Apple now offers help to its retail employees in midst of coronavirus crisis
Not long after telling its technical and corporate employees to work from home when possible, Apple Inc. is now extending infection-control measures to its retail employees.
9to5Mac reports that Cupertino-based Apple is offering unlimited sick leave to hourly employees — including retail workers — if they experience symptoms that could be related to a COVID-19 infection, and they do not have to get a doctor’s note for the time off.
Late last week, Apple asked employees in Seattle and Silicon Valley to work from home. CEO Tim Cook later issued a memo encouraging workers in “areas with the greatest density of infections” — including offices in the Valley, Seattle, South Korea, Japan and Italy — to spend the week working remotely, if their jobs allowed for it.
The company’s retail stores will remain open for now, according to 9to5Mac, though the company said it will take steps to limit the number of people in Apple stores. Hourly employees will continue to be paid their normal wages.
Apple confirmed on Tuesday that one of its employees in Cork, Ireland, has tested positive for a coronavirus infection — the first known infection in the company’s workforce.
“One of our employees in Cork has been confirmed to have Covid-19,” Apple said, per CNBC. “We are closely coordinating with the local health authorities who feel the risk to others is low, and the individual remains in self-isolation. As a precaution, we have asked some of our team members to stay at home while we work with the Health and Safety Executive to assess the situation.
The consumer electronics giant’s share price is being hit hard in the course of this outbreak — along with virtually every other public company in Silicon Valley. Apple’s share price fell 6.4 percent over the weekend, and are down 13.5 percent since the start of the year.
Despite a strong showing at the beginning of 2020, Apple has been hit hard by the spread of COVID-19, especially since it is heavily reliant on China for parts and manufacturing, as well as being a market for its products. Reuters reports that Apple sold about 494,000 devices in China in February, compared to about 2 million in January and 1.27 million in February 2019.
Apple’s stock gained about 4 percent in premarket trading, opening on Tuesday at $276.07 a share, as the broader stock market rebounded from its worst rout in a decade on Monday. The company currently holds a market cap of $1.21 trillion.
Source: Biz Journals