Apple has cut back on hiring technical support workers — aka “Geniuses” — at some of its retail locations. Employees have learned some of the openings will go unfilled after recent departures by folks who held those roles.
Cupertino hiring fewer Geniuses at some Apple Store locations
Bloomberg cites reports from several retail workers about the hiring slowdown. They suggested Apple’s reduced hiring could be for cost-cutting reasons. Another possibility cited is to decrease the number of employees at stores that have seen fewer customers amid the pandemic.
Apple hasn’t laid off any workers or implemented a hiring freeze. But it has reportedly retracted verbal job offers for Genius roles in some situations, in addition to the hiring slowdown.
However, there are still Genius roles advertised on Apple’s website. Apple has declined to comment on the situation.
The Genius role dates back to the inception of Apple Stores in 2001. But some locations have eliminated the Genius Bar where customers could get technical help. Instead, Geniuses roam the store helping people in need of it.
In addition, Bloomberg said Apple has outsourced Mac repairs to remote depots. Even so, Geniuses continue to troubleshoot problems and manage product repair pickups.
Other areas have seen cutbacks, too. Some Apple Stores have slowed the hiring of Creatives, the employees who teach Today at Apple sessions.
The staffing issues come amid employee efforts to unionize over stagnating wages and other matters. Apple has allegedly started to combat the attempts by hiring anti-union lawyers.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
