Apple Delays Bonuses for Some Employees and Expands Its Hiring Freeze

Apple continues to make moves to streamline its operations in these uncertain financial times. says a new report from Bloomberg. The report says Apple has expanded its hiring freeze to include more departments while cutting down the frequency of bonuses from its traditional twice-a-year schedule to once a year.

Apple late last year froze hiring for most jobs outside of research and development, following a slowdown in hiring and spending in July. Both moves were part of Apple’s efforts to cut costs. While the hiring freeze was originally limited to jobs outside of departments working on upcoming devices and long-term initiatives, the hiring freeze now includes other jobs.

Apple is not yet laying off any employees to cut down on its workforce, it is simply not filling positions left vacant by employees leaving the company.

In addition to the hiring slowdown, Apple is also reducing the frequency of its bonuses to select employees from twice a year to once a year, depending on which division the employees worked in. Apple traditionally pays bonuses in April and October, but will now be paid only in October for all eligible employees. While employees will still receive their full bonuses, some employees may face financial difficulties, as they may have based their budgets on receiving a bonus twice a year.

Many Apple divisions were already on a once-per-year bonus and promotion schedule, including software engineering and services. The Apple operations staff, corporate retail staff, and other groups had still been on the twice-per-year bonus plan.

While many tech firms have laid off or are planning to lay off staff, Apple is merely focusing on freezing hiring. Twitter has laid off thousands of employees in the wake of Elon Musk’s purchase of the short message social network, while Microsoft has cut members from its AI ethics team and other departments. Meanwhile, Facebook has announced that it will lay off about 10,000 more workers and Google’s parent company Alphabet laid off 12,000 employees in January.

Apple revenues dropped five percent year-over-year in the first fiscal quarter of 2023. The Cupertino device maker is also expecting a notable decline in income from iPad and MacBook sales.

Last week, during Apple’s shareholders meeting, it was announced that Apple CEO Tim Cook will receive a $6 million cash bonus, a $3 million base salary, and stock awards worth approximately $40 million this year. That compensation package reflects an approximately 40% drop from the $99 million package Cook pocketed in the 2022 fiscal year. Cook’s pay is tied to Apple’s annual performance. The drop in compensation was put in place after Apple shareholders expressed displeasure about Cook’s compensation package.

Apple shareholders also approved a proposal to decide executive salaries with an annual vote. retail head Deirdre O’Brien, chief operating officer Jeff Williams, services chief Eddy Cue, chief financial officer Luca Maestri, general counsel Katherine Adams, and software head Craig Federighi are among Apple executives that will earn approximately $27 million each this year.

This story first appeared on Mactrast.com