How Apple avoided Big Tech's mass layoffs

Tim Cook has already said that Apple is being cautious in its recruitment following the pandemic and the downturn that's led to massive job cuts in Big Tech firms. What he hasn't mentioned is that Apple was also careful not to over-recruit when the pandemic was its worst.

According to new figures from Bloomberg, the number of Apple employees grew 20% between 2020 and 2022. That compares to a 60% increase at Alphabet, Google's parent company, and close to 100% at Amazon and Salesforce.

That isn't a near-doubling of employee numbers, but it is almost a doubling of how many new hires were added to the pre-COVID staffing levels.

Meta, Facebook's parent, added approximately 90% more employees than before, while Microsoft took on just over 50% extra.

Apart from Apple, every one of these firms has subsequently had to lay off thousands of people. In Amazon's case, it cut 18,000 jobs, while both Google and Microsoft laid off over 10,000.

Apple gets more from its staff

Bloomberg figures also estimate that Apple has generated much more revenue per additional employee during the pandemic years.

Of the major tech companies, only Apple and Alphabet increased their average revenue per employee. Alphabet's increase, though, was not statistically significant, where Apple more than doubled its revenue per person.

Apple is also shedding staff, but at a fraction of the numbers from other firms. In August 2022, it laid off 100 recruiters, for instance.