ABC News Today

Apple Inc. announced layoffs for many of its contract-based recruiters last week as part of a push to curb hiring and spending at the tech giant, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

About 100 contract workers were laid off in a rare move for the world’s most valuable company, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Recruiters were responsible for hiring new employees for Apple, and the cuts underscore a slowdown at the company.

The laid-off workers were told that the cuts were made due to changes in Apple’s current business needs. Bloomberg first reported last month that the company was slowing hiring after years of staffing, joining many tech companies in slowing down. CEO Tim Cook confirmed during Apple’s earnings conference that the company would be more “deliberate” in its spending, even if it continues to invest in some areas.

“We believe in investing during a recession,” Cook told analysts. “And so we’re going to continue to hire people and invest in areas, but we’re being more deliberate about doing that in recognition of the realities of the environment.”

Apple still retains recruiters who are full-time employees, and not all of its contractors were laid off as part of the move. An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the decision.

The move to lay off workers is unusual for the Cupertino, California-based tech giant, which employs more than 150,000 people. But he is not the only one to take such a step. In recent months, Meta Platforms Inc., Tesla Inc., Microsoft Corp., Amazon. com Inc. and Oracle Corp. have eliminated jobs in the face of slowing technology spending.

The fired contractors were told they would receive pay and medical benefits for two weeks. When they were fired, employee badges were disabled and workers were told they would have to email a list of their belongings if they wanted those items returned. Recruiters were let loose in many regions, including Apple’s offices in Texas and Singapore.

Apple previously laid off a large group of contract workers in 2019 in Cork, Ireland. At the time, the company relied on several hundred contractors to listen to recordings of Siri conversations to help improve the product. Apple let the workers go as part of scaling back the program in response to privacy concerns. The company also laid off some contractors while working on the Apple Park campus in 2015.

Like many other companies, Apple employs contract workers for tasks such as technical support and customer service. It also uses contractors to locate products and improve the Apple Maps service. Contract workers typically receive fewer benefits than full-time workers and have fewer protections.