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In his blog post, Farrell says that employees are expected to work ‘sixteen hour days’ which are then followed by ‘meetings after meetings followed by more meetings’.
Farrell worked at Apple in its Sydney office for over a year, and was employed as a quality program manager for Apple’s ‘AppleCare’ technical support program. But he says that his time at Apple was filled with ‘mind games’ inside an ‘iCult’.
It’s rare for Apple employees to comment on the record about their time inside Apple. They’re often given confidentiality agreements to sign, so it’s surprising that Farrell has spoken out with his real identity.
Obviously Farrell’s experience isn’t representative of every Apple employee around the world. He’s clearly a disgruntled former employee, and his account sounds extreme, so it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. But we’ve seen Apple employees in the past speak out about similar experiences, especially the long hours staff put in.
Farrell claims that Apple gives ‘no respect’ to illnesses, family emergencies, or even weddings.
“I missed one business trip as my wife was pregnant, fell down the stairs and had to be hospitalised – this was listed as a ‘performance issue’ on my record and brought up during a one on one with management as a major ‘miss’ on my behalf,” he says.
Farrell claims that Apple made insane demands of his time. Meetings were often held at midnight, he says, and he was given a script and guided on what to say by his managers on instant message platforms.
Elsewhere in the blog post, Farrell says that he “contracted a nasty incapacitating mosquito born virus and was hospitalised for a short time. However, rather than receiving support, I was emailed a presentation to my hospital bed with a note that it needed to be completed ‘urgently’”
Even on the very morning of my wedding I was still being harassed by phone and email to send a report someone had lost.
It’s not just long hours that Farrell hits out at, though. He’s also critical of managers at Apple.
“Management were inconsistent, moody and erratic,” he writes.
“I would receive aggressive chats at all hours, and harassing texts every fifteen minutes asking ‘are you online? Your status shows you as away – are you there?’ I received rude voicemails on my phone when I was one minute late to a meeting.
Farrell says that he reached out to a ‘respected senior manager’ who told him that he had to put on his ‘big boy pants’ warning him that if he continued to complain they would have a ‘very different conversation’.
The culture that Farrell describes may seem far-fetched, but multiple former employees have spoken out about similar experiences. Apple’s former director of internet technologies Don Melton, and the former director of iOS Apps Nitin Ganatra both said in a podcast last year that their time at Apple was extremely demanding.
Sunday nights
“Sunday is a work night for everybody at Apple because it’s the executive meeting the next day. So you had your phone out there, you were sitting in front of your computer, it didn’t matter if your favourite show was on,” says Farrell.
You could count on the hour that ‘The Sopranos’ was on that Scott [Forstall] wouldn’t bug you ’cause he was watching it. And that was your reprieve. You could go to the bathroom, you could have a conversation with your family.
Melton also mentions how Apple employees are expected to reply to emails around the clock.
If you forwarded something to one of your people at one o’clock in the morning and they didn’t reply promptly, you got a little annoyed at them…
When someone came into my office and said they wanna be a manager, I asked them, “How did you sleep last night?” And they said, “Oh, fairly well,” and I said, “Good, ’cause that’s the last good night’s sleep you’re gonna get.”
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Working for any American organisation is like working for a cult.
They expect you to absorb the company culture. They regularly sack people for not being “team players”. IBM even has a company anthems.
The only way they could be more cult-like is by having to swear allegiance to the company flag and do some Japanese style exercise in the morning with lots of repetitive movements.
If I’m ever on the phone with an American colleague I always have to hear how “excited” they are about their latest project.
What is hilarious though, is when the Americans try to get people on this side of the Atlantic fired for whatever indiscretion, no matter how imaginary. Not gonna work douchebag, we have what’s known as “employment laws”. =D
Team player ie: do the work of 3 people. Been there done that worn the tee shirt, thanks be to Jebus this is my last year working for this particular multinational. Know excuse I have a very important toolbox meeting to attend.
Reminds me of the Simpsons when Mr. Burns was doing ‘calstethics’
“One hi ya ya, two hi ya ya”
I liked the one where homer found Henry Kissenger’s glasses…
Burn’s looking at the CCTV “Fire him, him, him, him…(gets to homer), hmmm…better keep the egg head.”
