Microsoft recently announced something interesting – voluntary employee buyouts. In short, if your age and time with the company reaches 70 or more, you can voluntarily leave the company, retire early, and receive (potentially) a large payout.
It’s a less hostile way of decommissioning, and while I don’t think Apple would use it for the same reasons as Microsoft, I think it could serve a different purpose to transform the company.
Why Apple should do it
In all probability, Microsoft’s purchase is a way to reduce the population without looking too bad. During covid, practically every technology company rushed to hire a lot of people because of the growth in the technology sector. After that, that growth slowed down, and now we have been at this delivery point for the last 3-4 years.
Apple has largely avoided over-hiring, and for the most part has avoided mass layoffs. Now, the flip side of that equation is the fact that Apple has been under-hiring – because it doesn’t want to over-hire. This means that in recent years, Apple has been slow to bring in new talent, while it has many older talents who are not always enthusiastic individually.
Those employees aren’t leaving because they’re not at retirement age — and they’re still dependent on their Apple stock compensation, so they stay at the company and do very little. This is known as relaxation and vesting.
The ‘rest and vest’ problem
Senior tech workers get big salaries, but they also get stock grants that vest over a longer period of time, usually 4 years. You will receive additional bonuses over time depending on performance, making it a continuous cycle to stay with the company to receive your full compensation.
It’s a great way to align employees with company growth, and ensure you retain your talent. The problem with this is that when you get old enough, you often get to the point where you can’t fish and run. You might argue that people don’t need to work hard if they’ve been with the company for 5-10+ years, but if you don’t hire new talent, it creates a problem where things don’t get done the way they should. That’s incredibly evident in the quality of Apple’s software.
You could also argue that Apple should just open its wallet more and hire more people without thinking about its current top talent. That’s a very valid argument, but given the change in CEO, I think it would be wise regardless to give top talent the opportunity to retire early if they wanted to. Apple has always been tight-lipped when it comes to capital spending, so I wouldn’t expect a big hiring spree to happen overnight.
How it can work
Microsoft purchases require your total age and work experience to be greater than or equal to 70. Apple can copy this directly, or it can be even more aggressive: 60. If you have been at Apple for say, 15 years, you are 45 years old, and you want an easy way out – you can take it.
There will definitely need to be a tiered approach to prevent multiple talents at the same time. However, in a new era of leadership – I think that bringing new blood into the company, and allowing those who don’t really want to be there to retire early, would be a good foundation for Apple’s future.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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