In response to the employee walkout last year, Apple has provided its retail staff with improved benefits, including a double paid sick leave.
Apple Offers Improved Benefits For Retail Employees
Bloomberg reported that sources familiar with the issue stated that Apple Inc. intends to considerably enhance its benefits for U.S. retail store employees as it struggles to deal with a tighter labour force and the continuing COVID-19 outbreak.
In addition to this, the firm, which owns roughly 270 outlets in the United States, is making adjustments for both full-time and part-time personnel.
To further emphasize, both full-time and part-time employees are guaranteed double sick leaves. With the given extra days, employees can utilize this for mental health vacation or to visit the doctor with members of the family.
Additionally, instead of six days of paid sick leave, full-time employees will now have 12 paid sick days.
Aside from this, employees will be eligible for extra yearly vacation days after three years of service rather than five. For the first time as well, part-time workers will now be eligible for up to six paid vacation days. They will also receive paid parental leave.
This benefit, in particular, will last for up to six weeks, which will include the chance to progressively increase work hours during the first four weeks back. Part-time employees will also be able to acquire subsidized emergency backup care for their children or elderly relatives.
With this announcement, it appears that the Cupertino-based technology company heard its employees call last year.
To put things into context, a huge number of Apple workers went on strike, calling for a customer boycott on Christmas Day just as people did their last-minute holiday shopping, per Business Insider.
The worker advocacy organization Apple Together inititated the said walkout, demanding a more courteous environment and compensated sick time. HuffPost story stated through Business Insider that more than 50 retail employees from several states have joined the protests.
On the other hand, Engadget also added that Amazon, Walmart, and Fedex have all issued similar moves to keep hourly and front-line workers by expanding their benefits packages. Dealing with stressful and hazardous operational conditions during the COVID-19 outbreak, several of frontline employees are reported to have resigned or retired.
However, worker rights groups point out that many of these benefits, such as bonuses or hazard pay, seem to be either transitory or have been rolled back.
Apple Plans To Release Tap to Pay Feature For iPhone
In another Apple-related news, the Cupertino-based tech giant recently announced that the Tap to Pay will be available on iPhones in the near future.
Millions of merchants across the United States, from small shops to huge retailers, will be able to take Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets by just tapping their iPhone - no additional hardware or payment terminal required.
Payment platforms and application developers will be capable to incorporate Tap to Pay on iPhone into their iOS apps and provide it to their potential buyers as a means of payment.