Or the one with the trap door…
“I’ll make this sporting Lenny, if you can tell me why you should keep your job with out using the letter ‘E’ I won’t fire you.”
“Let the bears pay the bear tax, I pay the Homer tax.” Still cracks me up after all the years.
Hahaha… Mayor Quimby ‘ducking this bear patrol tax issue will take some political finesse, people your taxes are high because of Immigrants, yes illegal immigrants!’
Think of it every time I see UKIP
Not quite true. My firm is fantastic
You probably have to say that. ;-)
Trust me. I’ve worked for some companies that are worse than Apple (although I almost took the same job as this chap at Apple).
My current employer is genuinely really good to work for.
It depends on the management. Xerox in dundalk is managed by mostly irish people and is a grand spot to work in. Better than most places actually.
I worked in an Irish owned and run company and it was similar for unrealistic demands. Calls at the weekend when the boss would have an idea and expect a response within an hour.
He would stop talking to people if they handed in their notice. Travel time out of the country was not considered working hours. They would put us in hotels where our food allowance didn’t cover a starter in the restaurant and there was nowhere else to eat for miles.
Yes I knew it was those immigants, even when they said it was the Bears, I knew it was the immigants
Collaborating with an american company for the last year on a project, they way they treat their staff is disgusting
One of the american project managers made the mistake of trying to treat one of our lads the same way he treats his own minions, he was put back in his box in no uncertain terms. The shock and outrage on his face was priceless.
I that case, good luck Galway!
From ”THE SNOWDEN FILES”:
“Following Jobs’s death in 2011, an NSA analyst came up with a smirking rejoinder [To Apples famous big brother ad]. He prepared a top-secret presentation [using] a couple of stills from Jobs’s commercial:
Under the heading ‘iPhone Location Services’ he typed:
‘Who knew in 1984 …’
The next slide showed the late Jobs, holding up an iPhone.
‘… that this would be Big Brother …’
A third slide showed crowds of whooping customers celebrating after buying the iPhone 4; one fan had inked the name on his cheek. The analyst’s pay-off line read:
‘… and the zombies would be paying customers.’
The zombies were the public, unaware that the iPhone offered the spy agency new snooping capabilities beyond the imagination of the original Big Brother. The ‘paying customers’ had become Orwell’s mindless drones.”
No different in any tech company or start up…
I’ve had three work phones at points in my life. My partners had to leave holidays midway fly in and out to take an important meeting.
Yes, it’s called Corporate Identity.
Not in my experience. But maybe smaller companies are better to work for.
See, there is a lot to be said for unions and the employee protection laws they have helped to create this side of the pond!
You mean rise very same labour laws and unions that are being eroded in a daily basis… With the full consent of the majority of the older political parties…
lol, welcome to the world that’s not your oyster. It’s not a wake up call for Apple employees, this is a worldwide issue accross the board.
If you got a problem working for a company.. Then work for yourself, nothing beats it.
Sat down now to eat some lunch after a hard morning out cutting hedges in the sunshine. Have worked on my customers support issues earlier, will go online this evening and work on some more stuff. Next week it’s back into it head on as kids go back to school.
Hi Hank, I’ve gardening skills are u looking for someone? Iam not a team player though can only do the work of one person.
Lol. It’s great isn’t it?
He shouldnt try working in the Software gaming industry , one I worked for rather than pay for extra office space, changed us to 2 12hr shifts , paid about 20% less than the same job in other IT industries with the excuse, that you are working in games man , its cool, and sure wouldnt you be enjoying yourself playing games anyhow.
I made the mistake one day of saying jokingly , does it feel like we keep releasing the same game every year.
He is probably best served joining Paul Murphy and his gang and becoming a professional anti water protester .
Much more fun picketing and getting €188 for doing nothing or even become Paul , Ruth or Clare and get €1500 per week for representing the poor . Not sure he has the proper acting skills to get that far though !
WTF are you rabbiting on about?
