Over the last several months, there have been reports regarding the usually-secretive internal work environment at Apple, ranging from pay equality to remote work and more. A new report from The Information details the efforts to facilitate communication about Apple’s internal work environment, including discussions about pay equity, claims of harassment, remote work, and more – due mainly to Apple’s adoption of Slack amid its response to COVID-19.
Mark Di Stefano and Wayne Ma for The Information:
There was a time when employees at Apple—long one of Silicon Valley’s most secretive companies—wouldn’t dare to speak openly about their employer in public without permission. Often they were too spooked to talk to colleagues in other parts of the company, if they could even figure out who they were.
But in the past few weeks the doors to the Apple kingdom have been partially cracked open with the help of an unlikely tool: Slack…
“Before Slack, it was difficult for employees to talk to somebody who works in retail unless you went to the store,” said Cher Scarlett, a software engineer on Apple’s global security team. “It was impossible to talk to someone who works in hardware as I don’t work with anyone there. You’re giving people a platform that allows them to connect with people they wouldn’t ordinarily connect with.”
There are now 3,000 internal Slack channels at Apple, some with more than 10,000 members, making it far easier for employees to connect with each other and coalesce around common causes. Slack channels for different themes and advocacy groups at Apple quickly began to form, ranging from the mundane such as #announcements, #careers, and #help-desk-support to common interest groups such as #talk-investments and #talk-trading.
Some channels revolve around religious affiliations such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Two of the more popular advocacy channels include #remote-work-advocacy and #talk-benefits, both of which boast more than 7,000 members, according to current employees.
MacDailyNews Take: So much for doubling down on secrecy.