Apple may have a hiring ‘problem’ in Silicon Valley – Times of India

One would assume that recruiting people — or retaining them — wouldn’t be a problem for one of the world’s biggest companies. However, according to Bloomberg, Apple may be facing this problem. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg suggests that Apple has been losing talent because of how high the cost of living is in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Many engineers lamented that they couldn’t balance living expenses with other pursuits like college tuition for their children and long-term savings,” Gurman said in his newsletter for Bloomberg.
Apple, as per Gurman, is looking to “decentralise” out of Silicon Valley. Senior executives like Johny Srouji, Eddy Cue and Deirdre O’Brien are working to rectify the issue. Sroudji, head of Apple’s custom silicon, has been in favour of looking beyond Silicon Valley. Gurman writes that the group headed by Sroudji has opened up offices in Florida, Texas, Massachussets, Israel and parts of Asia in the last few years. Recently they have expanded in Germany, Oregon and San Diego.
Cue, who heads Apple’s online services, has encouraged investment in multiple offices in Los Angeles as well as in Nashville. Gurman says that Apple chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, has been looking at the cost benefits of having a more global workforce.
Apple has been expanding in Los Angeles, San Diego, Oregon, Colorado, Iowa, Miami and New York in the US.
Gurman also says that Apple faces a struggle to diversify its workforce as it competes with Amazon, Google and other tech companies in Silicon Valley. “Apple could get the same work out of employees demanding far lower salaries in less pricey regions,” said Gurman in his newsletter.
He further said that Apple will face a challenge outside of Silicon Valley as well because of requiring in-person work, which could restrict the company’s talent pool.