blog If you’ve seen the videos of Apple staff in one of the company’s flagship stores on the opening morning of sales for a new iPhone or iPad, you’ll know that it appears from all the singing, dancing and jumping around as though the stores are fantastic places to work. Well, they may be, but working there certainly doesn’t pay much. Last week, as first reported by the Financial Review, Apple Australia signed a new Enterprise Agreement with its retail staff. And the terms are quite harsh. You can view the entire agreement online here in PDF format, and here’s the new rates of pay which apply now, and those will come into effect from 1 November this year:
The rates will gradually rise over the next few years, but those rises will be below the rate of inflation. And as you can see, the starting hourly rate was not fantastic anyway. Even the salary for a Level 3 retail staff member (which could include a store manager) is not fantastic. Given the size, volume of sales and complexity of Apple’s retail footprint, as well as the extreme level of revenue Apple makes in Australia in general, you would have to say that most people would probably expect Apple Store employees to be making a little more. As it stands, the lowest-level employees will barely be making more than minimum wage. And that’s just not insanely great.
Image credit: Apple
There’s a Steve Jobs joke in there somewhere…
Renai I’m a long time supporter of Delimiter but I feel this article is overreaching…
Correct me if I’m wrong but this is 20% higher than the minimum wage for an “unskilled” form of labour. I.e. you don’t require any formal qualifications.
(Keep in mind that when I say this I was an Apple retail employee myself. I now work in corporate IT environment.)
The other thing this doesn’t mention is that Apple does hire a large number of staff for their stores so you could argue that their rate of employment is higher than others within the sector. Plus employee benefits are quite good (i.e. significantly discounted products) and your employment is not based on commission (so you don’t need to worry about job security).
Additionally, for those employees that reach the top of the retail stack (KPIs are based on customer interactions) there are opportunities for travel. I have quite a few friends who’ve travelled (at Apple’s expense) to Cupertino and to other stores (all over the world) to train other Apple employees.
I’m not saying the wages are perfect but if you take the agreement and add these benefits, it compares quite favourably to the likes of Coles, Harvey Norman, JB Hifi etc. when you’re talking about “Level 1” employees.
“And the terms are quite harsh.”
FFS.
How? How are they harsh?
“you would have to say that most people would probably expect Apple Store employees to be making a little more.”
Why? Because there is an Apple logo on the retail staff members shirt instead of a Myer logo?
We have a very high standard of living in this country in no small part due to a very high minimum wage. To suggest otherwise is just nonsense.
Have you seen how much they pay at iiNet?
Yes
35-43k a year while at internode. I got bumped up regularly to 43k in the first year
It is all relative…
http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Employer=iiNet_Limited/Salary
http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Employer=Apple_Computer,_Inc/Salary
Why would a ‘level 1’ staffer be justified much more than the minimum wage? How much skill does it take to flog a fruity box to a punter that wanders into the store? If someone is in the store then they are interested in the product in the first.
Remember, retail competes with online sales where the customer does all the work.
Pshaw. I’m in a technical role and earning less than these sales luddites. Boo hoo for them.
You mustn’t be a very good technical resource if you’re paid that badly in Australia.
Hey fuck you too. It’s Award wages.
hey mate,
remember to be polite when commenting on Delimiter. And also that everyone starts off somewhere. Not everyone gets paid well in their first job. My first roles were definitely close to minimum wage.
Renai
You’re right Renai, not everyone gets paid well in their first job (including myself).
However, insulting Apple sales staff then telling them to cheer up because you’re in a technical role that pays less is pathetic.
“Boo hoo for them”? Boo hoo for you, mate. If you’re not happy with your situation do something about it instead of trying to drag everyone else down with you.
“Boo hoo for you, mate”
Yup, that was the point. Ta.
Naturally, instead of simply feeling sorry for someone on the internet you have to take the opportunity to be a gigantic penis and cry about how I’m trying to drag everyones wages down to my level? I mean, just wow. The leap in ‘logic’ required here is truly astronomical.
Besides which, ain’t nobody justifying a retail position being more worthy of a higher wage than any technical role, ever. Your point of attack is just unfathomable.
Your lack of conversational awareness is starting to make your situation more understandable.
I’m not referring to pulling your wages down to your level. Your wage is of no concern to me. I’m referring, as Beano did, to you pulling people down to your attitude level.
Excuse my lack of understanding of your “feeling sorry” point, but your lack of written coherence makes it difficult. If you are suggesting that I should feel sorry for you, then you’ve proven my point. You sound like you expect other people to improve your situation rather than do something about it yourself and then subsequently think that anyone who is paid more than you should stop complaining.
Please don’t embarrass yourself by mentioning any reference to yourself and logic ever again.
“I’m referring, as Beano did, to you pulling people down to your attitude level.”
Ohhh I see. It’s much better to call someone worthless than have a passing whinge at Award rates in Australia.
I guess I’ll refer you back to my first reply.
I haven’t referred to anyone as worthless, nor have I complained about award wages.
Keep digging though mate. I’m interested to see if there’s a limit to how much you’re willing to embarrass yourself.
I’m interested to see if there’s a limit to how despicable you want to be.
If you’re not being paid fairly, negotiate better terms. It’s a much more productive approach for you than dragging other people with low end jobs down to your level.
Exactly.
For that to be your assumption says a lot more about you than it does me.
Better than what I was earning in aged care, and peoples’ lives were on the line.
Not saying they shouldn’t earn more. Just that loads of jobs don’t get the pay they deserve.
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