#AppleToo receives nearly 500 stories of workplace issues in four days

The public might soon learn much more about Apple's internal work environment despite the company's best efforts to keep details of its operation under wraps.

An employee effort to organize under the AppleToo banner on Friday said it has recorded almost 500 instances of workplace discrimination and harassment since calling on current and former workers to come forward with their stories early this week.

Workers who responded to AppleToo's call have asked how to inform the press about their experiences, reports Protocol. AppleToo also plans to begin sharing employee stories on Monday after it provides guidance on contacting local authorities, according to the organization's @AppleLaborers Twitter account.

A common thread in many stories was an apparent disregard for reported complaints on the part of Apple's human resources department, AppleToo said in a tweet.

Other employees have recently spoken up about similar issues. For example, Ashley Gjovik, a senior engineering program manager — sometimes mistakenly credited with co-founding #AppleToo. She was placed on administrative leave in August, began chronicling her run-ins with Apple on Twitter and a dedicated website. From workplace safety to sexism — and retaliation for reporting said grievances — Gjovik's allegations of harassment are many and varied.

AppleToo first took shape as a Discord channel created with the assistance of Apple leaker "Fudge." About 15 current and former employees organized the movement designed to shine a light on workplace harassment, discrimination, sexism, racism and other issues.

"When we press for accountability and redress to the persistent injustices we witness or experience in our workplace, we are faced with a pattern of isolation, degredation [sic], and gaslighting," a statement on the AppleToo website reads. "No more. We've exhausted all internal avenues. We've talked with our leadership. We've gone to the People team. We've escalated through Business Conduct. Nothing has changed."

20 Comments

lauriel 2 comments · 4 Years

About 3 years ago

I have no doubt some of the complaints and grievances may be true but being a General Manager of 350 in a hotel I can say it is impossible to keep everyone happy and also rely on every manager supervisor and staff members to do the right thing all of the time. My experience tells me that the biggest complaints generally come from workers that are not performing in their job. Good and happy workers rarely complain !

iloveapplegear 124 comments · 11 Years

People being people is the worst thing for managing said.

patchythepirate 1254 comments · 12 Years

I was wondering if there are any legitimate reports of bad things happening, but seems like the usual victim card narcissism. Sad, if a bad apple does end up slipping through Apple’s hiring process and actually abuses someone, it’s more likely to get lost in the noise or not taken seriously now.

citpeks 253 comments · 10 Years

lauriel said:

I have no doubt some of the complaints and grievances may be true but being a General Manager of 350 in a hotel I can say it is impossible to keep everyone happy and also rely on every manager supervisor and staff members to do the right thing all of the time. My experience tells me that the biggest complaints generally come from workers that are not performing in their job. Good and happy workers rarely complain !

No doubt there are probably legitimate complaints from Apple workers, like there are for any company, especially one with 147,000 full-time employees (per 2020 10-K), which helps put the number cited in perspective.

avon b7 8046 comments · 20 Years

citpeks said:

lauriel said:

I have no doubt some of the complaints and grievances may be true but being a General Manager of 350 in a hotel I can say it is impossible to keep everyone happy and also rely on every manager supervisor and staff members to do the right thing all of the time. My experience tells me that the biggest complaints generally come from workers that are not performing in their job. Good and happy workers rarely complain !

No doubt there are probably legitimate complaints from Apple workers, like there are for any company, especially one with 147,000 full-time employees (per 2020 10-K), which helps put the number cited in perspective.

Yes. It is impossible to keep so many workers purring in harmony when there are humans involved. That's the nature of the beast and on top of that we are emotional beasts which depend on perception.

Perfection isn't attainable but accountability, transparency (to a point) and procedures to deal with grievances should at least work effectively.

I suppose we'll get a better idea of how that is working over the coming months.

I will say that while I was in government, I did not have access to my psychological evaluations. I wonder if that has changed nowadays.