He meant to post that on a different article. A couple of months ago…
I worked for an American multinational company based in Ireland, and a couple of years ago they wanted us to sign an agreement, whereby when we stopped into the manufacturing plant, we were consenting to have stepped out of Irish jurisdiction into American jurisdiction.
When Tim cook visted the cork plant last year it felt like Jesus himself was coming, yes id compare it to a cult.
My mate is 10 years with them and absolutely loves his job. I worked for a US company for 4 years and I loved it. Article is crap.
Did he work for Apple?
Yes, I’ve just said that. He’s still with them. Travels everywhere for them. Loves it!
He’s probably one of the shites this article blasts
I know a dozen people working for Apple and they say it is like a cult. I’ve heard all of these complaints over the past 3 years for employees.
“He’s clearly a disgruntled former employee, and his account sounds extreme, so it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.”
– Pretty much all of the Apple employees I know, whether they are work-from-home or in-house types, will tell you how bad the management are. Dire! The incessant calls and texts when your shift is over, the constant stream of meetings about how great your leadership team are, harassing you while sick or on holidays..You cant switch on your laptop out of hours without some manager messaging you..
And the thing is in these cases the people are lowly employees. Not company directors who are are on 24/7 call!
In fairness the iPhone 6 is the bomb. No better phone. With the Samsung S6 starting at 700€ the gap is a lot clearer these days. These phones need to be made.
The fact that he loves working for such a company would indicate that he has been indoctrinated in to said cult.
James you know a dozen people who work for Apple and all say it’s like a cult ? I’m calling bull sh!t on that one. Why wouldn’t they go elsewhere ? Also you need to get to know other people who work for other companies or you may get sucked into their cult !
Apple is a cult they make any claim any customers lap it up as gospel they are a poor excuse of a company if you ask me I never have any time for a company that has to spend more time running down it’s rivals that it does promoting itself I always figured they couldn’t be that great to work for
Poor excuse of a company = biggest company in the world
Jaysis. Your mans a roide. I certainly would not kick him out of bed for eating crackers. Hubba hubba
I used to think the building sites were bad but to be fair if sites teach you anything its to have the phrase fcuk off with yourself on the end of your tongue at all times
God… who cares.
You’re a loser Alan Kennedy. A LOSER.
Er.. ok.
Not really sure what your problem is. It’s irrelevant that it’s Apple. Every company has a corporate culture. They vary wildly and some more extreme then others.
You with with a large professional services firm you’ll see every one of them dresses the same, suit and tie all day every day. You work with a accountancy firm and they’ll all be business casual and everybody plays golf. You work for an IT company and it’s t-shirts and flip-flops while another is suits and ties.
Companies have a culture. They have a way of operating which suits them best, often driven by management and in particular management who have founded and still have influence on the company.
If you don’t like it you can leave. I really don’t see the point in these “OMG working he was like so strange” articles.
I agree, I worked for a us company and was so stressed every single day.
In the words of Mr. Burns..
“One hi ya ya, two hi ya ya”
The leader is good, the leader is great, I surrender my will as of this date!
Is he now working in Dunnes?
That was the same working for Crazy Prices back in the day. Expected to stack tins of KVI fruit cocktail on lunch hour.
Its better then working for android, because is android pays less as it accomodates poor peoples needs for phones
You and Alan Kennedy should go on a date!
Funny that.You sound like a person that needs better grammar.Fancy phones should be the last of your worries.
Your troll attempt might have worked if you weren’t taking the persona of a black guy.
I didn’t realise that ‘android’ was a company.
Bit of a mean thing to say there. There are people that are very poor here and feel lucky to have a treat and do not need insulting.
That was the same working for Crazy Prices back in the day. Expected to stack tins of KVI fruit cocktail on lunch hour.
iYai Yai
Sorry, didn’t mean that as a reply to Drew.
That’s okay, I’m a nice boss. Honest mistakes are fine :)
“He’s clearly a disgruntled former employee, and his account sounds extreme, so it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.” Is the author hoping for a free gold plated Apple Watch or something?
Welcome to the corporate future.
Its business man, you either button down and play ball or you decide you can do without. Doing without can be very bad for your health.
Back to the Simpson:
Lisa: This rock keeps tigers away.
homer: I’ll give you 20 dollars.
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