Why people quit Apple

[spuwho]

Every job has its merits and its bad days. Every job has bad and good bosses. Every job may be good, or not so good for you.

However it seems that the company that people "love" because of its products has a little bit of a dark side when it comes to its office culture.

This was another of several stories I am beginning to pick up on just what it is really like to work at that highly regarded company. This wasn't some irrational twit going off on a anti-employer screed. He had a pretty good grasp of what he was seeing and decided it wasn't for him.  This was his story.

Per Roadlesstravelled.com:

I QUIT: WHAT REALLY GOES ON AT APPLE



I've just escaped the Apple institution. I've sent in my resignation, and fled down its bright white corridors curated by crass colourful pictures of iPhones past. I handed in my security pass and in return I was able to re-claim my creativity, individuality and free thinking from the secure Apple cloak room.  Finally now, for the first time in two years, I feel light, creative and inspired. I am again an individual with my own creative ideas, perceptions, values and beliefs. It may take me a while, but from what I believe – I'm now able to express such beliefs again. I am no longer part of the collective  iCult machine whose dirty, worn-out, greasy and naive internal mechanisms of bullying, harassment and mind-games push out shiny and polished iPhones every year. I AM FREE It is ironic that one of the world's largest companies and one that prides itself on innovation, creativity and 'breaking the mould', operates on such soul limiting entrenched dogma. It's an organised boys club where perception is valued over substance and tenure over talent. I spent two years in the Apple camp managing customer service improvement for their technical support contact centres and out of the fifteen plus years working in this industry I've never witnessed so many bizarre and unprofessional things, only some of which I have time to touch on here.

I found Apple to be a sheltered workshop. The common language spoken being passive aggression, sarcasm and Kool-Aid fuelled stories of 'success' designed to manipulate and intimidate naive workers who have never experienced corporate life outside the Apple walls. Like the Chinese emperors believed the forbidden city in Beijing was the centre of the universe and constructed their empire around it, I'm sure that some people at Apple feel the same... Is it a coincidence that the new Apple Campus looks like a giant spaceship? Maybe the plan is for everyone to drink poisoned 'kool-Aid' before ascending to the mothership... Sounds like I got out just in time.

Even after-work beers were a strange affair. Drinks with colleagues revolved around the same stories told again and again as drunken management spoke of times when Apple executives made 'strategic' decisions to cut jobs and shut down Apple sites so swiftly and carelessly. Like boy-scouts around a campfire, employees eyes would glow and twinkle at this notion of power and embrace these stories with awe but with utter disrespect for the actions Apple has on the broader community of contractors, vendors, partners, resellers and business partners they have bent over a barrel of non-profitability. Remarks such as "... to make a decision that affects so many lives and so many jobs so quickly like that shows the sheer level on which they (Apple executive management) operate... Amazing" were common dialogue around Friday beers. In my opinion a monkey can cut jobs, but at Apple the strangest things are revered.

Sixteen hour days are filled with meetings after meetings followed by more meetings. Whilst this is somewhat standard in most organisations, meetings at Apple wreaked of toxic agendas designed to deliberately trip people up, make fools of the less respected and call people out. Team spirit is non existent as 'internal customers' attack individuals and push agendas that satisfy their morning egos. Hours upon hours were wasted in meetings to prepare for meetings in preparation for other meetings to the point where little work actually got done. These rehearsals – called 'dry runs' (to me it sounds like something you'd pick up from South East Asian street food) – were meetings to refine impressions and push agendas... how to get the impressions right. How to bend, twist and polish data to tell the story you were instructed to tell... Not the reality the data presents. If a story can't be forged, the data is excluded.

I had organised a day off recently where all my family were visiting me from interstate. Despite this I had agreed to dial in to one conference call as the audience attending was 'important'. Well it seems Important but disrespectful, as the audience never even turned up, yet I was still made to 'dry-run' the whole meeting from start to finish for an hour and a half as if there was full attendance and interest in what I was saying. So, as the food I had prepared for my family went cold, there I was stuck on the phone role-playing a fake menial meeting to satisfy managements ego.

