Apple to make ‘a large number’ of day-to-day security guards full-time employees

apple hq headquarters

Following the outcry in Silicon Valley regarding the treatment of part-time employees, and in general people who work for technology companies, Apple is now moving to “dramatically expand” its in-house security team by giving contracted workers the same benefits as other employees, as per Mercury News Tuesday.

A company spokesperson confirmed to the paper that Apple has now decided to hire the majority of its day-to-day security staff in Silicon Valley as full-time workers, following a yearlong review.

The move comes following a rally on Apple’s campus that United Service Workers West, a regional arm of the Service Employees International Union, staged on Apple’s campus last December.

The organization pressured the iPhone maker over allegedly poor worker treatment and because it was employing workers part-time in order to avoid providing full-time benefits.

The change will entitle full-time security employees to full health insurance, retirement contributions and leave for new parents, among other benefits.

Rival Google promised last October to hire about 200 security guards on a full-time basis. Like other companies, Apple had previously used a contractor to fill these positions.

The iPhone maker will still use contractors when it needs to expand its force temporarily for special events, like the upcoming March 9 “Spring Forward” presentation in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts or the annual summer conference for developers held at at San Francisco’s Moscone West building.

“We will be hiring a large number of full-time people to handle our day-to-day security needs,” the spokeswoman said. “We hope that virtually all of these positions will be filled by employees from our current security vendor and we’re working closely with them on this process.”

The company will kick off the hiring process for the security team soon, inviting its current officers to apply for in-house positions.

With Apple’s massive iSpaceship campus project on the horizon and the company’s ever-growing appetite for breaking into new product categories, the need to double-down on secrecy becomes paramount.

And in that regard, employing security guards full-time and giving them the same benefits as it does to other full-time staffers may result in tighter security.

Security personnel typically works hard anywhere in Silicon Valley, especially at Apple, so it was about the time Apple addressed the lack of benefits that these folks have been receiving.

Source: Mercury News