent, to around 164,000 employees, with almost 40 per cent of the employees for retail stores across the globe. 

For the same period, the headcount at Amazon grew by 100 per cent, at Microsoft by 53 per cent, Meta by 94 per cent, and Alphabet by 57 per cent.

All the Big Tech giants witnessed a massive rise in their share prices, thanks to the pandemic and the loose monetary policy, before entering into a phase of price correction last year. 

In the last few months, as per an unemployment tracker, more than 200,000 workers have been given the pink slip. Apple, however, has been known for running operations on a limited budget, not being too generous with perks, and keeping the hiring steady, unlike other giants.

Also, observers expect the company to not replace the exiting employees in the upcoming months. 

In November, Apple reported that due to the Covid-zero restrictions in China, its assembly facility in Zhengzhou was operating at a reduced capacity, thus impacting the supply of its latest iPhone 14 models. While stating that the demand was robust, Apple highlighted the possibility of longer waiting periods for consumers.

Apple, even with its supply chain issues, is playing its cards well, at least from the long-term perspective.

While diversifying its production to India and Vietnam, Tim Cook’s successful tryst with China continues as Apple’s operating profit has increased by 50 per cent in the region, beating Huawei, Tencent, and Alibaba. Revenue has seen an uptick as well.