Sickness, family emergencies, and even weddings are given no respect at Apple. When I started my role I missed one business trip as my wife was pregnant, fell down the stairs and had to be hospitalised – this was listed as a 'performance issue' on my record and brought up during a one on one with management as a major 'miss' on my behalf. Meetings at midnight were also common place where I was always asked to present something menial (again to be seen), however even then I wasn't allowed to simply speak to my topic but instead I was fed scripts by management though instant message with countdowns included about how long I had left to speak ("1 min 30 secs left"... "too long...", "wrap it up"...).

In recent weeks I contracted a nasty incapacitating mosquito born virus and was hospitalised for a short time. However, rather than receiving support, I was emailed a presentation to my hospital bed with a note that it needed to be completed 'urgently'. Even on the very morning of my wedding I was still being harassed by phone and email to send a report someone had lost. Management were inconsistent, moody and erratic. I'd often receive aggressive chats at all hours, and harassing texts every fifteen minutes asking "are you online? Your status shows you as away – are you there?". I received rude voicemails on my phone when I was one minute late to a meeting and was harassed about my 'Australian work ethic' with management out of Singapore even commenting that Australians are 'unfriendly' and that we 'only like to work with other Australians'.

At this point It all got too much and I was at breaking point. So, I reached out in confidence to an Apple executive. This respected senior manager  told me there was nothing to complain about and to "put on my big boy pants". I was then threatened if I ever raised such issues again, it would be a "very different conversation".  Words like 'pressure' kept getting thrown at me in the context of I can't handle the pressure and "you were told at the interview it's high pressure". In reality, Apple is by no means the most pressure I've experienced in my career... Not even close.

My response was simple. I used to be a police officer. I've held a gun aimed at a dangerous offender and had to choose whether or not to pull the trigger. For the record – I didn't – however my point is I think deciding the fate of someone's life is a little more stressful than call centre customer satisfaction. Yet after all this, simply raising concerns about management has got me nothing but retaliation from all involved.

Disgusting, Apple.... Disgusting.

Before I resigned they were clutching at straws to find reason to performance manage me. However all they could come up with were some missed reporting deadlines (which had been agreed on and communicated with management) and the fact that I had rescheduled some meetings... Seems a little desperate to me. Ironically, looking back – none of these items nor any of the stress and pressure were urgent... Not a single instance. All of it was deliberately manufactured mind games... I was told once that management spent a day deliberately dialling in late to all our conference calls for the whole day to 'test' who would 'take the initiative' to message them that they were late for a meeting?!? Very, very strange indeed but just another day in the life of Apple mind games that goes on behind the shiny, glossy 'retina' public display that Apple presents.

For a company that claims to enhance people's lives through technology – they know nothing about life. Nothing at all. I'm disheartened as I loved Apple. I loved their products and I've been an advocate for what the allegedly stand for. Unfortuntely I've seen behind their glossy and polished stainless steel exterior, I've walked through their frosted glass doors and seen a toxic culture of manipulation, intimidation, threats and politics that are so incongruent to the values they preach.

As Steve Jobs said – Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. Thanks Steve, I choose to follow your advice.

[TimmyB]

I have refused to ever be employed in a situation where I was not allowed to state my point of view (instead of the "company line"), so I totally understand why he would leave this life.  I know that every morning, I look in the mirror and see a guy who is not going to have a hand shoved up you-know-where, moving my lips for me!

It truly is sad that a company that was built by two guys who did it "their" way forces others to also do it their (not "their own") way.

[Crabernacle]

While an interesting read, the entire premise is a bit disingenuous. This guy worked at an Apple call center in Australia. He was not a developer, engineer or even a worker at the Apple campus at Cupertino. It's a pretty sweeping generalization about the Apple culture from basically a phone jockey. Again, I'm not denying he had a bad experience, but many of the responses I've read from former and current Apple employees runs counter to many of his claims. Lastly, I hope this was worth it for him. It's usually bad form to publicly slam your former employer in the press. Future employers might think twice about hiring a potential headache.

[finehoe]

The common language spoken being passive aggression, sarcasm and Kool-Aid fuelled stories of 'success' designed to manipulate and intimidate naive workers who have never experienced corporate life outside ...

