Courtesy of Benzinga.
One of Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) senior retail executives has reportedly instructed leadership teams to say that the company “messed up” in changing employee shift schedules.
According to Dow Jones, Apple’s senior Vice President of retail John Browett told employees that the, “company made mistakes with its staffing levels, leading to news reports that the company was cutting employees.”
This information comes not from Browett himself, but from two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Dow Jones.
Browett apparently wanted to test out a new “staffing formula” for Apple’s retail stores. While it is unclear what this formula involved, the new method caused some problems within the company that lead to hourly shift cuts. Consequently, some Apple Stores ended up being understaffed.
According to the aforementioned report, these issues only occurred for a few weeks after the new formula was implemented. Apple then went back to the old system with the hope of ending the problem.
Apple insists that no layoffs occurred during this period. In fact, the company is reportedly hiring additional staffers for some of its retail locations.
When Dow Jones interviewed Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet, she all but confirmed the reported incident. “Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed,” she said. “Our employees are our most important asset and the ones who provide the world-class service our customers deserve.”
Friday’s developments come after a number of media outlets reported that Apple had planned to layoff several of its retail store employees.
In May, 9to5 Mac reported that the company was going to give a pay raise to its Apple Store employees three months sooner than anticipated.
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