Rumors Claim Apple Store Layoffs Occurred In UK

Apple is one of the most profitable companies in the world and has several wildly successful devices. Many people have Apple Retail Stores in their city or nearby sell all sorts of things from Mac computers to iPads and iPhones. The stores have many employees who work there to help people choose the right products and to teach people how to use the gear they're buying.

A report has surfaced that Apple retail employees in the UK who were hired recently have been laid off. The report also indicates that similar layoffs to recently hired staff have occurred in other countries as well. At the same time, reports indicate that part-time staff in the US and Canada have had their hours cut back.

If these rumors are correct, it's interesting that layoffs would be occurring and hours would be getting cut back when Apple recently increased the salaries and other benefits for its retail workers. One of the reports indicated that all employees at a specific UK store with less than six months of service had been laid off. Among that group were workers who had been hired only a month before and had just completed training.

The report indicates that new hiring has been halted, and transfers between stores were placed on hold. Another report claims similar dealings with new employees being laid off and workers who had been promoted recently not receiving the promised pay raise and being demoted back to their previous position. One unnamed employee had been laid off from the UK store said that three different training groups had been laid off in their entirety within the past week. All the workers in this case were still within their probationary period as new employees according to the source.

[via MacRumors]