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Apple, the largest company in the world by market capitalization, has frozen all hiring, possibly through the end of its September 2023 fiscal year, three people with knowledge of conversations inside the tech colossus told Business Insider.
However, you’re not likely to hear Apple say this publicly, the three people said. Apple stock is down more than 17 percent year-to-date, and other tech stocks have taken a beating in the bear market.
Apple’s market cap is $2.237 trillion as of this writing. The company had 154,000 employees as of July 11, 2022, of which 11 percent are Black.
All three people with knowledge of conversations inside Apple suggested that Apple would continue to be cautious in how it characterizes hiring pauses or slowdowns, because conceding such moves could put a further dent in the company’s stock price, Reed Alexander and Claire Atkinson wrote for Business Insider.
If Apple is freezing hiring, the company is hardly alone. More than eight of 10 chief human resources officers said they’re cutting jobs, freezing hiring or using other tactics to reduce staff to a great extent, according to the auditing and consulting firm PwC, which conducted a survey of 657 executives, including almost 100 in senior HR positions.
Recession fears have created uncertainty among workers who are reassessing their career paths, Fortune reported.
One of the three unnamed sources who spoke to Insider was seeking a senior-level job at Apple and said they had been told hiring “budgets are under review” by a high-ranking division leader.
During its most recent quarterly earnings call, Apple discussed “deliberate” decisions about investment and hiring. However, the three sources told Insider Apple has paused almost all hiring and has designated “no budget” for additional staff.
Staff have been told the company won’t be hiring for months, although divisions such as retail are still likely to add sales staff at Apple stores ahead of the holiday gift season.
Apple announced plans in July to slow hiring to cope with a potential economic downturn. Apple CEO Tim Cook followed that announcement in late July by saying Apple would continue to hire employees but in a very “deliberate way,” according to MacRumors.com, an aggregator of Mac and Apple-related news and rumors.
In August, Bloomberg cited “people with knowledge of the matter” reporting that Apple had laid off about 100 contract-based recruiters to slow “hiring and spending.”
In a statement to Insider on Nov. 1, an Apple spokesperson reiterated Cook’s points. “We are continuing to hire but given the economic environment we’re taking a very deliberate approach in some parts of the business,” the spokesperson said. “We are very confident in Apple’s future and are investing for the long term. We want to be thoughtful and make smart decisions that enable us to continue fueling innovation for the long term.”