...utter disrespect for the actions ... has on the broader community of contractors, vendors, partners, resellers and business partners they have bent over a barrel of non-profitability.

...days are filled with meetings after meetings followed by more meetings.

Sounds like most of corporate America.  The lesson to be learned is that there is nothing special about Apple (or any other tech company).

[peestandingup]

While an interesting read, the entire premise is a bit disingenuous. This guy worked at an Apple call center in Australia. He was not a developer, engineer or even a worker at the Apple campus at Cupertino. It's a pretty sweeping generalization about the Apple culture from basically a phone jockey. Again, I'm not denying he had a bad experience, but many of the responses I've read from former and current Apple employees runs counter to many of his claims. Lastly, I hope this was worth it for him. It's usually bad form to publicly slam your former employer in the press. Future employers might think twice about hiring a potential headache.

I personally worked for Apple as a Genius for a few years & most of what he says is BS in my experience. They were always understanding to situations that would come up in your life. I've seen people leave for extended periods of time & be asked to come back months later because they were a valued member & hard worker (me included).

Besides, its corporate. And almost any corporation is going to be a company mantra soul sucking experience. I don't care who it is. Apple wasn't my first rodeo & they all have that type of crap that you just have to roll with.

[simms3]

While an interesting read, the entire premise is a bit disingenuous. This guy worked at an Apple call center in Australia. He was not a developer, engineer or even a worker at the Apple campus at Cupertino. It's a pretty sweeping generalization about the Apple culture from basically a phone jockey. Again, I'm not denying he had a bad experience, but many of the responses I've read from former and current Apple employees runs counter to many of his claims. Lastly, I hope this was worth it for him. It's usually bad form to publicly slam your former employer in the press. Future employers might think twice about hiring a potential headache.

This.

[spuwho]

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4769885

As I noted before, not every company is for all people. But here is another persons feedback.

And to those who think expressing an opinion abouts ones old employer is a mistake, it really depends on the context by which the person shares that information. I have seen employers jump on talent even though they had expressed reservations about the former employer.

Any hiring manager/HR person worth their salt can make a judgement call on whether it was just a bad fit or the former employee is an undiscplined rebel. I have seen both.

But if a company will forgo that talent without even discussing it with the candidate says more about that company than it does about the person.

[simms3]

^^^Working in tech or finance in the big cities such as New York and San Francisco is always going to be a daunting, challenging task not for the faint of heart.  It doesn't help that both cities are so expensive that you can't just "walk out" or "take a sabbatical" if you'd like, so there's pressure on your personal finances, as well, to kiss up, work hard, and do well.

Long term, while it may make your 20s less exciting than other people's 20s in other cities such as Denver or Milwaukee or Jacksonville (where literally all of my friends still there work 9-5, own homes, and go to the beach on the reg), and it may put grey hairs on your head early or leave you medicated, if you are a long term thinker and planner who wants nothing less than the best cities, jobs, and schools on his or her resume and an idea of what you want to do ON YOUR OWN later on (whether that be climbing a prestigious corporate ladder or striking out on your own in the startup or business world), then that is the sacrifice you make and the path you take, and the hope and thought is that while everyone else is bogged down with kids and family by their 20s elsewhere, you have a wonderful 30s and 40s and beyond to do WHAT YOU WANT TO DO in your life.

No corporate situation is ideal.  And from what I have heard/know about the tech world, you have four options:

1) Work for a brutal pressure cooker of a corporation like Apple or Google and have that on your resume
2) Sit on your ass at a place like Oracle and feel worthless (but again, ok for the resume and some interesting stuff can come about it)
3) Work for a company going nowhere like Zynga
4) Take a huge risk and work on a startup, or better and riskier and more difficult yet, create your own startup

I have many friends in all 4 situations.  I've only seen all of this in a bull market, so I'm not clear on which one is a better bet for any potential cool downs coming, but if you made it to any of these 4 in the Bay Area, whether you like you're situation or not, you chose that bed and you should be proud of yourself for making it that far.

[spuwho]

Good points Simms.

Most companies are only as good as the managers who lead you.

I have gone from having an award winning manager to the worse leadership ever in the span of 3 months.

Either one can influence for good or bad how the company is percieved.